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PROJECT INSPIRATION: CURIOSITY, CONVERSATION, BUILDING BRIDGES

INSPIRATION: The 14th Dalai Lama in his writing from “Frontiers of Communication”

“I am deeply committed to the promotion of basic human values such as kindness, compassion, forgiveness and generosity. These values are not luxuries; they are necessary for the flourishing of human society. For many years now, I have engaged with scientists to discuss how we best can combine scientific knowledge and the ancient wisdom of Indo-Tibetan traditions to foster these values, and serve the best interests of humanity.

I have always had a curiosity and reverence for science. As a child, I used a telescope that belonged to my predecessor, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, to peer into the night sky in the high altitude of Tibet, which offers one of the most spectacular views of the stars. I asked my attendants the names of the stars and constellations. I have had a lifelong hobby of dismantling and reassembling mechanical objects, and I mastered this process well enough to become the principal repairer for a number of people I knew who owned watches or clocks in Tibet, where I spent my childhood. Over time, however, I came to recognize that this technology I found so interesting was the fruit, or expression, of a scientific approach to investigating the world. So although my initial fascination was with technological artifacts, it is this – the scientific form of inquiry rather than any particular industry or toy – that has come to intrigue me most deeply……

From this perspective, spiritual ideals, such as empathy and compassion, are not only accessible to advanced meditators, but can be generated using well-established practices in everyday settings, including schools, hospitals, and the business community. These experiments in consciousness can then become laboratories for researchers to investigate the frontiers of human potential, and the extent to which we can change our brain and body through changing our mind and behavior. I believe that the world needs this perspective. ​"

INSPIRATIONAL CONTEXT from The Emory Tibet Science Initiative (ETSI)

The origins of ETSI can be traced back to the formation of the Emory-Tibet Partnership, which started in 1998 with Emory forming an academic affiliation with Drepung Loseling Monastery, the alma mater of Dr. Lobsang Tenzin Negi (Geshe Lobsang la). The Emory-Tibet Partnership was co-founded by Dr. Lobsang Tenzin Negi and Dean Robert Paul.

Emory-Tibet Science Initiative (ETSI) was formed in 2006 when His Holiness invited Emory to partner with the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives to create a comprehensive and sustainable science education program for the monks and nuns in India. This was an important step in furthering the Dalai Lama’s “100 Year Project”: an initiative designed to integrate science into monastic education.

Since its inception, ETSI has progressed through several phases during which a six-year science curriculum was developed, piloted, and implemented—the implementation has been continuously ongoing at several major monasteries and nunneries since 2014. The program is now in the sustainability phase, in which a select group of monastics is trained to teach science and do scientific research. An important component of this phase is forming an academic collaboration with Northwestern University through which cohorts of monastics are provided opportunities to do in-depth research training internships in laboratories. For the first time, Tibetan monastic scholars initiated research questions themselves. Thanks to ETSI and the film’s subjects, our documentary team has been granted unique access to work alongside these trailblazers for the past year and a half.