Imagine you are a scientist in the Dalai Lama’s living room presenting research results. He’s asking questions, you’re answering them. He’s got his shoes off, and his legs crossed in his chair. His lips pursed in concentration.
His Holiness, the exiled spiritual and political leader of Tibet, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, expert meditator, is evidently fascinated by the science of the brain.
In this, his third visit to Stanford in recent years, the Dalai Lama took the day to focus on the early unpublished research conducted over the past three years by an interdisciplinary team of scientists connected with Stanford’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, or CCARE, part of the Stanford Institute for Neuro-Innovation and Translational Neurosciences.
CCARE is the brainchild of Dr. James Doty who is both a neurosurgeon and a philanthropist. The center evolved out of ongoing discussions between Doty and His Holiness beginning with a 2005 visit to Stanford. In 2008, the Dalai Lama donated $150,000 from his book sales — his largest donation to a scientific project — and CCARE was born. Read more…
