Emory-Tibet Partnership

Since its inception in 1998, the Emory-Tibet Partnership has been committed to bringing together the best of the Western and Tibetan Buddhist intellectual traditions. By providing a modern framework that encompasses teaching, an open-minded exchange of ideas between persons, institutions, and cultures, cutting-edge interdisciplinary research, and community service, the Emory-Tibet Partnership represents a new kind of initiative that integrates the best qualities of the modern university.

In February 2007, Emory University was honored to make the historic announcement that His Holiness the Dalai Lama will join Emory as a Presidential Distinguished Professor. Now that this partnership has been strengthened with His Holiness playing an active role on campus and in the community through visits and lectures, this bridge between the two traditions offers an even more exciting range of conversations, discoveries and knowledge that may benefit individuals and society.

Located at the crossroads of India, China and the Middle East, Tibet was the repository for important traditions of learning—in the science of mind, in the nature of the person and the cosmos, and in medicine—and kept these traditions alive. Advances in the Western world in the natural and health sciences are now probing many of the same questions the Tibetan tradition has spent millennia investigating.

Both sides recognize the tremendous potential of a genuine two-way exchange of people and ideas that encompasses the areas of culture, philosophy, religion, science and health. With its exemplary faculty members—drawn from across the university's departments—and its unique ties to Tibetan institutions of higher learning, including the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Emory-Tibet Partnership provides a solid basis for this joint quest to explore the frontiers of knowledge.

"I believe that this is a very historic moment, to see the forging of a relationship between two eminent institutions which represent the best of both the Tibetan tradition and the Western academic tradition."
-H.H. the Dalai Lama

History of the Emory-Tibet Partnership

The Emory-Tibet Partnership is the result of two visionary individuals: His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Dr. Robert Paul, Dean of Emory College.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama has long recognized the importance of a close dialogue between modern western thought, including science, and the Tibetan contemplative and philosophical traditions.

Dean Robert Paul, himself a scholar of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, while engaging in fieldwork in the Himalayan region early in his career, also recognized the tremendous potential of bringing together modern scientific knowledge of the outer world and the contemplative knowledge of the inner world.

In 1991 Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi came to Atlanta with the blessings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to oversee the development of the Drepung Loseling Institute in Atlanta and pursue his graduate studies at Emory University's Institute of Liberal Arts. With Geshe Lobsang as a liaison between Emory and the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Dean Robert Paul, as his advisor, took the opportunity to lay the foundations for a partnership between Emory and Drepung Loseling Monastery that would realize this vision of bridging two worlds for the benefit of humanity.

During His Holiness the Dalai Lama's second visit to Emory in 1995, a delegation led by Dean Paul and Dr. Gary Hauk, Vice President of Emory, proposed the idea of this affiliation to His Holiness, who responded favorably. This led to the inauguration of the affiliation and the establishment of the Emory-Tibet Partnership upon His Holiness's third visit to Emory in 1998 as Emory's commencement speaker.

Since its founding in 1998 the Emory-Tibet Partnership has expanded to include affiliations with the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics, the home of Emory's study abroad program in Dharamsala, and the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, who are collaborating with Emory on the groundbreaking Emory-Tibet Science Initiative to develop and implement a comprehensive science education curriculum for Tibetan monastic institutions.

This year represents the next level for the Emory-Tibet Partnership. His Holiness the Dalai Lama has accepted Emory University's offer of the Presidential Distinguished Professorship, and his visit to the university in October 2007 will be a landmark event for the Partnership and the university as a whole.

Emory-Tibet Science Initiative

(http://www.college.emory.edu/tibetscience/)
In February 2006, Emory University launched the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative, an historic initiative to develop and implement a comprehensive science education curriculum for Tibetan monastics. Under the leadership of Geshe Lhakdor, the Director of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, the initiative originates from the longstanding vision of the Dalai Lama.

As the spiritual and temporal leader of the Tibetan people, the Dalai Lama believes that science education within Buddhist monasteries and nunneries not only will give Tibetan monastics new tools for understanding the world, but also will contribute to the effort of conveying time-tested Buddhist contemplative wisdom in a practical way that can help relieve suffering around the world.

In the words of His Holiness the Dalai Lama;

"I deeply appreciate that Emory University has made a commitment to collaborate with the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives to develop and implement a comprehensive and sustainable science education program. I have long believed in and advocated a dialogue and cross-fertilization between science and spirituality, as both are essential for enriching human life and alleviating suffering on both individual and global levels."

The Emory-Tibet Science Initiative has a unique opportunity to fulfill this need, and thus make a contribution not only to the Emory and Tibetan communities, but to the world at large, by expanding the horizons of human knowledge and wisdom."

The Emory-Tibet Science Initiative will oversee the development of the curriculum, the materials, and design a sustainable instructional model. It comprises faculty within both the sciences and the humanities from Emory and other universities and institutions. We welcome collaborations with individuals and organizations who are active in this area.

The Emory-Tibet Science Initiative is a landmark undertaking of Emory College and is organized through Emory-Tibet Partnership and Science Initiatives in the Office for Undergraduate Education. It is directed by Preetha Ram, The Emory-Tibet Science Initiative's on-campus academic programs are administered through Emory College's Program in Science and Society and by the Emory Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology Program.