History

The CCR has its roots in the work of B. Alan Wallace, PhD, scholar of Tibetan Buddhism, world-renowned meditation teacher, and pioneer of the discipline of contemplative science.

History 4Tharpa Choeling
Alan interpreting for His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Tharpa Choeling, Switzerland in 1979

Early Influences (1970–1984)

  • Dr. Wallace’s deep engagement with Buddhism began in 1970 with his intensive study of Tibetan Buddhism and language in Germany and Switzerland and continued from 1971 at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives and later at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Dharamsala, India, under the guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other senior lineage-holders in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
  • Dr. Wallace was ordained as a monk in 1973 and continued his immersion in Tibetan Buddhist training through intensive study and meditation retreats in India, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, and the United States for over a decade. He also served as interpretor for numerous Tibetan lamas in Europe and the United States, while becoming a teacher in his own right as well.
  • Dr. Wallace’s first love as a youth in the Western world was science, particularly the field of ecology. Having then experienced the transformative practices taught in Buddhism, he began to understand the importance of seeking dialogue and integration across these cultures and disciplines. 
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Alan with His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Amherst College in 1984

Return to Western Academia (1984–2001)

  • After a 4-year period of meditation retreats in Asia and the U.S., Dr. Wallace dove straight into focused study of the “fundamental science”—physics—and completed research on the interface between the foundations of physics and Buddhist philosophy.  He coined and explained the term “contemplative science” in his undergraduate honors thesis at Amherst College, which was completed in 1986 and on the basis of which he published the books Choosing Reality: A Contemplative View of Physics and the Mind (1989) and Transcendent Wisdom: A Commentary on the Ninth Chapter of Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life (1988).
  • Dr. Wallace was a founding member of the Mind & Life Institute (1987), where he has served as a Board member or Fellow for over three decades, and as a frequent interpreter for His Holiness the Dalai Lama in his engagement with scientists and other academics.
  • Continuing his interdisciplinary education, Dr. Wallace earned a PhD in religious studies at Stanford University (1995), producing two manuscripts that would be published as the books The Bridge of Quiescence: Experiencing Tibetan Buddhist Meditation (1998) and The Taboo of Subjectivity: Toward a New Science of Consciousness (2000). These texts address two of the central themes of Dr. Wallace’s career: the cultivation of sustained, voluntary attention through the contemplative practice known as shamatha, and the way in which this training can inform scientific investigations of consciousness and other mental phenomena.
  • From 1997 until 2001, Dr. Wallace taught in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. During that time, he taught  a wide range of graduate and undergraduate courses on classical and spoken Tibetan language, Tibetan Buddhist culture, philosophy, and meditation, as well as on the interface between Buddhism and modern science.
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A participant meditator in the Shamatha Project wearing an EEG measurement apparatus

Expanding Contemplative Science (2001–2010)

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Alan discusses genuine happiness with Scott Stephens at the Happiness and Its Causes conference in 2011

Seeds of the CCR (2010–2020)

  • Through the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies, Dr. Wallace developed contemplative training programs, including leading regular one-week and eight-week meditation retreats in Buddhist philosophy and practice
  • SBI began seeking a physical location for a “contemplative research observatory” dedicated to contemplative science, ultimately purchasing conducive land in Tuscany, Italy and Crestone, Colorado, USA and developing plans for a center in New Zealand.
  • Eva Natanya, PhD, a scholar of comparative religion, Christian theology, and Tibetan Buddhism, emerged as a key collaborator and co-teacher with Dr. Wallace.
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A view of the CCR North America's community building in Crestone, Colorado

The CCR Takes Root (2020–Present)