Scholars at Emory University are working together with six visiting Tibetan Buddhist monks in an effort to create a shared understanding that incorporates Western scientific theories with Eastern Buddhist teachings.


Scholars at Emory University are working together with six visiting Tibetan Buddhist monks in an effort to create a shared understanding that incorporates Western scientific theories with Eastern Buddhist teachings.
The Dalai Lama, religious leader of the Tibetan people, has been encouraging the combination of knowledge that has been gained through scientific study, with the spiritual science of meditation and other Buddhist beliefs.

The project is known as the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative, which has been working on a number of studies, including measuring the power of meditation using a scientific approach.

James W. Wagner, President of Emory University is quoted as saying the Buddhist tradition… “is quite rich… about what I call the inner world, while modern science is very highly developed in matters concerning the material world. These two things separately are not complete, but together, the external and the internal worlds are complete.”

The first six monks to study at Emory have already returned to India, where many Tibetan Buddhists have sought refuge, but there are more monks who have already taken their place.

One outcome of the project is the development of a program at Emory called cognitively based compassion training.