Adam Engle, Chairman and co-founder with the Dalai Lama of the Mind and Life Institute, said, "Meditation has begun to be used in the treatment of stress, pain and other chronic diseases, but the applications have only touched the surface. The conference will build on the growing interest in meditation in medicine and biomedical science. Leaders in science and related disciplines will share their views with the Dalai Lama and the public."
The Mind & Life conference is co-sponsored by Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Georgetown University Medical Center. The public meeting is expected to attract thousands, including members of science and related disciplines, the news media and the general public.
The November meeting will be the second public dialogue with the Dalai Lama. The previous 11 private conferences took place in India, Europe and the United States since 1987 and seven books have been published about those discussions. In 2003, The McGovern Institute at MIT co-sponsored the first public meeting, held on the MIT campus.
Information about this conference is available at two websites, http://www.mindandlife.org/ and http://www.investigatingthemind.org/ .
The XIV Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, gave a directional challenge to the Mind and Life Institute to explore the means by which people can create and maintain a healthy mind. A recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, he is regarded worldwide for his leadership about universal responsibility, love, compassion and kindness.
The Dalai Lama feels through a better understanding of meditation and scientific applications that people can be helped to find inner happiness and lead to a more peaceful world. He will be traveling to the United States from his home in India and will remain in the U.S. for a short time after the Mind and Life Institute meeting for other engagements, including addressing the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and a public talk at the MCI Center in Washington DC.
Engle said, "With the advent of sophisticated brain imaging technology, the area of science investigating the brain and mind is growing exponentially and is where genomic research was decades ago. The potential applications for the benefit of mankind are plentiful."
The Mind and Life Institute, based in Boulder, CO, is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a working collaboration and research partnership between modern science and Buddhism and other contemplative traditions to better understand the nature of reality and investigating the mind.