SHINZEN APPROVES of RICHIE DAVIDSON's VISION

One of the main laboratories for affective neuroscience neuroscience that is looking at human emotion is also one of the main laboratories for contemplative neuroscience. Both of those terms affective neuroscience. The note of science of human emotion, and contemplative neuroscience, which is turning the lens of Science Twords contemplative experience. Both those terms as far as I know where.

Coined by the same person and that person's lab is one of the main places where this kind of research goes on and who is that person and where is that lab?

So Richard Davidson at.

With the University of Wisconsin my alma mater. Actually, I did my undergraduate work at UCLA and Asian languages. But I did Buddhist studies at the University of Wisconsin back in the day when it was still weird to be interested in Buddhism.

Um.

But things were beginning to change, so there was no contemplative neuroscience at the University Wisconsin in 1970. That's all of course, much, much later. But there was Buddhist studies. You wanna know why the University of Wisconsin in my day was the Premier.

Location for the academic study of Buddhism, the how to it's like wiscconsin. Why wiscconsin of all places. I mean, you might think Berkeley or Harvard or something? Why was the first PhD program in Buddhism at the University of Wisconsin well it's a nice little example of what in Buddhism is called Patita Summit, part of the causal net. This being that is this being that is this being that is.

Leads to some interesting consequences.

By the way it was a magic time.

Let's see I must have gone there in 68. I think is when I probably that's right 1968 Madison 68 right.

Well, you know it was crazy right means like the Vietnam War was raging my Buddhist education, 3 years of Graduate School.

Paid for by.

The DOD.

The Department of Defense of the United States government.

Why?

Why are they? Why are they giving out like huge endowments to study Buddhism?

Yeah, they realize there was there were political consequences to Buddhism, in SE Asia. Now there are political consequences to Islam. So there's lots of money if you want to study Arabic. Well, there was a lot of money available. If you wanted to study Buddhism. So, yeah, the Department of Defense paid for my PhD education in Buddhism.

An and I paid them back by.

Being in all sorts of anti government demonstrations.

Which Madison was very famous for if you know the history of the time?

It was pretty wild. I mean, I didn't do violent stuff. Some People got really violent that blew up one of the buildings on campus. I don't know if you remember that history or whatever it's pretty crazy. I loved it and we got one of our People dope smoking hippie elected mayor.

And Yeah, it was pretty interesting time and that's that's where you could you would get a PhD in Buddhist studies?

Now, if you look around the People that are now retiring academics.

In Buddha's in the Buddhist field. Those are the people I went to school with.

So I see these books published by this one and that one is that I remember he was like really crappy in Sanskrit. I had to help him out.

It's sort of fun, but I didn't go down an academic course. I got shunted as you know into something else. But I still have those song scars. So you guys have to put up with dozens of languages and all sorts of.

Arcane factoids that I find amazingly interesting and it's probably pretty irrelevant to a lot of People but anyway, so Madison when I was there. There was no there was no contemplative neuroscience. But there was Buddhist study. So why wiscconsin Alf? What arrows can you line up that .2?

Wiscconsin of all places being the Premier location for Buddhist studies.

1st in North America.

Like doesn't seem to quite compute.

So when you think of wiscconsin besides the Green Bay Packers what else do you think of?

Your take of cheese.

Um and why do you think of cheese and by the way it is related to cheese?

Well dairy there is part of farming and the University of Wiscconsin had the best agriculture programs. It was specialized in agriculture science.

Because big agriculture state.

So there is a science specialty in in agriculture now.

The country of India has had a perennial problem.

And that perennial problem is feeding itself.

So.

Lots of People came over from India to study agriculture science at the University Wisconsin. So now there is a general tendency in the academic world. If you have a lot of People from a certain region of the globe. For whatever reason are coming to your University well. It also sort of makes sense to have area studies for that region.

At that University case in Point USC.

What is USC's specialty as far as?

Area studies.

Huh.

I know, but

Uhm well it may be different now. But in my day. USC was where you went for Islamic Studies Middle Eastern Whi because salada wealthy people in the Middle East could buy their way for their kids into USC.

So we have a lot of People from the Middle East and you had a lot of money coming from the Middle East. So there's Big Center for Islamic and Middle Eastern Research. At least, there was 30 years ago when I used to use the library there would be this big Islamic center, so it made sense because we had a lot of People coming from India to the University of Wisconsin well. Let's make Indian studies, not Indian in the sense of American Indian but E Indian so.

Indian studies studies of Indic civilization and as People be got interested in Buddhism. Well, that is a product of India, so Buddhist studies.

Makes sense at the University of Wisconsin because it has an area specialty in India. So yes, cheese is responsible ultimately for.

All of this esoterica, these weird languages that you have to endure me talking about 'cause I went. I was in a PhD program for Buddhist studies so anyway. Now, when we think of Wiscconsin. We have affective neuroscience and contemplative neuroscience? How cool is that and that's Richie Richie Davidson and some of you actually know him pretty well.

Most of you know him by reputation.

So the first time I ever visited Richie, the first thing he laid on me when he was showing me around his lab, which wasn't nearly as big as it is now because the Dalai Lama gave him a couple $1,000,000, there really doing pretty good, but he still had a pretty substantially at a whole building and he was showing me around and he laid out this vision that he had for what his graduate program.

In neuroscience would be and the phrase, he used was a Science Sunca.

Science Sangha Nice Yeah, a community of meditation practitioners.

Who are were also scientist so so?

I don't know if it was required. But certainly everyone that I knew that studied that was a nuro scientist with Richie's program was also a meditator so the idea being that.

It's not just well, we need to understand these experiences so we have to Meditate, but his idea was that this is going to make us better People and specifically better scientists.

So that's like.

That's a model right there, it's actually happening something that meditation can bring.

If I didn't have all these other responsibilities if I could.

You know just if I had a lot of spare time what I would probably do is.

Develop meditation courses specifically aimed at geeks and scientists.

Site just bring that in so.

That's something that.

There.

Enlightenment or meditation can give to science that will help science do its job better.