Affiliate & Related Sites

Organizations


The Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism - Dr. Frederick Lenz believed that Buddhism in America should be infused with the spirit of American self-sufficiency, and he encouraged his students to launch revenue-generating activities and social enterprises that embodied Buddhist values. The Foundation continues to pursue this interest with a broad set of programs geared toward assisting American Buddhist organizations to achieve scale and sustainability.  The Lenz Foundation provides general assistance and restricted grants, program-related investments, and education and training programs for the purpose of fostering successful joint programs among American Buddhist groups and cross-sector collaborations with aligned secular organizations.

The Mind and Life Institute brings science and contemplative wisdom together to better understand the mind and create positive change in the world. At this critical moment in history, it’s clear that efforts to address mounting global challenges must take into account our inner lives, and how individual well-being contributes to collective flourishing.   Through grantmaking, convenings, and strategic partnerships, Mind and Life seeks to foster healthy human connections.

The Santa Barbara Institute focuses on two core themes: (1) the collaboration between Buddhism and science with the aspiration to help bring about the first true revolution in the mind sciences, and (2) catalyzing a revival of contemplative inquiry among the world’s religions to reveal the true causes of genuine well-being so that we may heal the world and help humanity evolve to the next stage of our spiritual evolution.

The Mind/Brain/Behavior Interfaculty Initiative at Harvard was introduced in 1993 to encourage an interdisciplinary community of faculty from across the University to engage in research and other academic activities aimed at elucidating the structure, function, evolution, development, aging, and pathology of the brain in the context of human behavior, genetics, and society. Since then, our initiative has expanded to include all members of the Harvard community who have a connection to the study of the mind, the brain, or behavior.

The Greater Good Science Center is an interdisciplinary research center devoted to the scientific understanding of happy and compassionate individuals, strong social bonds, and altruistic behavior. While serving the traditional tasks of a UC Berkeley research center—fostering groundbreaking scientific discoveries—the GGSC is unique in its commitment to helping people apply scientific research to their lives.

The Mindfulness in Education Network was established in 2001 by a group of educators, students of Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Master and peace activist nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Members of the network view mindfulness as an antidote to the growing stress, conflict and confusion in educational settings as well as an invaluable gift to give students. The purpose of the network is to facilitate communication among all educators, parents, students and any others interested in promoting contemplative practice (mindfulness) in educational settings. MiEN offers conferences and Days of Mindfulness designed to support educators at all levels in their practice. 

The Emory Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics supports a research-based approach to educating both heart and mind. With programs grounded in a theoretical framework for the cultivation of competencies that lead to the prosocial behaviors and outcomes that support flourishing and well-being for individuals and societies, the center also actively works to demonstrate the efficacy of these programs through innovative research.

The University of Michigan Program in Creativity & Consciousness is an initiative devoted to theoretical and applied exploration of the nature and development of human creativity and consciousness. Viewing creativity as the exterior manifestation of consciousness growth, PCCS takes the further step of moving beyond strictly materialist approaches to these realms and embraces insights from the world’s wisdom traditions, including age-old views of consciousness as primary in the broader spectrum of creation.