In this second episode of season 2 "Educating for Empathy," Prof. Geshe Lobsang Tenzin, Executive Director of Emory's Compassion Center, discusses how meditation is not just a relaxation technique, but is best understood as a form of education. Prof. Negi has overseen the development of all of the major programs offered at the Compassion Center. He tells the story of how Cognitively-Based Compassion Training -- the most scientifically researched compassion meditation protocol -- got its start from the suggestion of an Emory undergraduate, Molly Harrington, who worked to destigmatize mental illness on campus. And he discusses how he has seen SEE Learning, Emory's free social emotional learning program -- now implemented in some form in 77 countries -- greeted as a "dream come true" around the world. Prof. Negi discusses the upcoming launch of the Compassion Shift, an effort to scale these two programs in an integrated way to help bring about the Dalai Lama's vision of a global culture of compassion, as well as the role science education for monastic scholars can play in furthering the field of "contemplative science."
Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi was born in a remote village in Kinnaur, India. He was selected to be in the first class of a school founded by H.H. the Dalai Lama, the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics. After that, he continued his studies at Drepung Loseling Monastic University in South India. In the 1990s he enrolled at Emory University as a doctoral student under Dr. Robert Paul, professor of anthropology and later Dean of Emory College. Following completion of his degree, he became a Lecturer at Emory University as is now a full Teaching Professor. In 1998 he became director of the Emory-Tibet Partnership, which in 2017 transitioned to become the Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics (or "Compassion Center" for short). The Center has three main programs: Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT), SEE Learning (Social Emotional and Ethical Learning), and ETSI (Emory Tibet Science Initiative).
Prof Negi serves as the Executive Director of the Compassion Center, and continues to teach courses for undergraduates at Emory and on Emory's summer "Tibetan Mind/Body Sciences" summer study abroad program in India.
For more information on the Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics and its programs, visit https://compassion.emory.edu