In 2013, during a historic six-day meeting at a Tibetan monastery in southern India, the Dalai Lama gathered with leading scientists, philosophers, and monks for in-depth discussions on the nature of reality, consciousness, and the human mind. This eye-opening book presents a record of those spirited and wide-ranging dialogues, featuring contributions from prominent scholars like Richard Davidson, Matthieu Ricard, Tania Singer, and Arthur Zajonc as they address such questions as: Does nature have a nature? Do you need a brain to be conscious? Can we change our minds and brains through meditation? Throughout, the contributors explore the exciting and sometimes surprising commonalities between Western scientific and Tibetan Buddhist methods of perceiving, investigating, and knowing. Part history, part state-of-the-field, part inspiration for the future, this book rigorously and accessibly explores what these two investigative traditions can teach each other, and what that can tell us about ourselves and the world.
Monastery and the Microscope: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on Mind, Mindfulness, and the Nature of Reality, Wendy Hasenkamp (Editor), Janna R. White (Editor), Yale University Press, Hardcover, 385 Pages, 2017, $38.00

Wendy Hasenkamp serves as science director at the Mind & Life Institute. She received her PhD in Neuroscience from Emory University in 2005, and spent her early career studying schizophrenia from molecular, physiological, and cognitive perspectives. Her main interest is in understanding how subjective experience is represented in the brain, and how the mind and brain can be transformed through experience and practice to enhance flourishing. Wendy's later research examines the neural correlates of meditation, with a focus on the shifts between mind wandering and attention. She has also contributed to neuroscience curriculum development, teaching, and textbook creation for the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative, which aims to integrate science into the Tibetan monastic education system in India.

Janna R. White is a non-fiction writer and editor with numerous volumes to her credit. As an editor she specializes in South Asian and Buddhist materials, health, and higher education, with a particular focus on interdisciplinary works. She is the copyeditor of 12 books, two dozen scholarly articles and translations, and numerous other texts for online and print publication. Janna was a 2010 Glimpse Correspondent fellow in India. In her writing, she explores cross-cultural conceptions of religion, health, and family. She is a proud graduate of Smith College, and still lives and works in Northampton, MA. For more information, visit www.jannarwhite.com.

Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction Wendy Hasenkamp with Janna R. WHite	1
PART ONE: MATTER AND MIND
Quantum physics and the Nature of Reality
ONE: Diving into Indra's Net: Quantum Holism and Relativity Arthur Zajonc	21
TWO: Why the Moon Follows Me: Observation and Relationality in Phenomena Michel Bitbol	51
THREE: The silence of the Noble Ones: Madhyamaka on the Limits of Reality Thupten Jinpa	85
Consciousness Studies and the Nature of Mind
FOUR: The Essence of Mind: Dualism, Mind-Body Entanglement, and Conscious Experience John Durant and Geshe Dadul Namgyal	99
FIVE: The Feeling of Being a Brain: Material Correlates of Consciousness Christof Koch	112
SIX: Moth's-Eye View: Theoretical Cognitive Modeling Rajesh Kasturirangan	142
SEVEN: To Look at the Mind with the Mind: Buddhist Views of Consciousness Matthieu Ricard	151
EIGHT: A Strange Loop of Relations: Phenomenology and Experience Michel Bitbol	171
PART TWO: TRANSFORMATION
Neuroscience and Neuroplasticity
NINE: The Plastic Brain: Fundamentals of Neuroscience and Neuroplasticity Wendy Hasenkamp and Geshe Dadul Namgyal	195
TEN: If You Toss a Stone into a Lake: Attention and Emotion in the Brain Richard J. Davidson	211
ELEVEN: I Feel Your Pain: The Social Neuroscience of Empathy and Compassion Tania Singer	234
Contemplative Practice in the World
TWELVE: Working Skillfully with Spilled Milk: Mindfulness in Clinical Psychology Sona Dimidjian	270
THIRTEEN: A Living Tradition: Applications of Compassion Training James Doty and Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi	284
FOURTEEN: The Heart of Education: Learning through Contemplative Experience Aaron Stern and Arthur Zajonc	304
FIFTEEN: Transformative Measures: Education and Secular Ethics His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Geshe Ngawang Samten	324
APPENDIX: Questions and Answers with Five Thousand Monastics	337
Notes	349
List of Contributors	367
List of Supporting Organizations	370
Index	373