Visions of Compassion: western scientists and Tibetan Buddhist examine human nature

This book examines how Western behavioral science—which has generally focused on negative aspects of human nature—holds up to cross-cultural scrutiny, in particular the Tibetan Buddhist celebration of the human potential for altruism, empathy, and compassion. Resulting from a meeting between the Dalai Lama, leading Western scholars, and a group of Tibetan monks, this volume includes excerpts from these extraordinary dialogues as well as engaging essays exploring points of difference and overlap between the two perspectives.

Contributors

Part 1: Historical and Philosophical Background
1. Training the Mind: First Steps in a Cross-Cultural Collaboration in Neuroscientific Research, Zara Houshmound et al.
2. The Thing Known or the Knowing Eye? Conceiving Compassion between Science and Buddhism, Anne Harrington
3. Is Compassion an Emotion? A Cross-Cultural Exploration of Mental Typologies, Georges Dreyfus
4. Kindness and Cruelty in Evolution, Elliott Sober
5. Understanding Our Fundamental Nature, His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Dialogues, Part 1: Fundamental Questions
Part 2: Social, Behavioral, and Biological Explorations of Altruism, Compassion, and Related Constructs
6. Toward a Biology of Positive Affect and Compassion, Richard Davidson
7. Empathy-Related Emotional Responses, Altruism, and Their Socialization, Nancy Eisenberg
8. Emergency Helping, Genocidal Violence, and the Evolution of Responsibility and Altruism, Ervin Staub
9. Altruism in Competitive Environment