On the Dalai Lama’s Birthday, a New Film Calls Us to Embrace Our Shared Humanity

To celebrate the Dalai Lama’s birthday on July 6th, Mind & Life is pleased to announce the release of a new film, “Evolution of the Heart.” The film pays tribute to the Dalai Lama’s lifelong spirit of inquiry and values he has long championed: compassion, forgiveness, cooperation, altruism, and kindness.  The documentary chronicles profound conversations …

2021 President’s Letter

Dear Friends, Change isn’t easy. We’re living through one of the most transformative moments in history. Yet in the midst of today’s challenges, all around us we’re seeing new growth emerging from worn-out ways of being, and examples of humanity at its very best. While the last year has brought about staggering levels of stress, …

The Dalai Lama, Greta Thunberg, and Leading Scientists Share Urgent Message to Protect the Planet

The Dalai Lama and climate activist Greta Thunberg met—for the first time—alongside prominent climate scientists to deliver a shared message: We must act swiftly to address climate change, and particularly the threat of climate feedback loops, before it’s too late.  An audience spanning the globe tuned in to the free, livestream event hosted by the …

Cultural Variance in Self-Compassion: An Examination of the Cultural Dimensions of the Self-Compassion Concept within Tibetan Communities

The concept of self-compassion is widely used in contemplative science, and there is growing research showing its strong relationship to individual physical and mental wellbeing. However, evidence suggests that ‘self-compassion’ as conceptualized by Western Buddhist scholars and academics for primarily western audiences may lack validity in non-western and particularly Buddhist communities. This study investigates how …

Examining Individual Differences in Contemplative Practice Response

As an intellectual tradition that codeveloped with Tibetan Buddhism for over a thousand years, Tibetan medicine has cultivated clinically-focused knowledge around tracking individual differences related to cognitive-affective patterns and their contingent contexts that impact health and illness in body and mind across the life course. In particular, Tibetan medicine places specific attention on the role …

Bridging Psychology and Contemplative Practice to Benefit Hearts and Minds Today

Science has served as a double-edged sword for meditation. On the plus side, scientific research has helped adapt meditation into secular settings, which has provided broad access to Western audiences. It has also led to innovations in healthcare, education, social activism, workplace culture, and other areas. At the same time, there are valid critiques to …