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"The value of attention" by Richard Davidson

Dr. Davidson is professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as well as founder and director of the Center for Healthy Minds. He's influential for the bearings of his research on emotion and the human brain.

Dr. Davidson is professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as well as founder and director of the Center for Healthy Minds. He's widely considered to be one of the leading figures in the scientific inquiry of meditation and its effects on emotion regulation and cognition in general. Friend and confident of the Dalai Lama, he's a seasoned spokesperson as well as a refined one, he's conducted international stages such as the World Economic Forum, where he's an acting member of the Global Council on Mental Health. The Time Magazine has named Davidson as one of the "100 most influential people in the world" in 2006.

Focus on in recent months

November 2023
His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso’s deep fascination with Western natural sciences needs no introduction. MSA itself stems from his encouragement to take that path, that "gentle bridge" which was launched in the 1970s by the dialogue between Francisco Varela and His Holiness and then blossomed in the activities of Mind & Life. 
Focus on November 2023
His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso’s deep fascination with Western natural sciences needs no introduction. MSA itself stems from his encouragement to take that path, that "gentle bridge" which was launched in the 1970s by the dialogue between Francisco Varela and His Holiness and then blossomed in the activities of Mind & Life. 

More in Focus on

Amy Cohen Varela is Chair of the Board of Directors of Mind & Life Europe and has been involved in Mind and Life since its inception.
Serme Khen Rinpoche Gesce Tashi Tsering (born 1958) is the abbot of Sera Mey Monastic University in India. From 1994 to 2018 he was a resident Tibetan Buddhist teacher at the Jamyang Buddhist Centre, London.
Dr. Davidson is professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as well as founder and director of the Center for Healthy Minds. He's influential for the bearings of his research on emotion and the human brain.
Angelo Gemignami is a physician, psychiatrist and psychologist, currently teaching neuroscience at Pisa University, director of the surgical pathology and molecular medicine department; director of the neuroscience, mindfulness and contemplative practice master course and of the clinical psychology branch in the pisa university hospital ward.
Now that the Buddhist traditions confront themselves with cognitive neuroscience and other natural sciences, trying to build up or expand an edifice for studying the mind and conscious experience, it seems vital to stand for the legitimacy and self-sufficiency of Buddhist traditional thought, maintaining critical distance from the prestige (and thus privilege) the scientific apparatus holds in modern western society.
From the XIX century on, Buddhism has been called to confront challenges and opportunities collateral to the religious and cultural structure that characterized it in the pre-modern period.