Contagious Joy - the Emory Tibet Science Initiative

This past June, I had the wonderful experience of volunteering as faculty to teach neuroscience at a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in India as part of the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative. Many of the Tibetan monks I worked with over these weeks had been sent across the Tibetan border by their families so that they could study Buddhism and Tibetan culture. Since China took over Tibet, these activities are not allowed in Tibet. Despite the many hardships the Tibetans have experienced, I have never encountered such joy.  Above is a picture showing the monks using software to locate different regions of the brain. ​

Despite not being able to go home to Tibet to visit their families and living in exile, the monks that I met were a joyful, peaceful people. They meditate on compassion and peace every day. They live in community and support one another. As students, they were voracious learners, often stumping me with their insightful questions: "Does fear reside in the object or is it a projection of the mind?"

Here is a short video describing the program.

​I certainly learned more than I taught and I hope to carry the joy and peace of the monks in my heart as long as I can. 

I want to thank the families currently working with me for tolerating my longer than usual absence to participate in this program.