Brown University

Description of Organization

Contemplative Studies Initiative at Brown University, is devoted to the research and teaching in human techniques and experience of tranquil, attentive awareness and concomitant epistemological and moral insights across human history and across traditions. This initiative proposes to develop the field of Contemplative Studies through, among other things, teaching undergraduate courses, guiding independent concentrators in their study, supporting students in developing their own first-person experiential engagement with contemplative practice, and conducting original research on the effects of sustained contemplative practice. Some of the program’s long range goals are to establish the first undergraduate concentration in Contemplative Studies in the Western World, to establish a first class scientific and humanistic research center, to incorporate contemplative practices as a regular element of Brown’s undergraduate and medical school curriculum, and to train a new generation of contemplative scholars and scientists.