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Why the Dalai Lama Matters
His Act of Truth as the Solution for China, Tibet, and the World
Why the Dalai Lama Matters explores just why he has earned the world's love and respect, and how restoring Tibet's autonomy within China is not only possible, but highly reasonable, and absolutely necessary for all of us together to have a peaceful future as a global community.
- Publications Books
- June 3, 2008
- 256 pages
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"Why the Dalai Lama Matters" with Robert Thurman (sample)
Author and Buddhist scholar, Professor Robert Thurman, discusses his new book Why the Dalai Lama Matters with former IONS President James O’Dea. Dr. Thurman explains how the situation between China and Tibet affects the whole world.
- Audio Teleseminars
- 2008-08-13
- 00:03:00
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Sacred Earth
Places of Peace and Power
Acclaimed photographer and anthropologist Martin Gray spent the last 20 years on an amazing pilgrimage: he visited 1,000 sacred sites in 80 countries around the world. His journey unfolds in a remarkable compilation of images that reveals just how devoutly pre-industrial cultures everywhere worshipped and respected our Earth.
- Publications Books
- October 1, 2007
- 288 pages
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Essential Shifts Interview: Brian Johnson
From discussions of Greek arete and the necessity for "both/and" thinking to practical advice on creating organizations that unleash our full potential, Brian ranges freely across myriad domains in his reflections on the keys to creating an outstanding life that makes a difference.
- Audio Interviews
- 2006-05-17
- 00:29:23
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Master Mingtong Gu
Mingtong Gu received his training from a variety of Grandmasters in China, Tibet and at the world’s largest Qigong hospital. He is the founder of The Chi Center and Wisdom Healing Foundation and was just awarded Qigong Master of the Year by World Qi Congress. He offers on-going healing intensive retreats modeled at EarthRise at the Institute of Noetic Sciences.
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Robert Thurman, PhD
Robert Thurman is Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia University, President of Tibet House US, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Tibetan civilization, and President of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies. The New York Times recently hailed him as "the leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism."
The first American to have been ordained a Tibetan Buddhist monk and a personal friend of the Dalai Lama for over 40 years, Professor Thurman is a passionate advocate and spokesperson for the truth regarding the current Tibet-China situation and the human rights violations suffered by the Tibetan people under Chinese rule. His commitment to finding a peaceful, win-win solution for Tibet and China inspired him to write his latest book, Why the Dalai Lama Matters: His Act of Truth as the Solution for China, Tibet and the World, published in June of 2008.
Professor Thurman also translates important Tibetan and Sanskrit philosophical writings and lectures and writes on Buddhism, particularly Tibetan Buddhism; on Asian history, particularly the history of the monastic institution in the Asian civilization; and on critical philosophy, with a focus on the dialogue between the material and inner sciences of the world's religious traditions.
Professor Thurman's scholarly and popular writings focus on the "inner revolution" that individuals and societies successfully negotiate when they achieve enlightenment. He defines this inner revolution as accurate insight into the true nature of reality and determined compassion for the suffering beings. He also works toward what he terms a "Second Renaissance," which he sees currently taking place as Western culture goes beyond the 14th century European discovery of the natural sciences of the ancient Greeks that catalyzed the "first renaissance" to discover and apply in practice the advanced "inner science" of ancient Indian culture.
Popularizing the Buddha's teachings is just one of Thurman's creative talents. He is a riveting speaker and an author of many books on Tibet, Buddhism, art, politics and culture, including Circling the Sacred Mountain, Essential Tibetan Buddhism, The Tibetan Book of the Dead, Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet, Infinite Life: Seven Virtues for Living Well, Inner Revolution, The Jewel Tree of Tibet and, most recently, Why the Dalai Lama Matters.
He is credited with being at the forefront of making Tibetan art accessible and understandable in the West and, with distinguished art historians, he has collaborated in curating several important traveling exhibitions, including "Wisdom and Compassion," "Mandala," and "Worlds of Transformation," which set a standard in the art world.
Thurman's work and insights are grounded in more than 35 years of serious academic scholarship. He has a B.A., A.M. and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard and has studied in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in India and the United States. A long-time advocate of Buddhist monasticism, Thurman was ordained in 1962. He gave up his robes after several years, however, when he discovered he could be most effective in the American equivalent of the monastery, the university. He is a popular professor at Columbia, where he holds the Jey Tsong Khapa chair in Indo-Tibetan Studies.
Thurman's knowledge of Tibetan history and culture is often sought by policy makers. He has testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Additionally, a plan he authored, which appeared in the Wall Street Journal in 1998 as an op-ed piece entitled "Freeing Tibet Is in China's Interest", is regarded by many as a practical plausible blueprint for peacefully ending the human rights violations and cultural destruction in Tibet and was the foundation for Why the Dalai Lama Matters -
Francis Tiso, Fr.
Father Francis V. Tiso was Associate Director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2004 to 2009, where he served as liaison to Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, the Sikhs, and Traditional religions as well as the Reformed confessions.
Before coming to the USCCB, Father Tiso was assigned to the Archdiocese of San Francisco where he served as Parochial Vicar of St. Thomas More Church and Chaplain at San Francisco State University and the University of California Medical School. He was also Visiting Professor in the archdiocesan School of Pastoral Leadership, where he taught courses in Foundational Theology. He also served as Parochial Vicar in Eureka, CA and in Mill Valley, CA.
A New York native, Father Tiso holds the A.B. in Medieval Studies from Cornell University. He earned a Master of Divinity degree (cum laude) at Harvard University and holds a doctorate from Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary where his specialization was Buddhist studies. He translated several early biographies of the Tibetan yogi and poet, Milarepa, for his dissertation on sanctity in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. He has led research expeditions in South Asia, Tibet and the Far East, and his teaching interests include Christian theology, history of religions, spirituality, ecumenism and interreligious dialogue.
Father Tiso is a priest of the Diocese of Isernia-Venafro, Italy, where he now serves (since September 6, 2009) as pastor of the parish of St. Michael in Fornelli (IS). He was Diocesan Delegate for Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs from 1990 to 1998 and rector of the Istituto Diocesano delle Scienze Religiose. He was also chaplain of the well-known Hermitage of Saints Cosmas and Damian at Isernia from 1988 to1998.
In 1995 Father Tiso was invited to accompany Cardinal Francis Arinze, then head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, to a dialogue with Buddhist leaders in Taiwan. He has traveled extensively in India, Nepal, Tibet, Thailand, Japan, and Bangladesh.
Father Tiso has written and lectured widely. He is the recipient of grants from the American Academy of Religion, the American Philosophical Society, the Palmers Fund in Switzerland, and the Institute of Noetic Sciences in Petaluma, CA. He is a musician and paints in acrylics and watercolors.
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About/Temple Award Winners
Recipients of the Temple Award for Creative Altruism About the Temple Awards Past Recipients: 2011 | 2009 | 2007 | 2005 | 2003 | 2001 | 1999 | 1998 2011 Edgar Mitchell Institute of Noetic Sciences Petaluma ... -
Michael Bernard Beckwith
In 1986, Michael Bernard Beckwith was gifted with the vision of a trans-denominational spiritual community whose doors would be open to all seekers in search of authentic spirituality, personal transformation, and selfless service to humankind. He founded the Agape International Spiritual Center upon his faith in that vision, which has now grown to become one of the nation's largest multicultural spiritual movements of its type with a support base of 10,000 local members and 1 million friends from across the U.S. and around the globe.
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Civilization on the Cusp: Responding to Our Evolutionary Challenge
We are the only species on this planet that can speak, write, reflect, discover, create, and communicate with one another in words and gestures and that can give expression to our imagination and our skills in beautiful artefacts, exquisite musical forms, and brilliant technological inventions such as the Hubble telescope. How have we come to believe that this entire creative panorama has no meaning?
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Metaphysics in Popular Culture
In the following dialogue, excerpted and adapted from the Institute of Noetic Sciences’ teleseminar series “Essentials of Noetic Sciences,” IONS Director of Research Cassandra Vieten talks with Jeffrey Kripal, chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Rice University. Kripal’s latest book is Authors of the Impossible: The Paranormal and the Sacred (University of Chicago Press, 2010).
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Tasting the Universe: What Synesthesia Suggests about the Nature of Consciousness
Among the beneficiaries of the various shifts in human consciousness now underway are a little-known group of outliers known as synesthetes. A synesthete may hear a symphony but also see amorphous, multi-colored shapes go by. She may say the word “table” and taste cake, just like Academy Award-winner Tilda Swinton.
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Staff Picks: Our 2011 Media Favorites on Consciousness Matters
Members of the IONS staff enrich their lives and entertain their minds by staying connected to the world of consciousness science and shifts in worldview through books, films, and other media. Here are some of our favorites from the last year. Check them out in 2012!
- Media and Consciousness
- Reviews
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Neurotheology: The Crucible of Religion
Are spiritual experiences a by-product of brain chemistry, or do they reflect contact with a higher source? Such questions are the focus of an emerging field of scientific study that is finding common ground between the spiritual and the secular.