Emotional awareness : overcoming the obstacles to psychological balance and compassion : a conversation between the Dalai Lama and Paul Ekman

Two leading thinkers engage in a landmark conversation about human emotions and the pursuit of psychological fulfillment. At their first meeting, a remarkable bond was sparked between His Holiness the Dalai Lama, one of the world’s most revered spiritual leaders, and the psychologist Paul Ekman, whose groundbreaking work helped to define the science of emotions. Now these two luminaries share their thinking about science and spirituality, the bonds between East and West, and the nature and quality of our emotional lives. In this unparalleled series of conversations, the Dalai Lama and Ekman prod and push toward answers to the central questions of emotional experience. What are the sources of hate and compassion? Should a person extend her compassion to a torturer — and would that even be biologically possible? What does science reveal about the benefits of Buddhist meditation, and can Buddhism improve through engagement with the scientific method? As they come to grips with these issues, they invite us to join them in an unfiltered view of two great traditions and two great minds. Accompanied by commentaries on the findings of emotion research and the teachings of Buddhism, their interplay—amusing, challenging, eye-opening, and moving—guides us on a transformative journey in the understanding of emotions. The Dalai Lama and a groundbreaking psychologist present a collaborative work about human emotions and spirituality that bridges Eastern and Western philosophies to cover such topics as the sources of hate and compassion and the plausibility of forgiveness.Table of Contents: Foreword / by Daniel Goleman Introduction / by Paul Ekman East and West. Two traditions ; Science, religion, and truth ; The filter of moods ; When emotions are destructive ; Attachment and control ; The poverty of emotional language Experiencing emotion. What are emotions? ; Obstacles to constructive emotional experiences ; Calming difficult people ; Mindfulness ; The refractory period ; Emotional scripts Emotional balance. Meditative practice ; How high the bar ; The startle and the buffer ; Forgiveness and responsibility Anger, resentment, and hatred. Preparing for anger ; Expressing anger ; The varieties of anger ; The actor and the act ; The relatives of anger ; Motivating anger The nature of compassion. Defining compassion ; Compassion from an evolutionary perspective ; Animal intelligence ; Unbiased compassion ; Cultivating connectedness ; Cultivating consciousness ; The balance of wisdom and compassion ; Empathy, intelligence, and wisdom Global compassion. Extending the limits of compassion ; Releasing resentments ; Learning altruism ; Achieving emotional balance ; Gratitude and rejoicing ; Mental training gymnasiums Personal transformation. Changing the experience of emotion ; The mystery of goodness ; The path of reason. Foreword / Daniel Goleman Introduction / Paul Ekman 1. East and West 2. Experiencing Emotion 3. Emotional Balance 4. Anger, Resentment, and Hatred 5. The Nature of Compassion 6. Global Compassion 7. Personal Transformation

In this unparalleled series of conversations, the Dalai Lama and Ekman prod and push toward answers to the central questions of emotional experience.

Publishers Weekly

This edited transcription of 39 hours of dialogue between the Dalai Lama and renowned psychologist Ekman addresses issues ranging from the importance of mindfulness, the evolutionary function of moods, meditative breathing and the cultivation of compassion. Ekman and the Dalai Lama are articulate, deeply serious scholars, and their investigations into "the varieties of anger," the destructive potential of contempt and the power of forgiveness contain a wealth of fascinating insights; unfortunately, their musings would have benefited from more scrupulous editing-their pronouncements lie buried beneath conversational meandering and tangential discussions. The Dalai Lama's humor and curiosity do translate well, however, and do much in enlivening the unfocused text; he and Ekman delight in playfully invoking everything from traditional Buddhist thought to Western philosophy, Darwin, communism and personal anecdotes in a single breath. It's an intellectual treat readers will enjoy-if they can put up with the rambling transcript. (Sept.)

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