Picture 5.
Equipment cases spread about a bedroom in Kashmir Cottage, September, 1992. Photo by author.
Picture 6.
Gen Lamrimpa, an eminent yogi and meditation master and one of Alan Wallace’s teachers, in his hut above
Tibetan Children’s Village, September, 1992. He led a one-year Shamatha retreat with Alan in 1987. Teachings from
that retreat are published4. Photo by author.
Picture 7.
Meditation huts visible along goat trails on Bhagsu Mountain above Dharamkot. Photo by author.
Asking him about his practice was like interviewing a fine cabinetmaker, lovingly showing you the
tools of his trade. He would say things like: When my mind is in despair, I use this technique. When
I am lethargic, I use this technique. When I am over-excited, I use this technique to calm my mind.
It was clear that he held deep insight into the nature of his own mind and that he had fostered
methods by which to most effectively relate to the changing “weather patterns” of his mental
events.
Meeting these monks and speaking with those who were willing to share their experiences with us
was quite an extraordinary experience. Yet we soon realized that our efforts in attempting to study
these monks high above Dharamsala were fraught with many cross-cultural issues
Technologically things were a big challenge as well. When our colleague Dr. José Cabezón made
a second trip to test some of these same monks the next year using computer-based tasks, the
laptop keyboard was too foreign for them to use at all and so they had to ask him to tap the keys,
which made for highly variable reaction time data. Although invalidating the quantitative data, such
a problem was minor compared to other differences more rooted in varying worldviews. For
example, when we put an electrode cap on Francisco Varela’s head to measure EEG waves
(
, all the monks burst out laughing as though we’d told them the most hilarious joke. They
were amused that we were using a device placed on the scalp to measure the mind when, to them,
it was obvious that the mind is not in the head, but located at one’s heart.
Picture 8.
A closer view of a stone residence of yogis in retreat on Bhagsu Mountain and local traffic. May, 1993.
Photo by José Cabezón.
Picture 9.
Monks at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics (
in McLeod Ganj, India observing a
demonstration of EEG recording. Francisco Varela is wearing the electrode cap. Richie Davidson is visible in the far
right-hand corner. The monks are laughing because the head appears to them an odd place to measure the mind,
which is traditionally located at the heart. October 1992. Photo by author.
Picture 10.
Thubten Drakpa, in his meditation hut where he had been in retreat for most of the previous two years
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