Two leading thinkers engage in a landmark conversation about human emotions and the pursuit of psychological fulfillment

At their first meeting, a remarkable bond was sparked between the Dalai Lama, one of the world’s revered spiritual leaders, and the psychologist Paul Ekman, whose groundbreaking work helped to define the science of emotions. Now these two luminaries share their thinking about science and spirituality, the bonds between East and West, and the nature of our emotional lives.

In this unparalleled series of conversations, the Dalai Lama and Ekman push toward answers to the central questions of emotional experience. What are the sources of hate and compassion? What does science reveal about Buddhist meditation, and what can Buddhism gain from the scientific method? Here, they invite us to join them in an unfiltered view of two great traditions and two great minds.

Accompanied by commentaries on emotion research and Buddhist teachings, their interplay—amusing, challenging, eye-opening, and moving—guides us on a transformative journey in the understanding of emotions.

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About the Author(s)

Tenzin Gyatzo, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, is the temporal and spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism and the head of the Tibetan government in exile. The author of The Art of Happiness, among other books, he resides in Dharamsala, India.

Paul Ekman is the world’s foremost expert on facial expressions, a professor emeritus at the University of California in San Francisco, and the author of Emotions Revealed. He has served as an adviser to police departments, antiterrorism groups, and animation studios, and Ekman’s research inspired Lie to Me, the FOX TV series. He lives in northern California.