Exploring Consciousness: Science Meets Spirituality

B. Alan Wallace is a highly respected meditation teacher in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and is a leading voice in discussions on the relationship between science and Buddhist philosophy. In 1971, he moved to India to study Tibetan Buddhism, medicine and language. In India he was ordained by the Dalai Lama and spent fourteen years as a monk where he studied with and translated for several highly respected lamas. In 1984 he studied physics at Amherst College and went on to gain a PhD from Stanford on the interface between Buddhism and Western science. Since 1987 he has been a frequent translator and contributor to meetings between the Dalai Lama and prominent scientists, and he has written and translated more than 40 books. He is the founder and director of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies and of the Center for Contemplative Research in Crestone, Colorado. Today we speak about the contemplative approach to studying the mind as well as the Dzogchen teachings on the nature of consciousness of Tibetean Buddhism that have been very important for both of us.