Dalai Lama's talk on empathy and compassion irks scientists.

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

 

We can have a fair idea of where " science " is headed if one takes a look at the

response to HH The Dalai Lama's impending speech on " Neuroscience and

Meditation " during his visit to the USA in November. He is to speak at the

Society for Neuroscience.

 

Are they against the Dalai Lama's visit or against " empathy and compassion " ?

Both I guess.

 

We must be alarmed at the way science is being projected.

 

Regards,

Jagannath.

 

 

Disinformation Campaign Against Dalai Lama Speaking at Neurscience Conference

-----------------------------

 

http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/08/1758498.php

I got the below unsolicited email to sign a petition against allowing the Dalai

Lama to speak at the Society for Neuroscience conference this year (I've

attended in previous years). The Dalai Lama's work that neuroscientists are

interested in is based in the potential neurological and physiological changes

that come about from meditation. The smear campaign being waged (primiarly by

Chinese researchers and probably pro-war people) is painting it as a 'religious'

event, essentially, and the petition organizers are using disinformation against

researchers working with him.

 

There was also an article in Nature on this issue which I'll include at the

bottom.

 

Mon, 08 Aug 2005 13:43:04 -0400

Concerned Neuroscientists <Neuroscientists

To:

Dalai Lama's Lecture at the SfN2005 Annual Meeting

 

Dear Colleague,

 

While fully supporting the initiative to promote interaction between

neuroscientists and the public, we are very concerned that the SfN has invited a

prominent religious leader, the Dalai Lama, to lecture on " Neuroscience &

Meditation " , a topic with unsubstantiated scientific claims. It is worth noting

that Dalai Lama's legitimacy relies on reincarnation, a religious doctrine

against the very foundation of modern neuroscience. We invite you to visit our

petition site where we outline compelling reasons to dispute SfN's decision. If

you share the same concerns with us, you can sign the letter at

http://www.petitiononline.com/sfn2005/petition.html

 

Thank you in advance for your support!

 

Sincerely,

 

The Undersigned

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?sfn2005

 

(Please feel free to forward this petition to your colleagues, trainees

and reseach staff)

 

 

http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050725/full/436452b.html

 

Nature

25 July 2005

 

Neuroscientists see red over Dalai Lama

David Cyranoski

 

Critics of meditation 'pseudoscience' say conference talk should be cancelled.

 

 

Some say meditation focuses the mind - but others say the research behind

such claims is limited. A growing number of neuroscientists are calling

for the cancellation of a special lecture to be given by the Dalai Lama in

November.

 

The Buddhist leader is due to speak at the annual meeting of the Society

for Neuroscience (SfN) in Washington DC, but a petition against the talk

has already gathered some 50 signatures.

 

The Dalai Lama has lived in exile in India since he fled Chinese troops in

Tibet in 1959. Over the past decade he has increasingly encouraged

researchers, sometimes at gatherings at his home, to study whether Tibetan

Buddhist meditation can reshape the brain and increase mental well-being.

 

It was during one of these meetings that he was asked by a member of the

society's executive committee, to give an inaugural lecture on 'the study

of empathy and compassion, and how meditation affects brain activity'.

 

Some of the critics believe that the Dalai Lama's lecture should be ruled

out because of his status as a political and religious figure. " One of the

reasons for inviting him is that he has views on controlling negative

emotions, which is a legitimate area for neuroscience research in the

future, " says Robert Desimone, director of the McGovern Institute for

Brain Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. But " the SfN

needs to distance itself as much as it can from the Dalai Lama and his

beliefs " , adds Desimone, who opposes the lecture but has not yet signed

the petition.

 

Many of the scientists who initiated the protest are of Chinese origin.

But they insist that their concerns are purely scientific. Yi Rao a

neuroscientist at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, helped to

draft the petition, which says that the science of meditation is " a

subject with hyperbolic claims, limited research and compromised

scientific rigour " .

 

The letter singles out one of the key publications in the analysis of

meditation, in which Richard Davidson, a psychologist at the University of

Wisconsin, Madison, and his colleagues claim that neural networks are

better coordinated in people who are practised in meditation.

 

Rao says that the study is flawed, especially in terms of the controls it

used, because it compared practising monks in their thirties and forties

with much younger university students. " Davidson is a respectable

scientist, " he says, " but he has put his respectability on the line with this. "

 

Davidson defends his work as the first step in a new field. " Meditation

research is in its infancy, " he says. He helped to arrange the Dalai

Lama's talk at the SfN meeting, to be held on 12-16 November. He says that

criticism of the lecture on scientific grounds is misplaced, because the

Dalai Lama is not claiming to be a scientist. " He merely wants to increase

scientific attention on the topics that he thinks are important for human

welfare, " Davidson says.

 

The lecture is the first in a new series organized by the SfN, billed as

" dialogues between neuroscience and society " . The controversy has ensured

that dialogue is already off to a rocky start.

 

The SfN's president, Carol Barnes, says that she is trying to find a

resolution to the protest that will not involve cancelling the lecture.

But one of the petition's organizers, Jianguo Gu of the University of

Florida, says that he and several other scientists will cancel their

lectures if the Dalai Lama's talk goes ahead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one click.