THE GAZETTE: “Neurosciences are learning from Buddhism”

IN TUCUMAN. “Having a good teacher, "Do not trust false gurus",
Monk Wangchen warns. THE GAZETTE / PHOTO BY INÉS QUINTEROS ORIO.

 

"Wangchen, tell me Wangchen”, says Thubten Wangchen, eyes slanted and almost always half-closed. Eyes that seem to always be smiling, although they remember passages from a dramatic life: born in Tibet, He was barely five years old when the Chinese invaded his native country and killed his mother.. Wanchen's biography says that his father took him on a hike through the icy Himalayas, until with him and his brothers (and with thousands of other Tibetans) They managed to cross the border “My father saved my life”, Monk Wangcheng tells. He is sitting with his legs crossed, wrapped in his maroon and corn habit; and the lights of the Tucumán yoga center where the dialogue with LA GACETA took place deepens the climate of tranquility that is generated around the years that he was a beggar on the streets of India as a child and that 16 He was able to live with the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso for more than a decade in the monastery he had decided to enter., in his search for greater spirituality. Hoy, Wangchen is the representative of Tibet in the European Parliament (ERRATA: Thubten Wangchen is not a member of the European Parliament for Tibet, as the original note states, but deputy for Europe in the Tibetan Parliament in Exile of Dharamsala, India. NdR House of Tibet Foundation of Barcelona). But it is, besides, the founder of the House of Tibet in Barcelona. an enclave, it is, which has become a stronghold of research on the links between Meditation and Neurosciences. That encounter between Buddhism and neurosciences, suggests, is reflecting the crisis of this disenchanted West that now looks to the East, in search of greater spirituality.

Neurosciences are constantly learning from Buddhism and the potential of the mind, afirma Wangchen. And he adds that scientists of the caliber of Richard Davidson y Daniel Goleman have carried out numerous investigations on the subject at the Casa del Tibet in Barcelona, that he directs. “Both Davidson and Goleman are great meditators. They are learning a lot, because the human mind has many layers, we have a lot of power. Neurosciences are learning about Buddhism, and lately we are working together”, point, in a section of the talk. In fact, Goleman, Author of “Emotional Intelligence”, He has already dedicated several of his books to Meditation as a scientific method. And at the Casa del Tibet site in Barcelona you can see how Wangchen and Davidson investigate the brain through MRI devices, and observe that meditation changes the way different regions of the brain communicate with each other; and , therefore, the way one thinks and acts. (ERRATA:  Richard Davidson and Daniel Goleman have given lectures at the Casa del Tibet Foundation on neuroscience, but their investigative work is done in the US and not at the Casa del Tíbet in Barcelona or with Thubten Wangchen).

– ¿ What is Buddhism?
– It is a philosophy of everyday life, how to do better, how to think better, how to live better every day. Now, Buddhism is the science of the mind. Buddhism works the mind, now, all the famous scientists in the world are getting closer, they are learning, exchanging with Buddhism.

-¿How do you explain this phenomenon??
– The world is constantly changing. Before there was more spirituality; but the arrival of technology has driven the development of consumption. Now people have more internal poverty, and the westerners look to the east.

– ¿Why this search for the East?
– You are looking for something you don't have.. And this has to do with your own culture., your tradition. If we see the Catholic religion, they have faith left, devotion. But God does not teach young people the why and wherefore. Now, Young people want to know if there is an answer to why and why. People don't stop searching, look for something you don't have. faith alone, without science, is not enough at this time.

– ¿How do we differentiate religion from philosophy??
– Buddhism is more philosophy than religion. Buddha himself did not teach religion, but total philosophy, how to work your interior, how to fight your inner enemy, don't fight your neighbors.

– ¿How easy it is to control the enemy within?
– It is easier to control the enemy outside than the one inside. Humans are becoming more and more entangled, everyone is worried, Now it's hard to smile, it's hard to say hello.

– ¿What does Buddhism say to this Western man who is lost??
– That we have to wake up and share; and not only Buddhism is the solution, All religions have taught us the same essential questions. The Bible, the quran, The Bhagavad Gita has taught us to be good people, to have heart, not to hurt anyone. Meditate, and then, reflect. I remember myself in India and Nepal begging until I was nine years old.; I have been a beggar child, and it wasn't easy. but happiness, even if you live in a cave, you can achieve it with meditation.

– ¿Even if someone lives in poverty, without having anything to eat?
– No. Before, the poor have to free themselves from poverty enough to have the minimum.

– ¿Where is the science in meditation?
– When you are meditating, the mind works on the why, in the why.

– There are keys to meditate…
– Yeah, there are many for beginners, for advanced, walking meditation, viewing, with mantras… everything depends on each one. But the beginner has to start step by step.

– ¿teacher required?
– The teacher is very important. Solo, it can't be done. After, when you know, stay alone. Without a teacher, brings more dangers than benefits. They can always be wrong, because they don't have enough wisdom. Once, A person seeking the spiritual path encountered a false guru, a false teacher, what did he say: “You can reach the high level if you start killing people and get 1000 fingers. If you get it, you will be able to enlighten yourself”. This poor person started killing, and accumulated 999 fingers, a finger was missing. Searching, he found the Buddha walking, very happy. He found it.. but the Buddha did not reach him. And he told him: “I can't get your finger”. And the Buddha told him: "mistaken, I can give you my finger, but, ¿, what is it for?. “To reach enlightenment”. ¿And how much have you given to get so much? And the Buddha little by little taught him.

The Dalai Lama
The mysticism of Tibet and reincarnation
“Dalai Lama means Ocean of Wisdom., a title that comes from the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan. More than a priest, is for us the highest spiritual authority, and he is also the prime minister of the people of Tibet. In turn, It's a reincarnation. When your soul leaves this body, and take another body. The Dalai Lama reincarnates before he dies”, explained the monk Thubten Wangchen, in response to a query from LA GACETA.-

 

¿How to know who will be the next Dalai Lama?

– Leave signs; sometimes they say it verbally: this year I'm going to die, but don't worry, such a year I will return, of such a town, from such a family, of such a father, of such a mother. Sometimes he doesn't say it, but he leaves it all written, in an envelope, in another, and inside, more instructions. And in the end it never fails. The current Dalai Lama has 83 years, and he is in very good health (N of the R: He was a Nobel Peace Prize winner 1989). We have details that the Dalai Lama is going to live 113 years, but he himself recently said. He has dreamed that he will live 113 years. But he said: “why live so long?”, If the world doesn't pay attention to what I say. I will live a hundred years, without a doubt. Now, 113 it depends, whether the world needs me or not.".