Daniel Goleman 2003 Destructive Emotions and How we can Overcome Them: a Dialogue with the Dalai Lama. New York: Bantam Dell.
This book first published in 2003 seeks a collaboration between
Buddhism and science, as HH The dalai Lama says in the foreword they
‘are not conflicting perspectives on the world, but rather differing
approaches to the same end: seeking the truth.'
The dialogue which took place over 5 days in Dharamsala, was the eight
round of the Mind and Life dialogues which began in 1987.The
participating scientists all came from backgrounds of neuroscience,
cognitive science applied and experimental psychology whilst the
Buddhist practitioners came from backgrounds of spiritual practise and
teaching.
Buddhism and science both seek to investigate reality and therefore
seek to clarify our understanding of the world. Buddhism is a centuries
old ‘inner science’ that offers insights into the workings of the mind,
whereas science has clarified our understanding of the world and been
responsible for great material progress. However science does not have
all the answers, religion and spirituality have a great role in
reminding us of our humanity. His Holiness suggests that what we must
do, ‘is balance scientific and material progress with a sense of
responsibility that comes from inner development.’(p.xiv)
The book is divided into an analysis of destructive emotions from a
western perspective, a Buddhist perspective and a general
understanding. The contributors include Alan Wallace, Owen Flanagan,
Matthieu Ricard, Thupten Jinpa, Paul Ekman, the Venerable Kusalacitto,
Richard Davison, JeanneTsai, Mark Greenberg, and Francisco Valera.
The first chapter is entitled ‘the Lama in the Lab’. It charts
experiments carried out by Professor Richard Davidson of the University
of Wisconsin in the department for Functional Brain Imaging and
Behaviour. A Tibetan Lama, who had practised meditation for 30 years,
had his brain scanned while in specific meditative states. The
resulting data showed a shift in brain activity with each mental state.
The electrical activity on the left middle front had shown a dramatic
increase – this is the locus for positive emotions. Davidson was
attempting to prove that by meditation the brain could be taught to
dwell in the constructive range, ’contentment instead of craving, calm
rather than agitation, compassion in place of hatred’. (p4).
The book then is divided into five sections. Each section deals with a day’s presentation and then discussion by the various participants.
The western perspective on destructive emotions was presented by Alan Wallace and Owen Flanagan. The Dalai Lama believes that all humans are essentially compassionate, but Owen says the western tradition would have us be ‘rational egoists’, that is each person watches out for his/her own good, that only by being nice to each other do we get what we want. However those influenced by Darwin believe there must be some universal human traits which are independent of culture.
Thupten Jinpa stated the difference in the two approaches by pointing out that philosophers understand these emotions more in terms of ‘how they facilitate interpersonal relationships than how we can perfect our inner nature.’ It was Aristotle who came closest to the Buddhist idea, he believed moderating our emotions would ‘lead to positive action and then good feeling will come naturally, automatically.’
Matthieu Ricard, who had been a French scientist before he became a monk, chose to present the Buddhist perspective. He pointed out the difference in the English word for emotion – the root – emovere ‘something that sets the mind in motion whether towards harmful, neutral, or positive action’. The Buddhist term would call emotion ‘something that conditions the mind and makes it adopt a certain perspective or vision of things’.(p78).The destructive emotion will stop you seeing reality as it is, attachment and aversion cause emotions that impair one’s judgement. Matthieu then details the basic emotions that are all related to the ‘illusory I’, the ego-clinging that makes up our identity. They all come down to five main ones, hatred, desire, confusion, pride and jealousy.
This ‘I’ is an illusion, Matthieu continues, it is just a name there is actually nothing we can point to that makes up the I, ‘the past thought is gone, the present one has not yet arisen. How can the present I truly exist? ’Is it possible then to free ourselves from these emotions? In the Buddhist experience these emotions are not embedded in our basic nature but arise according to circumstances and habits, therefore it is possible to be free from them by working with these tendencies., to apply the antidotes and to eventually see their empty nature, to ‘demolish the apparent solidity of negative emotions’.(p82)
In conclusion Matthieu describes the potential everyone has for Buddhahood as closer to the ‘idea of original goodness than original sin’. The change is gradual accumulation of positive qualities and wisdom which all takes time, it takes perseverance, diligence and constant effort as the Buddha said, ‘I have shown you the path. It is up to you to travel the path’.
The remaining chapters in the book present ‘Feelings in Everyday
Life’, ‘The Neuroscience of Emotion’, ‘The Influence of Culture’,
‘Schooling for the Good Heart’, ‘Encouraging Compassion’, ‘The
Scientific Study of Consciousness ’and ‘The Protean Brain’. It is a
fascinating study of science, religion, culture and philosophy from
both an eastern, basically Buddhist and western perspective. The
dialogue is continuing with many more meetings and projects.