Kumu Ramsay Taum
Indigenous Alliances and Mobilizations Moving Policies and Practices Seeking Justice and Sustainability Across the Pacific: From Root to Fruit, Remembering the Future
November 10, 2022
Kumu Ramsay Taum
Cultivating Vital Energy in Hawaiian Wisdom Traditions of Martial (Lua) and Healing (Ho'oponopono) Arts
November 9, 2022
Professor Hiro Saito
Sociological Imagination, Contemplative Practice and Social Change
October 24, 2022
Nitin Mitta, Matthew Rahaim, Suhail Yusuf Khan
Vocal and Sarangi Recital
April 22, 2022
Judith Simmer-Brown
XIXth Annual Mary Interlandi '05 Memorial Lecture
April 8, 2022
Sarah Mattice
Exploring the Heart Sutra as a Chinese Text
March 18, 2022
Bret Davis
Language and Experience in Zen and the Kyoto School
November 12, 2021
Sienna Craig
Care, Belonging, and Attunement Stories: HImalayan Lives Between Nepal and New York
October 1, 2021
Alumni Reunion 2021
May 1, 2021
Contemplative Studies Virtual Commencement 2021
April 29, 2021
Rhonda Magee
18th Annual Mary Interlandi '05 Memorial Lecture
Change 'Gonna Come: Contemplating Identity-Based Suffering in a Time of Social Transformation
April 12, 2021
Professor Srinivas Reddy
Concert: The Contemplative Music of South Asia
March 19, 2021
Professor David Palmer
The Catherine Kerr Vital Energy in Health and Healing Series
Out of Ontological Bounds: Researching Qi during China’s Qigong Craze
January 14, 2021
Meditation Led by Prof. Oliver Hill
With Permission by CMind - The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society
Dr. Eric Garland
Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement Heals Opioid Misuse and Chronic Pain by Restructuring Reward: From Hedonic Pleasure to Self-Transcendent Meaning
December 1, 2020
Professor Christopher Ives
Japanese Zen and Ethics: Historical Patterns and Popular Misconceptions
November 17, 2020
Professor Heiner Fruhauf, Ph.D, LAc
The Catherine Kerr Vital Energy in Health and Healing Series Inaugural Lecture
A Brief History of Qi: From Ancient Cosmology to Modern Medical Practice
November 6, 2020
Professors Rhonda Magee and Ram Mahalingam
COST Summer Seminar: Contemplation and Social Action - Part 2
July 16, 2020
Professors Oliver Hill and Carolyn Jacobs
COST Summer Seminar: Contemplation and Social Action - Part 1
July 2, 2020
Mallika Chopra
17th Annual Mary Interlandi '05 Memorial Lecture
Living with Intent: An Evening with Mallika Chopra
March 2, 2020
Pir Zia Inayat-Khan
Sufi Teachings of Hazrat Inayat-Khan
October 25, 2019
Professor Daniel Hirshberg
The Rhetoric of Secularism in Contemplative Pedagogy
September 30, 2019
Contemplative Studies Diploma Ceremony
May 26, 2019
Professor Andrew Meyer
Judaism, Confucianism and Modernity in Ming China
April 26, 2019
Profssor Srinivas Reddy
Sitar Concert
April 23, 2019
Dr./Reverend Masaki Matsubara
The Contemporary Training of a Zen Buddhist Monk
April 19, 2019
Professor James Singleton
13th Annual Mary Interlandi Memorial Lecture: Continuity, Innovation and Power in Modern Yoga's Transformations
March 14, 2019
Professor James Mallinson
Tantric Traditions and Hathayoga
March 12, 2019
Reverend, Dr. Takafumi Kawakami
Self-Cultivation and the Difference Between Reality and Actuality
February 25, 2019
Gaelle Desbordes, Ph.D.
Neuroscience as a Modern Context for Studying Meditation: How Far are We Really?
February 8, 2019
Professor Srinivas Reddy
Sitar Recital
December 5, 2018
Professor Charles Hallisey
Buddhist Spirituality and the Contemplation of Nature Through Poetry
October 3, 2018
Lama Rod Owens
Introduction to the Tantric Practice of Taking Tara as the Path
September 28, 2018
Professor Srinivas Reddy with Ajit Acharya and Matt Becker
Summer Sitar and Tabla Recital
July 17, 2018
Reverend Shunmyo Masuno
The Art and Philosophy of Zen Garden Design
June 26, 2018
Contemplative Studies Commencement Ceremony
May 28, 2018
Professor Srinivas Reddy
Contemplative Music of South Asia: Sitar and Tabla Recital
April 26, 2018
Professor Douglas Christie
The Deep, Insurmountable Darkness of Love
April 9, 2018
Professor José Cabezón
Buddhist Sexual Ethics: The Ancient Textual Tradition and its Modern Relevance
March 12, 2018
Reverend Takafumi Kawakami
Bringing Zen into the 21st Century: One Zen Priest's Perspective
February 9, 2018
Professors Elijah Siegler, David Palmer and Louis Komjathy (Respondent)
The Dao of the Scholar/Practitioner: Academic Scholarship and the Construction of Daoist Authority in China and the West
November 16, 2017
Professor Romain Graziani
The Obvious and the Oblivious: On the Psychology of Action in Early Chinese Texts and Beyond
November 13, 2017
Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Genine Lentine, Sensei Koshin Paley Ellison
Contemplative Poetry at Brown
November 3, 2017
Dr. Judson Brewer
The Craving Mind
October 24, 2017
Professor Renee Hill
Blind Cave Worms and the Meaning of Life
October 20, 2017
Professor Oliver Hill
Non-Judgement and Social Action - Contemplative Practice in Pursuit of Justice
October 19, 2017
Contemplative Studies Mind and Life Think Tank - Eleven Videos
September 22 - 23, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTiEffrOcz_4P-bcRwPx63EhYAXB44eOb
Professor Srinivas Reddy
Summer Classical Sitar Concert
August 2, 2017
Professor Carolyn Jacobs
Contemplative Studies - Moving Forward During Challenging Times
April 18, 2017
Professor Amishi Jha
Building Cognitive Resistance in High Stress Cohorts with Mindfulness Training
April 10, 2017
Professor John Kabat-Zinn
Student Forum
March 17, 2017
Professor Jon Kabat-Zinn
Mary Interlandi '05 Lecture
What's All This Talk about Mindfulness? The Heart of the Matter and Its Relevance in Dystopic Times
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Professor Rhonda Magee
Justice Begins with a Breath: Mindfulnes and Compassion Practices for Social Justice Work
Monday, March 6, 2017
Professor David McMahan
Mindfulness, Science and Society Lecture Series:
Meditation in Context: From Ancient Buddhist Monastery to Modern Psychologist's Office
November 29, 2016
Classical Sitar Concert with Srinivas Reddy
November 16, 2016
Professor Masaki Matsubara
Revisiting Japanese Zen Master Hakuin: His Paintings on Social and Political Critiques
October 14, 2016
Professor Ram Mahalingam
Mindfulness, Science and Society Lecture Series:
Mindfulness, Interconnectedness, Social Justice and Engaged Living
September 23, 2016
Professor Moshe Sluhovsky
The Birth of the Modern Introspective Self in Early Modern Catholicism
September 16, 2016
Professor Alan Godlas
The Mary Interlandi '05 Lecture: Reviving the Contemplative Sufi Heart of Islam
April 11, 2016
Professor Norman Farb
Contemplative Neuroscience and the Pursuit of a Modern Western Wisdom Tradition
March 9, 2016
Srinivas Reddy and Ajit Acharya
An Evening of Classical Sitar Music
12/3/2015
Professor Duncan Williams
Camp Dharma: Buddhism and the Japanese American World War II Incarceration Experience
11/9/2015
Professor Roger Ames
Confucian Role Ethics and the "Casting " of Persons
11/6/2015
Password for the videos is brown.
Contemplative Studies Tenth Year Anniversary Celebration and Reunion
10/21/15
Pir Zia Inayat Khan
Sufi Chivalry
10/2/2015
A Concert of Devotional Indian Music with Dayashila Carrie Grossman and Classical Indian Music with Srinivas Reddy
7/15/2015
Linda Stone/Kelly Dobson
Conscious Computing: Essential Self-Skills, Practices & Technologies that Tap into the Wisdom of the Body
Louis Komjathy
Interlandi Memorial Lecture: Critical Subjectivity: On Being (and Not Being) a Scholar of Religion
4/13/15
Louis Komjathy
Taming the Wild Horse: Religious Practice According to Daoist Horse Taming
4/10/15
Joseph Goldstein
Why Mindfulness?
3/13/15
Gaelle Desbordes
Compassion Meditation: Perspectives from Affective Science & Brain Imagery
12/2/2014
Paula Arai
Painting Enlightenment: The Art & Science of the Heart Stone
10/23/14
9/23/14
Jake Davis
The Scope of Wisdom: Early Buddhism on Reasons & Persons
Sara Lazar
2/12/2014
Harold Roth
November 18, 2013
Sharon Salzberg
November 1, 2013
Michael Hofmann
October 9, 2013
Erin McCarthy
September 27, 2013
Judith Simmer-Brown
April 26, 2013
Roshi Joan Halifax
April 21, 2013
Kazuaki Tanahashi
April 3, 2014
Shinzen Young
February 12, 2013
Stephen Little
December 6, 2012
Judson Brewer
Nov. 30, 2012
Buddhism and the Eco-Crisis
April 16, 2012
Presented by the Brown University Contemplative Studies Initiative:
David Loy
David Robert Loy is an author and Zen teacher in the Sanbo Kyodan tradition of Japanese Zen Buddhism. Loy received a B.A. from Carleton College, an M.A. in Asian philosophy from the University of Hawaii in 1975, and his Ph.D. in Philosophy in 1984 from the National University of Singapore. Loy pursued Zen training with Robert Aitken Roshi, in Honolulu and then moved to Kamakura, Japan to continue Zen practice with Yamada Koun Roshi with whom he completed formal koan study in 1988. He was professor of philosophy and religion at Bunkyo University in Chigasaki, Japan until 2006 and then the Besl Family Chair of Ethics/Religion & Society at Xavier University Cincinnati until 2010. He has also held visiting positions at the University of Cape Town, the Institute for Advanced Study at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and at Naropa University. Loy's main research interest is the dialogue between Buddhism and modernity, especially the social implications of Buddhist teachings. In addition to academic lectures, he offers workshops and leads meditation retreats in the U.S. and internationally.
Contemplation and Teaching the Economics of Desire
September 29, 2011
Presented by the Brown University Contemplative Studies Initiative:
Daniel Barbezat
Daniel Barbezat is Professor of Economics at Amherst College. He has been a visiting professor at Northwestern University, Yale University and has taught in the summer program at Harvard University. In 2004, he won the J. T. Hughes Prize for Excellence in Teaching Economic History from the Economic History Association. Over the past decade, he has become interested in how self-awareness and introspection can be used in higher education and economic decision-making. He has developed courses that integrate contemplative exercises designed to enable students to gain deeper understanding and insight. His approach to these economic classes has been featured in the Boston Globe, the U.S. News & World Report, as well as on the NPR program “Here & Now.” Since 2009, he has been working with the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society as a Board Member and Associate Director of the Academic Program. He is currently writing a handbook of contemplative practices in higher education with Mirabai Bush, and a book entitled Wanting. He is Treasurer and Board Member as well as an Associate Director of the Academic Program of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society.
What Can Humanists Learn from Scientific Research on Meditation?
April 11, 2011
Presented by the Brown University Contemplative Studies Initiative:
Catherine Kerr
Dr. Cathy Kerr is currently the principal researcher on the Neuroscience of Meditation, Healing and the Sense of Touch under the Harvard Medical School Osher Research Center for complementary and integrative medical therapies.. She received her BA in American Studies from Amherst College and her PhD in History and Social Theory from the Johns Hopkins University. in 2006, she received a "K" award to undergo retraining as a neuroscientist focused on the effects of meditation on somatosensory cortical maps. Since that time, she has uses neuroimaging and behavioral approaches to investigate mind-body therapies, cortical dynamics and attention, especially attention in the touch modality. She is the first author of a recently published study in Brain Research Bulletin (conducted with Stephanie Jones and Christopher Moore newly of the Neuroscience Department at Brown) showing mindfulness training enhances the ability to rapidly up or downregulate sensory cortical alpha rhythms in a well localized sensory cortical area (primary somatosensory cortex). Importantly, we know from prior work by our group (including a 2010 paper in Journal of Neuroscience published with Jones and Moore) that this rapid regulation by meditators was carried out in a manner that is likely to enhance their touch perception. She is also very interested in how meditation practitioners describe the experience of practice and has published two papers on this question.
Foundations of European Contemplative Traditions in Humanities and Medicine
March 17, 2011
Presented by the Brown University Department of Religious Studies, Warren Alpert Medical School, and the Contemplative Studies Initiative:
Brian Stock
Brian Stock was educated at Harvard College (A.B., summa cum laude, 1962) and Trinity College, Cambridge (Ph.D., 1966-67) and throughout a distinguished career taught in Cambridge, Paris, Rome, Berkeley, and Toronto until he retired from teaching in 2008. He was one of only a few North Americans ever elected to a full chair in the humanities at the Collège de France in 1996 (the Chaire Internationale). Among the many distinguished lectures and lecture series he has given during his career, Professor Stock delivered the Sather Classical Lectures at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2001, generally regarded as the highest honour a classical scholar can achieve. He was also awarded the Premio Internazionale Feltrinelli by the Accademia dei Lincei in Rome in 2007, whose recipients include Thomas Mann, Igor Stravinsky, W. H. Auden, Henry Moore, Coretta Scott King, Roman Jakobson, Gunther Grass, and Hans-Georg Gadamer. This is generally regarded as the Italian equivalent of the Nobel Prize. His extensive list of ublications include over 50 scholarly articles and 10 books, including Listening for the Text: On the Uses of the Past; Augustine the Reader: Meditation, Self-Knowledge, and the Ethics ofInterpretation; After Augustine:The Meditative Reader and the Text; Ethics through Literature: Ascetic and Aesthetic Reading in Western Culture; and Augustine's Inner Dialogue: The Philosophical Soliloquy in Late Antiquity.
Contemplation in Action: Coming from the Depth of Our Being into Service and Activism
October 22, 2010
The Seventh Annual Mary Interlandi '05 Memorial Lecture. Presented by the Office of the Chaplains of Religious Life, the Contemplative Studies Initiative, and the Mary Interlandi '05 Memorial Lecture Fund:
John Makransky
Lama John Makransky, PhD is the Guiding Meditation Teacher for the Foundation for Active Compassion and Associate Professor Buddhism & Comparative Theology at Boston College.
A Daoist View of Ecology: The Co-Existence of Dao and Wu and the Interrelationship between Humans and the Natural World
February 28, 2011
Presented by the Brown University Department of Religious Studies and Contemplative Studies Initiative:
Xia Chen
Dr. Chen Xia is a research fellow at the prestigious Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), Beijing. She received her Ph.D in Religious Studies from Sichuan University, taught there for 10 years, and moved to CASS in 2003. She has been a visiting scholar at Harvard-Yenching Institute and London University's School of Oriental and African Studies. She is the co-editor of Principles in the Study of Religions, widely used as a textbook, and author of Studies of Daoist Moral Tracts. In recent years her interests have turned to ecology, and she is principal editor and contributor to Studies in Daoist Ecological Thought. She has also translated three books on Religion and on Daoism from English to Chinese and one from Chinese to English, Daoism and Traditional Chinese Culture.
Daoist Meditation: Theory, Method, Application
February 11, 2011
Presented by the Brown University Departments of Religious Studies and East Asian Studies, and Contemplative Studies Initiative:
Louis Komjathy
Louis Komjathy (Ph.D., Religious Studies; Boston University) is Assistant Professor of Chinese Religions and Comparative Religious Studies at the University of San Diego and Research Associate of the Institute of Religion, Science and Social Studies at Shandong University (PRC). He serves as founding Co-director of the Center for Daoist Studies, founding Co-chair of the Contemplative Studies Consultation of the American Academy of Religion, and founding Co-chair of the Daoist Studies Group of the American Academy of Religion. He has published Title Index to Daoist Collections, Cultivating Perfection: Mysticism and Self-transformation in Early Quanzhen Daoism, and Handbooks for Daoist Practice.
An Evening of Classical Indian Contemplative Music
February 3, 2011
A benefit for the Contemplative Studies Initiative:
Srinivas Reddy and Ajit Acharya
African American Buddhism
December 6, 2010
Presented by the Brown University Department of Religious Studies, Africana Studies, and the Contemplative Studies Initiative:
William Green
Dr. William Green is a professor at Tougaloo College, Mississippi, and Bishop in the African Orthodox Church. He is currently visiting Brown University on a grant from the Mellon Foundation administered by the United Negro College Fund. He has received an M.A. in Religious Studies from the University of Chicago and the Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Syracuse University. After working for years in refugee resettlement services in San Francisco as a member of St. John's Order, with Tibetans, Vietnamese, Haitian and Ethiopian refugees, Green was ordained a bishop in the African Orthodox Church in 1978. He has also studied with a number of outstanding Tibetan Buddhist teachers, including the 16th Karmapa, the Dalai Lama, and his closest teacher, the Russian Dr. Ajari Permchekov. Professor Green came to Tougaloo in August 2007 to help build the new Religious Studies department there, only the second program in the state, and now serves as an associate professor in the Interdisciplinary Humanities Department. Though Green has studied extensively in world religions, most of his work has been in building the capacity of religious groups to provide social services to their communities, especially that of black pastors in the South.
A Zen Path of Least Resistance: Ethical Issues Surrounding Wartime Zen
November 17, 2010
Presented by the Brown University Department of Religious Studies and the Contemplative Studies Initiative:
Christopher Ives
During the Second World War, Zen Buddhists actively supported Japanese imperialism, thereby giving rise to what has been termed "Imperial-Way Zen." This historical record stands in tension with traditional, idealized claims about Zen ethics, and it raises questions about the precepts, compassion, and other core Buddhist ethical doctrines, especially as interpreted by traditional Zen figures in dialogue with Confucian values. This talk will explore these questions while also considering the reluctance of postwar Zen leaders to grapple with Buddhist war responsibility. Christopher Ives is Professor and Chair of Religious Studies at Stonehill College. In his scholarship he focuses on modern and contemporary Zen ethics, and he is currently working on Buddhist approaches to violence and war, and to nature and environmental issues. His publications include Imperial-Way Zen: Ichikawa Hakugen's Critique and Lingering Questions for Buddhist Ethics (2009); Zen Awakening and Society (1992); a translation of philosopher Nishida Kitaro's An Inquiry into the Good (co-translated with Abe Masao, 1990); and many others. His book chapters and articles also appear in the Journal of Buddhist Ethics, the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, the Eastern Buddhist, and elsewhere. He is also on the editorial board of the Journal of Buddhist Ethics, and in 2010 he is serving as one of the co-editors of the Journal.
The Buddha's Therapy
October 22, 2010
Presented by the Brown University Contemplative Studies Initiative:
Mark Epstein
Mark Epstein, M.D. is a psychiatrist in private practice in New York City and the author of a number of books about the interface of Buddhism and psychotherapy, including Thoughts without a Thinker, Going to Pieces without Falling Apart, Going on Being and Open to Desire. His newest work, Psychotherapy without the Self, is published by Yale University Press. He received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Harvard University and is currently Clinical Assistant Professor in the Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis at New York University.
The Seven Stages of Meditative Insight (Samadhi) in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
September 20, 2010
Presented by the Brown University Contemplative Studies Initiative:
Edwin Bryant
Edwin F. Bryant, received his Ph.D. from Columbia University, taught at Harvard, and is currently Professor of Religion at Rutgers University. In addition to translating the Yoga Sutras, he has authored or edited six other books on the origins of Vedic culture and on the Krishna traditions. He leads workshops on Yoga and Hindu philosophy throughout the United States.
Can Mindful Consumerism Reverse the Ecological Meltdown?
April 29, 2010
Presented by the Brown University Contemplative Studies Initiative:
Daniel Goleman
Daniel Goleman is an internationally known psychologist who lectures frequently to professional groups, business audiences, and on college campuses. Working as a science journalist, Goleman reported on the brain and behavioral sciences for The New York Times for many years. His 1995 book, Emotional Intelligence (Bantam Books) was on The New York Times bestseller list for a year-and-a-half; with more than 5,000,000 copies in print worldwide in 30 languages, and has been a best seller in many countries. Goleman's latest book is Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything. The book argues that new information technologies will create "radical transparency," allowing us to know the environmental, health, and social consequences of what we buy. As shoppers use point-of-purchase ecological comparisons to guide their purchases, market share will shift to support steady, incremental upgrades in how products are made – changing every thing for the better.
The Mindful Musician: How Meditation Practice and Musical Practice Support and Complement Each Other
March 19, 2010
Martha Elliot
Martha Elliott is a singer, teacher, writer and meditator who has enjoyed a varied musical career. She has sung new music all over the world with the New York New Music ensemble, Continuum. She has also performed in concert, opera, recital, chamber music, and early music with period instruments with groups such as the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Concert Royale, Marlboro Music, Odessa Philharmonic, Opera Festival of New Jersey and many others. She has taught master classes and workshops for the National Association of Teachers of Singing, The National Early Music Association (UK), New Jersey Opera Theatre, Smith College and elsewhere. Her book, Singing in Style: A Guide to Vocal Performance Practices, was published by Yale University Press in 2006 and is widely used. An article entitled "Singing and Mindfulness" is forthcoming in the Journal of Singing. She has been on the performance faculty at Princeton University since 1985, and has been meditating since 1980.
Meditation: Tools for Awakening Courage, Faith and Compassion
February 26, 2010
Co-Sponsored by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism, the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University, and Divya's Class:
Sharon Salzberg
This lecture will focus on the practical tools that help us go beyond our constricting habitual patterns, such as fear and denial. Awakening the inner capacities we all have, meditation allows us to transform our worldview from one of isolation and confusion to one of connection, clarity and compassion. Especially in times of uncertainty, meditation opens us to a power of faith and courage based on seeing things just as they are.
An Evening of Indian Classical Music
March 11, 2010
As a benefit for Contemplative Studies:
Srinivas Reddy '98 (Sitar) & Sameer Gupta (Tabla)
Srinivas Reddy is a professional concert sitarist who has given numerous recitals in the US and India. He has studied the sitar under his guru and mentor Sri Partha Chatterjee, a direct disciple of the late sitar maestro Pandit Nikhil Banerjee. He has recorded three CD’s:GITA (1999), Sitar & Tabla (2001) and Hemant & Jog (2008) (w/Sameer). Srinivas has also taught several classes on Indian literature and music, including the summer intensive “Music of India”at UC Berkeley. He is currently working on a translation of the Telugu epicAmuktamalyada for Penguin Books and completing his Ph.D. at Berkeley. Sameer Gupta is an original artist within improvisational styles of jazz, world, and fusion music. Studying and performing in the US, Japan, and India, he is equally at home in classical Indian Music and fusion jazz. He began studying tabla with the legendary Ustad Zakir Hussain and now studies under maestro Pandit Anindo Chatterjee in Kolkata.
Classical Chinese Medicine: The Theory and Value of a Traditional Health Care System in the Modern World
February 4, 2010
Co-Sponsored by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism and the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University:
Dr. Heiner Fruehauf, Founding Professor
School of Classical Chinese Medicine at National College of Natural Medicine Heiner Fruehauf has researched East Asian civilizations and Chinese medicine for 30 years. After studying comparative literature, philosophy, sinology, and Chinese medicine at universities in Germany, China, Japan, and the United States, he received a Ph.D. from the Dept. of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. During five years in China, he researched Chinese medicine both within the institutionalized TCM model (Chengdu University of TCM), as well as the traditional lineage system that continues to function outside government schools. He founded the School of Classical Chinese Medicine at National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon, where he has taught and practiced since 1992. His interest in preserving some of the traditional features of Chinese medicine led him to develop a database dedicated to the archiving of classical knowledge, and an herbal patent series for chronic and difficult diseases (Classical Pearls). A selection of his publications, as well as archived video lectures by him and other contemporary scholar physicians can be accessed here.
Selfless Insight: Contemplative Practice and its Neurophysiological Basis
November 16, 2009
Co-Sponsored by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism and the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University:
Dr. James Austin(Brown '47), Clinical Professor of Neurology, University of Missouri Health Science Center, and Emeritus Professor of Neurology, University of Colorado Health Science Center.
He is the author of Zen and the Brain, Zen-Brain Reflections, and a new book, Selfless Insight.
The Neurobiology of Meditation
November 10, 2009
Co-Sponsored by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism and the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University:
Dr. Sara Lazar,Assistant in Psychology, Harvard Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital
When Empirical Science Trumps Popular Assumptions: The Case of Meditation and Sleep
October 29, 2009
Co-Sponsored by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism and the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University:
Dr. Willoughby Britton,Research Associate in Psychiatry and Human Behavior Brown University Department of Bio Med Psychiatry & Human Behavior
Attending to the Body in Meditation: Cortical Dynamics in a Trial of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction
October 15, 2009
Co-Sponsored by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism and the Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University:
Dr. Catherine Kerr, Director of the Program in the Neuroscience of Meditation, Healing, and the Sense of Touch of the Osher Research Center of the Harvard Medical School
Yoga-Sutras of Patanjali
March 8, 2009
Co-sponsored by the Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism and the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society
Chip Hartranft, Director of the Arlington Center
Contemplative Inquiry: When Knowing Becomes Love
February 26, 2009
Sponsored by the Brown University Contemplative Studies Initiative, and the Benedictus Group
Professor Arthur Zajonc, Professor of Physics at Amherst
Arthur Zajonc, is the author of Catching the Light: The Entwined History of Light and Mind, several co-authored volumes including The Quantum Challenge, Goethe's Way of Science, The New Physics and Cosmology: Dialogues with the Dalai Lama. His new work, Meditation As Contemplative Inquiry: When Knowing Becomes Love was published in November.
An Evening of Classical Indian Music
December 11, 2008
Sponsored by the Brown University Contemplative Studies Initiative
Srivinas Reddy,Brown '98, Sitar
Srinivas Reddy is an Indian-American sitarist, guitarist and composer. In 1998 he came under the tutelage of Pandit Partha Chatterjee, a direct disciple of the late sitar maestro Pandit Nikhil Banerjee. Since then Srinivas has rigorously trained with his teacher in the traditional guru-shishya style. Both here and abroad he continues to imbibe and practice the subtleties of the Hindustani musical tradition. Srinivas is a professional concert sitarist and has given numerous recitals in the US and India. He is also an experienced teacher and educator. Srinivas holds a BA from Brown University and an MA from UC Berkeley, both in South Asian Studies. He has taught several college level courses on both South Asian literature and music.
Sameer Gupta, Tabla
Founder of the critically acclaimed SF based Improvisational Ensemble The Supplicants, Sameer Gupta is an original musical voice in jazz, world, and fusion music. He has studied percussion for most of his life, beginning in Tokyo, Japan 1985, and since then has performed on drumset at Jazz at Lincoln Center, tabla at Asagiri Jam in Japan and various Jazz and World music festivals across the nation and abroad playing both tabla and drumset simultaneously. Sameer began his studies of North Indian Classical Tabla in 2002, and has the honor of studying with tabla maestro Pandit Anindo Chatterjee. Sameer has the honor of being associated with many great artists including Marc Cary, Prasant Radhkrishnan, David Ewell, Pt. Chitresh Das, Parijat Desai, Stephen Kent, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Sekou Sundiata and numerous other fine artists.
Chinese Medicine: Ancient Principles and Modern Applications
October 30, 2008
Sponsored by the Contemplative Studies Scholarly Concentration Program of the Warren Alpert School of Medicine, the Brown University Contemplative Studies Initiative
Professor Heiner Fruehauf
Heiner Fruehauf, is a scholar and practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He received the Ph.D. in classical Chinese thought from the University of Chicago in 1990 where he studied the use of symbolism in the transmission of Han dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE) medical knowledge. He is currently writing a monograph on the classical foundations of the clinical profession of Chinese medicine. In addition to his academic research, Dr Fruehauf is a licensed practitioner of acupuncture and he is the founding professor of the School of Classical Chinese Medicine, at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, OR.
Do Buddhist Practices Offer a Science of Healing?: Thoughts on Contemporary Representations of Buddhist Philosophy and Meditation
October 16, 2008
Co-sponsored by the Depts. of Religious Studies and East Asian Studies
David Gardiner, Associate Professor of Religion at Colorado College
101 Years Old and Still Going Strong: The Tathagatha Zen of Roshi Joshu Sasaki
October 10, 2008
Seiju Bob Mammoser, Abbot of the Albuqerque Zen Center
Sailing Home: Using the Wisdom of Homer's Odyssey to Navigate Life's Perils and Pitfalls: A Talk and Book Signing
September 26, 2008
Zoketsu Norman Fischer, Former Abbot of the San Francisco Zen Center
Sudden and Gradual: Paradigms of Awakening in Chinese and Japanese Buddhism
September 18, 2008
Co-sponsored by the Depts. of Religious Studies and East Asian Studies
Mark Unno, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Oregon
Mark Unno is a renowned scholar of Japanese Buddhism and Japanese Psychotherapy. He received the Ph.D. from Stanford and has taught at Carleton University and at Brown University. He is the author of Shingon Refractions: Myoe and the Mantra of Light (Wisdom: 2004) and the editor of Buddhism and Psychotherapy Across Cultures (Wisdom, 2006), as well as numerous article in scholarly journals. He is currently Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Oregon.
Tibetan Medicine in Contemporary Nepal
Professor Sienna Craig, Brown '84
Department of Anthropology, Dartmouth College
A Cognitive Psychologist's Analysis of Contemplative Practice: Theoretical Information Processing Models of the Mind, Brain, and Meditation
Professor David E. Meyer
Cognition and Perception Program Department of Psychology University of Michigan
The Present Moment: Psychological and Buddhist Perspectives
Harvey Aaronson, Ph.D., LCSW
Making Waves and Riding the Currents: Activism and the Practice of Wisdom
Charles Halpern
One of America's most distinguished social innovators and the founder of its first public interest law firm, Charles Halpern has been a catalyst for launching an array of enduring institutions dedicated toward enriching human lives and our world. In Making Waves and Riding the Currents: Activism and the Practice of Wisdom, Halpern reflects on his distinguished career—a journey that led him from career-mindedness to a life devoted to social justice and activism. But this captivating memoir is about more than even that. It's about the inner work thatmakes the outer work possible. Over the course of his remarkable career, Halpern founded the Center for Law and Social Policy, where he litigated landmark environmental protection and constitutional rights cases; was the founding dean of the City University of New York School of Law, where he initiated a program for training public interest attorneys; was president of the Nathan Cummings Foundation, where he launched an innovative grant program,supporting new programs that drew together social justice advocacy withmeditation and spiritual inquiry; and was a founding board member of the progressive-think tank Demos: A Network for Ideas and Action. Throughout these endeavors, he sought ways to develop inner resources that complemented his cognitive and advocacy skills. These explorations led him to the conviction that what he calls "the practice of wisdom" is essential both to his own success and to our collective capacity to effectively address the challenges of the twenty-first century.
Contemplative Dimensions to End of Life Care
Co-Sponsored with the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University
Zen Master Soeng Hyang (Barbara Rhodes)
Zen Master Soeng Hyang (Barbara Rhodes) is the School Zen Master and Guiding Dharma Teacher of the Kwan Um School of Zen. She received dharma transmission from Zen Master Seung Sahn on October 10, 1992. She was one of Zen Master Seung Sahn's first American students and studied with him since 1972. She was given inka in 1977. A registered nurse since 1969, she works for Hospice Care of Rhode Island. She helped found Providence Zen Center, and lived there for seventeen years, serving in a number of administrative capacities. Zen Master Soeng Hyang has a daughter and lives with her partner, Mary, in Providence.
Deathbed Visions and Near-Death Experiences
Co-Sponsored with the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
Willoughby Britton, Ph.D.
This lecture is intended to give an empirical overview of the most common phenomenological elements of Near Death Experiences and their after-effects so that health care professionals, families and loved ones may become more familiar with them. The description will be followed by a review of the various scientific investigations of the phenomenon, including neurobiological correlates. Willoughby Britton received a B.A. in Neuroscience from Colgate University, a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Arizona, and completed her clinical residency at Brown Medical School. Her pioneering research on the neural and psychological correlates of near death experiences was published in Psychological Science and featured in the New York Times in 2004. She recently completed a three year clinical trial on the neurophysiological effects of mindfulness meditation, and has lectured internationally on both research topics.
Naada Yoga: Raga Music as Contemplative Practice
Co- Sponsored by the South Asian Studies Concentration
Srinivas Reddy
A brief introduction to Hindustani raga music and its spiritual origins followed by a short sitar performance. Srinivas Reddy is an Indian-American sitarist, guitarist and composer. In 1998 he came under the tutelage of Pandit Partha Chatterjee, a direct disciple of the late sitar maestro Pandit Nikhil Banerjee. Since then Srinivas has rigorously trained with his teacher in the traditional guru-shishya style. Both here and abroad he continues to imbibe and practice the subtleties of the Hindustani musical tradition. Srinivas is a professional concert sitarist and has given numerous recitals in the US and India. He is also an experienced teacher and educator. Srinivas holds a BA from Brown University and an MA from UC Berkeley, both in South Asian Studies. He has taught several college level courses on both South Asian literature and music. After nine years of study and performance in the San Francisco Bay Area, Srinivas has recently relocated to New England where he plans to establish a center for South Asian music, art and literature.
Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death
Co- Sponsored by the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University
Roshi Joan Halifax
The talk by Roshi Joan Halifax, PhD, explores an overview of innovative approaches in the psycho-social, ethical, and spiritual aspects of care of the dying. The talk covers important areas, including: ethical, spiritual, psychological, and social aspects of care of the dying; community-building around dying persons and relationship-centered care; exploration of peri-death phenomena; care of the caregiver; and contemplative approaches to care of the dying and their families. The talk will include a powerpoint presentation and question and answers. A medical anthropologist and world leader in innovative end-of-life care, Roshi Joan Halifax, PhD, has pioneered her work with the dying for forty years. Dr. Halifax is a former Honorary Research Fellow at Harvard University, a recipient of a National Science Foundation Fellowship, and has taught at numerous universities and medical centers around the world on care of the dying. She is a former faculty member of the University of Miami School of Medicine’s Pediatrics and Psychiatry departments, a former researcher at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, and was on the faculty of the New School of Social Research in New York City. Her many books include The Human Encounter with Death (with Stanislav Grof), The Fruitful Darkness, Being with Dying: Compassionate End-of-Life Care Training Guide, and Being With Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death.