EASTERN BUDDHIST SOCIETY ONLINE LECTURE> The Search for the Real: Buddhism and Neuroscience, Professor Bernard Faure

The Eastern Buddhist Society Lecture Series

The Search for the Real: Buddhism and Neuroscience

Professor Bernard Faure

Columbia University, New York

Friday, May 26, 2023

18:00 – 19:30 (JST)

Over the past three decades, since the creation of the Mind and Life Institute in the 1980s under the auspices of the Dalai Lama and the neurobiologist Francisco Varela, a series of conferences have introduced the idea of a convergence between Buddhism and neuroscience. Neuroscientists have been particularly interested in the possible neural correlates of Buddhist meditation, and their experiments have contributed to the current popularity of Mindfulness and derived techniques, such as “Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.” Apart from meditation, a number of important issues, such as notions of self and non-self, and Buddhist ethics and neuroethics, have been discussed. Yet, because of the media attention and a desire to reach consensus, problems and disagreements between the two fields have sometimes been ignored or downplayed, and the conversation has been limited to certain forms of Buddhist thought and practice. The time has come to move “beyond the hype” and to engage in a broader and more critical discussion.

Note: The lecture will be in English.            

※ Please click the link below to join the webinar:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89342617126

About the EBS

The Eastern Buddhist Society (EBS) was founded by D. T. Suzuki, Beatrice Lane Suzuki, Sasaki Gesshō, Akanuma Chizen, and Yamabe Shūgaku, with the main purpose of communicating the meaning and significance of Buddhism to the West. Since its founding, the Society has published an English-language journal, The Eastern Buddhist.