A/P Maria Kozhevnikov from the NUS Department of Psychology will be hosting an online workshop on “Bridging Esoteric Vajrayana Buddhism Practices With Science to Enhance Human Cognition”.

Overview: The workshop brings together psychologists, neuroscientists, and medical scientists together with Vajrayana scholars and practitioners to examine the effects of mind-body practices of Vajrayana—the Tibetan and Himalayan Buddhist tradition on enhancing human cognition and creativity. The aim of the workshop is twofold: first we hope that this workshop will help to attract scientific attention to these practices by uncovering their unique potential to enhance human cognition, and thus contributing to preservation of their intangible heritage; and secondly, we hope it will contribute to contemporary psychology and neuroscience by advancing scientific research on exceptional human cognition and creativity.

We are delighted to have recruited renowned Vajrayana masters, who are still teaching their monks and nuns advanced Vajrayana practices in their monasteries and retreat centers. This will include H.E. Gyaltshen Tulku Rinpoche, a renowned retreat master in Bhutan, and Wangdrak Gebchak Rinpoche, one of the abbots of Gebchak nunnery, known for its accomplished female Tummo practitioners. We are also delighted to have prominent cognitive psychologists, medical scientists, neuroscientists, and Buddhist studies researchers.

The format is both asynchronous (from March 16–26, 2021) and synchronous (live sessions via Zoom on March 26-28, April 2-4, 2021):

• Virtual Workshop: All talks will be recorded in advance and be made available from March 16, 2021 until March 26, 2021.
• Live Sessions: There will be a number of panels, related to the recorded talks, each with an assigned timeslot for live discussion in real-time during March 26-28, and April 2-4, 2021.