Today was the first day of the Cosmology and Consciousness Conference. About 150 Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns and 150 local Tibetan high school students arrived at 9 am for the start of the meeting. First, their was a procession for horns and a photo of the Dalai Lama that was placed at the front of the lecture hall. This was followed by some Tibetan chanting and opening remarks from Gesha Lhakdor, Director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives.
Dr. Bryce Johnson then introduced the western scientists who would speak at the conference and the meeting was underway. I switched chairs to become moderator of the session. The first speaker was Geshe Tempa Phakchok who compared western science ways of knowing to those of the Tibetan Buddhist ways of knowing. Surprisingly, there were many similiarities. Geshe Tenpa spoke in Tibetan, but we had live English translation through earplugs. After the talk, I moderated questions from a panel of Buddhist monks as well as from the audience who wrote their questions on notecards that were brought onto the stage.
The next speaker was cosmologist Dr. Chris Impey from the University of Arizona. Chris spoke about the how western science knows what it knows, using many astronomy examples. Unfortunately, the power went out a few times and we lost all lights, powerpoint, and audio through speakers. Also, the live Tibetan translation was lost. But Chris powered on and the conference continued in "classroom style" where Chris spoke a few sentences that were then translated into Tibetan.
After Chris' talk and discussion, Dr. Sonam Dolma, a Tibetan medical doctor, spoke about Tibetan medicine. She discussed in detail the background of Tibetan medicine and presented some results showing the efficacy of Tibetan medicine in treating disease.
Lunch was provided for everyone; the students ate outside under a large tent while everyone else ate inside. Before the next session started, a few Tibetan students approached me on the steps to the conference hall with some questions about the brain and sidedness. All of them were right handed; at least none of them admitted to being left handed. I asked if they knew if they were right or left legged, right or left eyed and right or left earred. None of them knew. Quickly we were surrounded by about 30 students and I had them all testing themselves for sidedness.
The next two hours were spent in discussion. I moderated one hour where the monks asked questions to the morning's panelists and the following hour I was one of the panelists answering questions from the monks and high school students. It was a tiring day, but one where I learned many new things about Tibetan Buddhism.
Tomorrow is a bit easier for me at the conference because I am a panelist for only one session. My talk is not until the last day, Sunday.
Dr. Bryce Johnson then introduced the western scientists who would speak at the conference and the meeting was underway. I switched chairs to become moderator of the session. The first speaker was Geshe Tempa Phakchok who compared western science ways of knowing to those of the Tibetan Buddhist ways of knowing. Surprisingly, there were many similiarities. Geshe Tenpa spoke in Tibetan, but we had live English translation through earplugs. After the talk, I moderated questions from a panel of Buddhist monks as well as from the audience who wrote their questions on notecards that were brought onto the stage.The next speaker was cosmologist Dr. Chris Impey from the University of Arizona. Chris spoke about the how western science knows what it knows, using many astronomy examples. Unfortunately, the power went out a few times and we lost all lights, powerpoint, and audio through speakers. Also, the live Tibetan translation was lost. But Chris powered on and the conference continued in "classroom style" where Chris spoke a few sentences that were then translated into Tibetan.
After Chris' talk and discussion, Dr. Sonam Dolma, a Tibetan medical doctor, spoke about Tibetan medicine. She discussed in detail the background of Tibetan medicine and presented some results showing the efficacy of Tibetan medicine in treating disease.
Lunch was provided for everyone; the students ate outside under a large tent while everyone else ate inside. Before the next session started, a few Tibetan students approached me on the steps to the conference hall with some questions about the brain and sidedness. All of them were right handed; at least none of them admitted to being left handed. I asked if they knew if they were right or left legged, right or left eyed and right or left earred. None of them knew. Quickly we were surrounded by about 30 students and I had them all testing themselves for sidedness.
The next two hours were spent in discussion. I moderated one hour where the monks asked questions to the morning's panelists and the following hour I was one of the panelists answering questions from the monks and high school students. It was a tiring day, but one where I learned many new things about Tibetan Buddhism.
Tomorrow is a bit easier for me at the conference because I am a panelist for only one session. My talk is not until the last day, Sunday.
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