At George Washington University, I had a dialogue with a scientist and a philosopher on consciousness, self and meditation. The scientist found in his initial study that meditation is shown to have anti-aging benefits, which is very similar to the Buddhist view.

Dr. Martha Herbert is an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and director of the TRANSCEND Research Program. She has studied autism, one of her main research interests, for more than twenty years. She gave me her book, The Autism Revolution, which is worth reading by parents of children with autism.

Here is a retreat center on the west coast of the United States, where many people are doing a three-year retreat. It would help you make progress in your practice if you could find a quiet place nearby to meditate for a few days during public holidays every year.

Neuroscientists at Harvard Medical School have studied for more than ten years how meditation affects the brain. They discovered that meditation is effective in treating depression. By using the same technique that we frequently mention, meditation can no doubt treat depression.

Google invited me and a neuroscientist to their headquarters to discuss consciousness from both the Buddhist and scientific perspectives. Presently, the view of mainstream neuroscience on consciousness remains where it was more than one hundred years ago. But my co-speaker was optimistic about the ongoing conversation between Buddhism and science.

Seasons move from autumn back to spring again. Days move when today turns back to yesterday. Time, an abstract concept based on the change in physical matter, cannot exist on its own. We, however, pay more and more attention to time and see it as the one thing we lack the most.

The second time at Harvard University, I participated in a dialogue on brain and meditation with some neuroscientists. In my speech, I expressed my view on the findings of neuroscience from a Buddhist perspective. Scientists have discovered that the mind can reshape the brain. Although this is very close to the Buddhist view, the current findings in science are analogous to seeing the water that moves when a fish swims near the, but not the fish itself—that is, only seeing some traces of the movement of consciousness.

I gave a talk about the value of life at UC Berkeley. We can always find new hope and purpose through a proactive and optimistic outlook on life.

Our true self is concealed in the deepest of mind whom we may get to meet only when we have transcended all emotions. Coming face to face with one’s true self is the ultimate self-awareness. All the answers are also here.

~ Khenpo's blog published on 8 May 2016