The world that we live in today is excessively materialistically oriented. From young age children are taught to believe that money solves all the problems and you can live happily if you become rich. However, our empirical experience tells us that this isn’t true. The rich and famous are not just immune to unhappiness but on the contrary, they are usually worst affected by loneliness, depression and anxiety, the many ills caused by acute lack of human love and care. 

It is universal among parents across social stratification to wish their children to be happy, but are they really equipping their loved ones with the necessary tools to make them happy in their lives? Since happiness is a mental state, its cause also must come from within. Therefore the training of enriching inner human values – primary tools that maintains mental happiness, are indispensable.

So far we have come to know through scientific findings that meditations including mindfulness has proved to be beneficial within biomedical framework. In recent times we noticed that mindfulness training has become an essential prerequisite professional skill across various disciplines. It helps them to remain focused and efficient in their respective fields. Such use of mindfulness techniques, which are derived from ancient Indian school of thoughts are skinned from its original intended purpose of engineering a better human being. This materialistically oriented world of ours demands highly efficient human machines with marvellous brains but unfortunately it hasn’t considered that humans have hearts too. With the lack of education in universal human values, although we may become highly trained professionals but we still remain unhappy, discontented and lonely individuals. 

Therefore, the need for training of essential human contemplative practices such as warm-heartedness, loving-kindness, compassion, forgiveness are crucial for physiological and psychological function and well-being. Acknowledging this vacuum in our materialistically oriented education system a growing number of eminent institutions across the advanced economies are developing human value based curriculums from elementary schools to tertiary institutes. Such curriculum not only teaches the practices of mindfulness but also develop their emotional intelligence and moral-emotional requirements through the practices of contemplative practices. The importance of inculcating positive emotions and social cohesiveness early in life would have significant implications for not just the well-being of individuals but education and public health for the larger community. 

Tenzin C. Ringpapontsang, PhD 

Executive Director, Phagpa Foundation