His Holiness the Dalai Lama : A Personal Account
Rigpa
On the occasion of His Holiness the Dalai Lama's teachings in France this year [2000], the organizers of this event have asked me to write down some of my personal impressions of him. I have gladly accepted, since it gives me the opportunity to share with others the extraordinary fortune I have had, to spend a great deal of time with him in close contact and in deep exchange. The occasion for these encounters has been the Mind & Life Conferences, a series of regular meetings which have taken place since 1987 in His Holiness's house in Dharamsala, with the aim of exploring the interface between science and Buddhism.
The Mind and Life Meetings
His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Francisco Varela
I first met His Holiness the Dalai Lama during an interdisciplinary conference in 1983 in Alpbach in Austria. Although already famous, he was not yet the international celebrity he is now, I remember we met around a lunch table, and very quickly as soon as he realized that I was a neuroscientist, he asked me about the relation between the brain and the mind. After the initial surprise, I suggested that something about how the brain functions may make it possible to see this connection in action. He wanted to know more and more details, and soon we were deep into intense and flowing exchange. That lunch set the tone for things to come. A year later during a tour in Paris, he asked me to come and visit him at his hotel. Again, his relentless curiosity about the brain and the body was unstoppable. Finally, assistants had to pull him by the sleeve, saying "Your Holiness, the House of Representatives (Assemblée Nationale) is waiting for you!". And indeed it was. As he was leaving, he said, "I want to continue these conversations. Could you please come to Dharamsala?" It seemed to me that to go alone was not the best way to use his time, and so I decided to take along a small group of other scientists who could complement my own expertise. The idea matured over the next year, especially after meeting Adam Engle, a business man who was also trying to organize such encounters. We joined forces, and that led to the first of the Mind and Life Conferences in 1987, on the topic of the sciences of mind, or cognitive sciences, and Buddhism. (1)
The experience was unique: a full week, eight hours a day, of direct contact with His Holiness in his own living room, sitting around in a circle. There was no public, no press, only the five invited scientists, and a few observers. Every day the morning would be devoted to a presentation of a specific topic, with a free-ranging discussion in the afternoon. As the days went on, the atmosphere became progressively more relaxed and joyous, and the discussions more and more precise. At the end, we asked His Holiness whether he wanted to participate in another meeting in two years time. He responded with an enthusiastic affirmative: the Mind and Life series was launched in earnest. We have not stopped since; the eighth gathering took place just a few months ago. Since the beginnings of Mind and Life, the topics covered and the number of participants invited each time has expanded considerably, and now new activities have been added, related to research.(2)
In a basic sense, these meetings have become the standard for how to conduct the necessary interface between Dharma and western science: respectfully, productively and at such a level that both sides are transformed. This has also meant hundreds of hours of direct contact with His Holiness, in an open trusting environment. This is the basis from which I wish now to provide a personal account of what I have been able to see and learn first-hand from this extraordinary human being, in these extraordinary circumstances.
Impressions of a Remarkable Man
My impressions from these encounters are numerous, and they are hard to classify. But let me touch on a few dimensions.
A first clear-cut impression is the unwavering stability of His Holiness's mind. In spite of sometimes arduous and complicated explanations, and even when he had the 'flu or was tired, his attention and presence were always there. In all those hours together, I never had the the impression that he might be distanced, or have gone into something else in his mind. In parallel, I always felt my own presence heightened, and stabilized. It is so unusual to be with somebody like that; you get the feeling of a special occasion, although it might just be a matter of drinking a cup of tea. In fact it is not so different from the same engaged and crisp look anybody can see in his public appearances, as if always ready to expect the unexpected. I remember that our first Mind and Life meeting coincided with an uprising in Lhasa, in which many of his people were killed and imprisoned. We knew that from early morning he had to deal with the news, his Government, and journalists concerning this delicate situation. Yet, at 9 o'clock sharp he would appear in the room, take his seat, and listen to the next bit of science as if it were the only thing in the world.
I have observed often that when distinguished scientists are invited to participate in one of the meetings they accept, since the occasion seems unique and the aura around His Holiness is very tempting. What few of them expect is to find that once engaged in conversation, there is an amazing intellect there that locks into the logic of a scientific argument or an experiment with uncanny precision. Once a cognitive psychologist was describing some classical experiments performed in the sixties, having to do with how to understand mental functions. His Holiness listened to the experiment intently, and then said: "Well, if that was the result, why not try this experiment next", and proceeded to describe an ingenious experimental test. The answer came: "That's precisely what was done next!" The situation repeated itself four times, until we had advanced well into the nineties. He had single handedly re-invented thirty years of experimental progress in cognitive psychology, in one hour of productive conversation! Sometimes this keen intelligence shows up critically, and before you know it you find yourself in a technical debate that you only thought possible with other scientific colleagues. In spite of his brilliance, however, he never seems bent on proving himself or his ideas right, or on showing off. In fact, more often than not you see that, having understood a scientific point he immediately reframes it in terms of how it might be helpful to others. On one occasion, we were immersed in a debate about the existence of levels of consciousness that are so subtle that they do not depend on the integrity of the brain, which was his position. As a scientist, I was arguing that since it operated within the body, such subtle consciousness could, in principle, be detected by its effects on ordinary mind. He reflected and concluded: "It would be really important to do research on this, and see if scientifically we could decide how it happens. Then many people would be interested in exploring their more subtle minds". This permanent concern for others goes beyond the human realm. Often in considering mental faculties such as negative emotions, he will repeatedly ask about animals: "Are they also subject to that suffering?" You have the impression that the thinking happening in the room has all sentient beings and their needs as a constam backdrop.
But in the end, the time spent with His Holiness leaves you with a basic impression of warmth, humor and a disarming simplicity. So strong and effortless is this atmosphere that without exception, the panel of participants, most of them neither Buddhist nor followers of His Holiness, are rapidly engulfed. No one wants those sessions to end.
“But in the end, the time spent with His Holiness leaves you with a basic impression of warmth, humor and a disarming simplicity. So strong and effortless is this atmosphere that without exception, the panel of participants, most of them neither Buddhist nor followers of His Holiness, are rapidly engulfed. No one wants those sessions to end.”
On a more personal note
So far I have spoken as a participant in these extraordinary dialogues. Over the years, however my personal connection with His Holiness bas become strong and very friendly, beyond all my expectations. Around 1996, I fell seriously ill with a liver disease condition. In March of that year, Ifound out after a medical scan that I had developed a cancer. The magic of it is that two days before this scan, I had received a fax from His Holiness saying that he was very concerned about my health, and that I should do everything in my power to preserve my life. This message was like a ray of light that reinforced the courage I needed to go through the long journey necessary to prevent the cancer from spreading, to wait for a donor, and eventually to receive an organ transplant. Throughout all that time, and especially during the difficult recovery from transplantation, he kept me in his mind, as I learned from various people who informed me. Knowing that this was the case was, again, a source of inspiration that I will never forget. To imagine that in the midst of his many, many responsibilities, with the millions of people who look to him as guide and protector, he could find the time and the attention to think about my condition, or a single individual, far away, is just amazing. I have simply come to believe that, as the old texts say, the qualities of compassion are inconceivable. When I saw him again in March this year, quite recovered from my troubles, he gave me a long, tight hug and said "This is like a true reunion!". I keep that moment of heart connection, as a treasure.
“To imagine that in the midst of his many, many responsibilities, with the millions of people who look to him as guide and protector, he could find the time and the attention to think about my condition, or a single individual, far away, is just amazing.”
Let me conclude by saying the following: being with His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a true experience of transformation. To have a first-hand experience of a human being that walks the same ground and breathes the same air as we do, and that has developed to such an extent into a constant manifestation of enlightened qualities, is priceless. A living example of what is given to every one of us to become, an aspiration that we can strive for, knowing that it truly exists, right now, in front of us.
Francisco Varela (1946 - 2001) was a Harvard-trained neuroscientist, who worked in Paris, where he was Director of Research at C.N.R.S., and head of the laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Brain Imaging. He published extensively in scientific journals, and is also the author of several books, among them The Embodied Mind (MIT Press), and Sleeping, Dreaming and Dying (Wisdom Publications).
1. This first meeting has been published as: Jeremy W. Hayward and Francisco J. Varela (eds.), Gentle Bridges: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on the Sciences of Mind, Boston: Shambhala, 1992.
2. For further information, including the other published books based on these meetings, see the web page at mindandlife.org.