It was not just a meeting of minds, but a committed, heartfelt conversation of concerned intellectuals who share the Dalai Lama’s vision for a socially and emotionally balanced society that promotes secular ethics.
Where does one begin? Here I am, in Dharamsala, at the thirty-third Mind-Life Dialogue, organised by the Dalai Lama Trust, focusing this time on the theme, ‘Reimagining Human Flourishing’. The discussion is mostly centred on early childhood development, Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), meta-awareness and attention, ethics and compassion, and education. Participants are education specialists, research scientists, contemplative scholars, psychologists, monks, and teachers with field experience of teaching social and emotional learning and secular ethics. The five-day dialogue is presided each morning by HH The Dalai Lama – who jocularly calls himself “halfmonk, half-scientist”- who not only takes keen interest in the presentations and exchange of ideas but offers his own perspective and commentary.
The afternoons are reserved for group discussions among participants and guests, throwing up important questions that could eventually help us find ways to enable holisitic human flourishing. This report can only skim the surface, perhaps, of the five-day-long Dialogue, but even that is good enough to set the mind ticking in the right direction. The Dalai Lama never tires of reminding us, in gratitude, that the world is benefiting greatly from India’s ancient knowledge, a lot of which has been reverentially preserved in Buddhist scriptures, now being shared freely among intellectuals globally.
His fervent wish is that these rich intellectual traditions of debate, discussion and deep knowledge should be available to and applied by those in India as well, and it is in this spirit that the first volume – of an elaborate series being planned, Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics – ‘The Physical World’, edited by Thupten Jinpa, was released in Bodh Gaya early this year. “Genes are not our destiny, “declares Richard Davidson, who primarily researches the neural bases of emotion and emotional style and methods to promote human flourishing, including meditation and related contemplative practices.
The professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison says that gene expression is conditional, and can be related to care. For example, children respond to environment differently and the risk factors are many. Hence, preventive and promotional efforts could begin even during pre-birth period, he points out. The consensus was that we need to focus on enrichment – right from pregnancy, childhood, in school and home, and this can change the epigenetics of many for the better.
(To be continued)