地點：印度 達蘭沙拉 Dharamsala
時間：2009年04月06-10日 April 6-10, 2009
報導：Tashi Paljor
攝影：Tashi Paljor

法王參加在達蘭沙拉達賴喇嘛宮邸召開的第十八屆『心靈與生命研討會』，與來自美國、加拿大等國家的心理學、哲學與認知科學、認知神經科學等專家、學者們齊聚一堂，展開為期五天有關心靈與生命，包含佛教理論與實修等問題的討論與對話。

會議開始，由尊者達賴喇嘛切入本屆研討會之主題：『注意力，記憶和內心：心理觀點，神經科學觀點與冥想觀點之共同合作』

心靈與生命的對話，或者更普遍地稱為『佛教與科學的對話』，於1987年首次召開，最初是實驗此種交流是否可能發生在現代科學家和達賴喇嘛之間。

本屆研討會主要重點放在，從科學和佛教的觀點上看主觀現象學，訊息處理過程，與神經之注意、記憶和自覺意識的機制。

一些科學研究計劃探討沉思的影響力，而這也是心靈與生命科學家們之首要追求目標之一，研究沉思練習的影響，如禪修和心理訓練對大腦與行為的影響，並將轉譯這些數據為有效的工具，以造福人民。

卡傑仁切，好萊塢佛教名星理察吉爾、羅伯圖門，佛教學者及各方作者等亦出席本屆研討會。

His Holiness Karmapa attended the “Mind and Life” conference, which took place at His Holiness Dalai Lama’s residence.

Prominent western scientists and renowned academics have gathered for five days of presentation and dialogues as part of a “Mind and Life” conference series, including Buddhist scholar-practitioners.

The conference themed: “Attention, Memory and Mind: A synergy of Psychological, Neuroscientific and Contemplative Perspectives” started with an inaugural talk by the Dalai Lama.

This is the 18th Mind and Life meeting. The first meeting took place in 1987.

The Mind and Life Dialogues, more generally termed “Dialogues between Buddhism and the sciences”, were initially started to experiment whether a rigorous exchange could occur between leading modern scientists and the Dalai Lama.

The 18th Mind and Life Conference aims the primary focus on the subjective phenomenology, information-processing operations, and neural mechanisms of attention, memory and conscious awareness from both scientific and Buddhist perspectives.

A number of scientific research programs collaborated with contemplatives to conduct scientific investigation and one of the primary pursuits of Mind and Life scientists is to study the effects of contemplative practices like meditation and mental training have on brain and behavior, and the translation of this data into effective tools to benefit people.

Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, Hollywood Buddhist star, Richard Gere and, Robert Thurman, Buddhist scholar and author are among others taking part in the ongoing conference.