R. Adam Engle (born February 17, 1942 in Yonkers, NY, U.S.A.) is an American social entrepreneur who initiated and developed the Mind and Life Dialogues between the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet and panels of prominent scientists in the 1980s. Over the 22 years of his subsequent tenure as chief executive of the Mind and Life Institute, which he co-founded in 1990, his work contributed significantly to the establishment of contemplative science as a new field of research. [1] [2] [3]
In 1983, the Harvard educated lawyer Engle, from Boulder, Colorado, came to know of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama's interest in modern science [4] [5] and, realising from his personal Buddhist studies that the concept of a Buddhism-science interface was potentially an important new scientific field to be researched, he contacted the Dalai Lama's office in India offering to arrange a dialogue for him with selected western scientists. [3] The Dalai Lama accepted and authorised Engle to set one up and Engle arranged the first dialogue to take place between him and five scientists in 1987. [6] Over the next 25 years Engle organised dozens of international conferences between meditators and scientists and oversaw the publication of 11 top-selling books in a successful strategy to establish and popularise the new field of the Contemplative Sciences.
The initial meetings in the 1980s were so successful that Engle registered and funded the Mind and Life Institute in 1990 in the US as a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organisation dedicated to exploring the interface between science and Buddhism. His two other co-founders were Tenzin Gyatso the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet who would chair the dialogues and Francisco Varela the late Chilean neuroscientist, who until his untimely death in 2001 would coordinate the teams of scientists with relevant specialisations for each conference according to its theme. [1] [2] [3]
On the institute's formal establishment in 1990 Engle, as its creator, became its Chair and CEO, a post he held for 22 years until his retirement in 2012. By then he had guided its development into "a worldwide and influential organisation bringing together the highest standards of modern science and contemplative practice". [7]
In 1998, to optimise the potential for societal benefits, Engle broadened his institute's initial mission to include carrying out formal scientific research. [2] At the next dialogue in 2000 Engle proposed that a series of scientific investigations should be carried out under laboratory conditions with the aim of establishing whether Buddhist contemplative practices could be of significant benefit to modern society. This proved to be the case and so Engle's next task was to develop ways of teaching the subject in a secular environment. [2] As an outcome of his organisation's next dialogue, held at MIT in 2003 and entitled ‘Investigating the Mind’ (the first one to be held as a public event, with an audience of 1,200), Engle took the initial steps to launch the first formal scientific research programme on this subject. [8] Participanting scientists included Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman and Eric Lander, Director of the MIT Center for Genome Research. [9] This conference marked the birth of Contemplative Neuroscience. [10] [11] [12]
In 2004, Engle announced the launch of the annual Summer Research Institute at the Garrison Institute offering a new curriculum on contemplative neuroscience to graduates, post doctorates and members of the science faculty. [13] He also launched the annual Francisco J. Varela Research Awards, [14] to provide pilot study funding to suitable applicants. [15] [16] In 2005, Engle's second public dialogue was held in Washington DC, 'The Science and Clinical Applications of Meditation', co-sponsored by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Georgetown University Medical Center. [17]
In 2012 Engle's strategy to establish the new field of Contemplative Sciences was completed when he initiated an International Symposium on Contemplative Studies in Denver Colorado, with 700 representatives from Contemplative Science and Studies research bodies in attendance. [18]
By the time Engle retired from Mind and Life Institute in 2012 he had directed the organisation of 27 international dialogues, both private and public, between the Dalai Lama and other meditators and prominent scientists. To document the discussions and outcomes of the first 13 of these events, by 2012 eleven books (listed below) had been published under his oversight and videos or DVDs had been released covering most of the others. [9]
While chief executive of Mind and Life Institute, Engle oversaw the publication of the following books to document its work:
Francisco Javier Varela García was a Chilean biologist, philosopher, cybernetician, and neuroscientist who, together with his mentor Humberto Maturana, is best known for introducing the concept of autopoiesis to biology, and for co-founding the Mind and Life Institute to promote dialog between science and Buddhism.
The relationship between Buddhism and science is a subject of contemporary discussion and debate among Buddhists, scientists and scholars of Buddhism. Historically, Buddhism encompasses many types of beliefs, traditions and practices, so it is difficult to assert any single "Buddhism" in relation to science. Similarly, the issue of what "science" refers to remains a subject of debate, and there is no single view on this issue. Those who compare science with Buddhism may use "science" to refer to "a method of sober and rational investigation" or may refer to specific scientific theories, methods or technologies.
Jon Kabat-Zinn is an American professor emeritus of medicine and the creator of the 'Stress Reduction Clinic' and the 'Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society' at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Kabat-Zinn was a student of Zen Buddhist teachers such as Philip Kapleau, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Seung Sahn, and a founding member of Cambridge Zen Center. His practice of hatha yoga, Vipassanā and appreciation of the teachings of Soto Zen and Advaita Vedanta led him to integrate their teachings with scientific findings. He teaches mindfulness, which he says can help people cope with stress, anxiety, pain, and illness. The stress reduction program created by Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), is offered by medical centers, hospitals, and health maintenance organizations, and is described in his book Full Catastrophe Living.
Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso was the 5th Dalai Lama and the first Dalai Lama to wield effective temporal and spiritual power over all Tibet. He is often referred to simply as the Great Fifth, being a key religious and temporal leader of Tibetan Buddhism and Tibet. Gyatso is credited with unifying all Tibet under the Ganden Phodrang after a Mongol military intervention which ended a protracted era of civil wars. As an independent head of state, he established relations with the Qing empire and other regional countries and also met early European explorers. Gyatso also wrote 24 volumes' worth of scholarly and religious works on a wide range of subjects.
Mindstream (citta-santāna) in Buddhist philosophy is the moment-to-moment continuum of sense impressions and mental phenomena, which is also described as continuing from one life to another.
Matthieu Ricard is a French writer, photographer, translator and Buddhist monk who resides at Shechen Tennyi Dargyeling Monastery in Nepal.
Richard J. Davidson is a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison as well as founder and chair of the Center for Healthy Minds and the affiliated non-profit Healthy Minds Innovations.
Thubten Chodron, born Cheryl Greene, is an American Tibetan Buddhist nun, author, teacher, and the founder and abbess of Sravasti Abbey, the only Tibetan Buddhist training monastery for Western nuns and monks in the United States. Chodron is a central figure in the reinstatement of the Bhikshuni ordination of women. She is a student of the 14th Dalai Lama, Tsenzhab Serkong Rinpoche, Lama Thubten Yeshe, Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, and other Tibetan masters. She has published many books on Buddhist philosophy and meditation, and is co-authoring with the Dalai Lama a multi-volume series of teachings on the Buddhist path, The Library of Wisdom and Compassion.
Buddhism includes an analysis of human psychology, emotion, cognition, behavior and motivation along with therapeutic practices. Buddhist psychology is embedded within the greater Buddhist ethical and philosophical system, and its psychological terminology is colored by ethical overtones. Buddhist psychology has two therapeutic goals: the healthy and virtuous life of a householder and the ultimate goal of nirvana, the total cessation of dissatisfaction and suffering (dukkha).
Bruce Alan Wallace is an American author and expert on Tibetan Buddhism. His books discuss Eastern and Western scientific, philosophical, and contemplative modes of inquiry, often focusing on the relationships between science and Buddhism. He is founder of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies.
Khunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen, 1894–1977, known also as Negi Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen, Tenzin Gyaltsen, and various other names like Kunu Rinpoche, Kunu Lama and Negi Lama, was born in 1894 in the village of Sunam which lies in the Kinnaur district of India in the western Himalayas. He passed away at the age of 82 at Shashur Monastery in the Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachel Pradesh on February 23rd, 1977 while teaching the final page of Gampopa's Jewel Ornament of Liberation. Khunu Rinpoche was not officially recognized as a tulku, nor was he an ordained Buddhist monk, but a layman who had taken lay practitioner's vows before becoming a Tibetan Buddhist master.
Tenzin Priyadarshi is the president and CEO of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The 14th Dalai Lama, known to the Tibetan people as Gyalwa Rinpoche, is, as the incumbent Dalai Lama, the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibet. He is considered a living Bodhisattva; specifically, an emanation of Avalokiteśvara in Sanskrit, and Chenrezig in Tibetan. He is also the leader and a monk of the Gelug school, the newest school of Tibetan Buddhism, formally headed by the Ganden Tripa. The central government of Tibet, the Ganden Phodrang, invested the Dalai Lama with temporal duties until his exile in 1959.
Arthur Guy Zajonc is a physicist and the author of several books related to science, mind, and spirit; one of these is based on dialogues about quantum mechanics with the Dalai Lama. Zajonc, professor emeritus at Amherst College as of 2012, has been teaching there since 1978. He has served as the General Secretary of the Anthroposophical Society in America. From January 2012 to June 2015 he was president of the Mind and Life Institute.
Evan Thompson is a professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia. He writes about cognitive science, phenomenology, philosophy of mind, and cross-cultural philosophy, especially Buddhist philosophy in dialogue with Western philosophy of mind and cognitive science.
The Mind & Life Institute is a US-registered, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1991 to establish the field of contemplative sciences. Based in Charlottesville, Va., the institute “brings science and contemplative wisdom together to better understand the mind and create positive change in the world." Over three decades, Mind & Life has played a key role in the mindfulness meditation movement by funding research projects and think tanks, and by convening conferences and dialogues with the Dalai Lama. Since 2020, Mind & Life's grant-making, events, and digital programs have sought to nurture personal wellbeing, build more compassionate communities, and strengthen the human-earth connection.
The Universe in a Single Atom is a book by Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama and published in 2005 by Morgan Road Books. In this book Dalai Lama engages in several scientific areas. He explores the topics of quantum physics, cosmology, consciousness and genetics in relation to Buddhism.
Han Frederik de Wit is a research psychologist at the University of Amsterdam in 1974. He moved to expanded outside the formal psychology field in search for guidance in his spirituality. De Wit became internationally acknowledged as one of the founders of Contemplative Psychology. Today he teaches meditation at the Shambhala centers in the Netherlands and instructs seminars in the psychology of Buddhism.
Contemplative neuroscience is an emerging field of research that focuses on the changes within the mind, brain, and body as a result of contemplative practices, such as mindfulness-based meditation, samatha meditation, dream yoga, yoga nidra, tai chi or yoga. The science is interdisciplinary and attempts to clarify such mind-brain-body changes across emotional, behavioral, cognitive, and perceptual domains with an emphasis for relating such changes to neurobiology and first-person experience. It often emphasizes Buddhist approaches to contemplation and meditation, and conflates meditation with various contemplative practices. Founders of the field include Richard Davidson, Francisco Varela and B. Alan Wallace, among others.
Barry Michael Kerzin is an American physician and Buddhist monk. He has lived in Dharamshala, India since 1988 and serves as a personal physician to the 14th Dalai Lama, along with treating people in the local community. Following his ordination as a monk by the Dalai Lama in January 2003, he has travelled, teaching and offering workshops in which he blends Buddhist teaching and his medical training. He has served as a research participant in neuroscience research into the effects of meditation on the brain.
Science has always fascinated me
The Dalai Lama, who has had a lifelong interest in science
[list of dialogues with location, subject, participants etc.]
Records of Conference "Investigating the Mind" at MIT
Adam Engle… hopes that the conference will be a catalyst to attract young scientists to the field and to launch rigorous new research.