What happens when the modern scientific world and the ancient traditions of Tibetan monastics meet?
Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi, our guest in this edition of Radio Curious has spent years in spiritual meditation training. He was raised in a remote village in the Himalaya and chosen at age 14 to study at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics, the private school of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Dharamasala,
Geshe Negi is a senior lecturer in the Department of Religion and Director of the Emory-Tibet Partnership based at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He also serves as Co-Director of the Emory-Tibet Science Initiative with the aim of developing and implementing a science curriculum for Tibetan monastics. His career has focused on the potential of mind to affect well-being on physical, emotional and mental levels. During our visit we discuss what it was like to move into monastic life at such an early age and how meditation can be beneficial to us all both spiritually and physically.
I spoke with Geshe Lobsang Tenzin Negi by phone from Emory University on July 31st 2009 and began our conversation by asking him to tell us about his childhood.