B. Alan Wallace Explained

Bruce Alan Wallace
Other Names:B. Alan Wallace, Allan Wallace
Birth Date:1950
Birth Place:Pasadena, California
Education:Amherst College (BS)
Stanford University (MA), (PhD)
Occupation:Author, Tibetan Buddhist Expert

Bruce[1] Alan Wallace (born 1950) is an American author and expert on Tibetan Buddhism. His books discuss Eastern and Western scientific, philosophical, and contemplative modes of inquiry, often focusing on the relationships between science and Buddhism. He is founder of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies.[2]

Early life and education

Wallace was born into a family of devout Christians. His father was a Baptist Theologian. At 13 he developed a passion for science, specifically in ecology, inspired by a science teacher. At 18 he matriculated at the University of California, San Diego. Wallace began his studies of the Tibetan language and Buddhism in 1970 at the University of Göttingen in Germany, continuing his studies in Dharamsala, India, where he was ordained as a Buddhist monk by the Dalai Lama in 1975.[3]

Career

Wallace continued his studies and began teaching at the Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies in Mont Pèlerin, Switzerland from 1975 to 1979 and then devoted four years to full-time meditation. He was a participant and interpreter at the first Mind and Life Institute in 1987 and continued in this capacity through 2009.[4]

In 1987, Wallace obtained a B.A. in physics, philosophy of science and Sanskrit from Amherst College, followed in 1995 by a Ph.D. in religious studies from Stanford University.[5] His doctoral dissertation was on The Cultivation of Sustained Voluntary Attention in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. He taught for four years in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara.[6] Wallace founded the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies in 2003, designed to integrate scientific and contemplative exploration of consciousness.[7] Wallace and Clifford Saron established the shamatha project, which tested the effects of Buddhist meditation on 60 people engaged in a residential meditation retreat for 3 months, with Wallace serving as their instructor and Saron as the Principal Investigator for the scientific study.[8] Research findings have been published in many peer-reviewed scientific journals regarding the effect on attention, emotions and well-being, and biomarkers.[9]

Since 1976, Wallace has taught a wide range of Buddhist meditations worldwide and has served as interpreter for many eminent Tibetan lamas, including Dalai Lama in the interface between traditional forms of Buddhist meditation and the mind sciences. Beginning in 2010, Wallace has led a series of 8-week retreats to train students in the meditative practices of shamatha, the four immeasurables, vipashyana, and Dzogchen.[10] Wallace is the motivating force behind the development of the Center for Contemplative Research in Tuscany, Italy, as a community of contemplatives and scientists, to integrate first-person meditative experience with third-person methods of science.

Selected works

Books on Buddhism and Science

Books on Tibetan Buddhism

Translations

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. The Cultivation of Sustained Voluntary Attention in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism . 1995 . PhD Thesis . PhilPapers . July 19, 2016.
  2. Web site: Genuine Happiness: Meditation as the Path to Fulfillment . Publishers Weekly.
  3. Web site: Alan Wallace . 2019-08-01 . Awakin Call.
  4. Web site: Mind and Life Dialogues .
  5. Book: Paulson, Steve . Atoms and Eden: Conversations on Religion and Science . 1 November 2010 . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-978150-8 . 145–.
  6. Web site: Alumni of Stanford's Buddhist Studies Program .
  7. Book: Komjathy, Louis . Contemplative Literature: A Comparative Sourcebook on Meditation and Contemplative Prayer . 2015 . SUNY Press . 9781438457079 . 149 . en.
  8. Web site: Burton . Katherine . Effinger . Anthony . May 29, 2014 . To make a killing in the markets, start meditating . Financial Post.
  9. Web site: The Saron Lab .
  10. Web site: Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies .

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