"If we are attuned to the reality that our biological, emotional, and spiritual needs are totally dependent on others, then we will feel gratitude and tenderness towards others."
Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics at Emory University, a Professor of Pedagogy in the University’s Department of Religion and the founder and spiritual director of Drepung Loseling Monastery.
After spending 27 years as a monk, Professor Negi has pioneered compassion training programmes and contributed to the development of compassion science.
In 2004, he developed CBCT® (Cognitively-Based Compassion Training), a secular contemplative programme based on Tibetan Buddhist practices that works to cultivate compassion. He also oversees SEE Learning™ (Social, Emotional and Ethical Learning), a programme which, championed by the Dalai Lama, spans from pre-school through to university. SEE Learning helps develop children's capacities for ethical discernment, attentiveness, and compassion for self and others.
Geshe Lobsang speaks with Julian about his monastic training, Buddhist teachings about compassion, and how we can all become more compassionate, whatever our beliefs.