John D. Dunne
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About

Picture of Prof. Dunne.
John D. Dunne (PhD 1999, Harvard University)  holds the Distinguished Chair in Contemplative Humanities, an endowed position created through the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.  He is also distinguished professor in the Department of Asian Languages & Cultures, where he currently serves as department Chair. 

John Dunne's work focuses on Buddhist philosophy and contemplative practice, especially in dialog with Cognitive Science and Psychology. His publications appear in venues ranging across both the Humanities and the Sciences, and they include works on Buddhist philosophy, contemplative practice and their interpretation within scientific, philosophical and cultural contexts.  

John Dunne speaks in both academic and public contexts, and his public engagements often include the Gomde centers of Denmark and Austria and Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe. In addition to serving as core faculty in the Center for Healthy Minds, he is a Fellow and former Board member of the Mind and Life Institute and an academic adviser for the Rangjung Yeshe Institute.
   
For more information, see John Dunne's  full CV.  


Updates and Activities
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November 12 and 13, Roshi Joan Halifax and John Dunne will explore "Visions of Buddhist Leadership," an online program through Upaya Zen Center.


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The second volume of the series, Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics is now available. With the title of The Mind, this important work, guided by HH the Dalai Lama, is an invaluable resource for exploring Buddhist approaches to psychology and philosophy of mind.

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The Mind and Life Institute podcast, led by Wendy Hasenkamp, has a recent episode with John Dunne. 


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Wisdom has a Lecture Series with John Dunne on Buddhist accounts of consciousness, perception and related topics.

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From Wisdom Academy: Varieties of Buddhist Meditation
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Selected Recent Publications

Dunne, J.D. and Manheim, J.S. (2022). “Compassion, Self-Compassion and Skill in Means: A Mahāyāna Perspective.”  Mindfulness. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-022-01864-0
 
Wilson-Mendenhall, C.D., Davidson, R.J., & Dunne, J.D. (2022). “Visualizing Compassion: Episodic Simulation as Contemplative Practice.” Mindfulness. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-022-01842-6
 
Dunne, J.D. (2022). “Contemplative Science and Buddhist Science.” In Oxford Handbook of Buddhist Practice. Edited by P. Arai and K. Trainor. New York: Oxford University Press.
 
Inkelas, K.K., Colaianne, B., Hirshberg, M.J., Greenberg, M.T., Davidson, R.J., Dunne, J.D., Germano, D., & Roeser, R.W. (2021). “Does Variability Across Three Universities in the Implementation of a College Course on Human Flourishing Affect Student Outcomes?” Journal of College Mental Health. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2021.1920956
 
Wilson-Mendenhall, C.D. & Dunne, J.D. (2021). “Cultivating Emotional Granularity.” Frontiers in Pyschology 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.703658
 
Lott, D. T., Yeshi, T., Norchung, N., Dolma, S., Tsering, N., Jinpa, N., Woser, T., et al. (2021). “No Detectable Electroencephalographic Activity After Clinical Declaration of Death Among Tibetan Buddhist Meditators in Apparent Tukdam, a Putative Postmortem Meditation State.” Frontiers in Psychology 11:1-9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.599190


Compendium Selection Committee, Dalai Lama XIV, and Dunne, J.D. (2020). The Mind. Edited by Thupten Jinpa. Introduction by the Dalai Lama XIV. Contextual essays by J.D. Dunne. Translated by J.D. Dunne and D. Rochard. Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics, Vol. 2. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications.

Dunne, J.D. (2020). “Pac-Man to the Rescue? Conceptuality and Nonconceptuality in the Dharmakīrtian Theory of Pseudo-Perception.” Philosophy East & West 70/3: 571-593. 

Wilson-Mendenhall, C., J.D. Dunne & P. Condon. (2020). “Achieving Deep Integration Across Disciplines: A Process Lens on Investigating Human Flourishing.” In Self, Motivation, and Virtue: New Findings from Philosophy and Psychology. Edited by N. Snow & D.  Narvaez. Routledge Studies in Ethics and Moral Theory. London: Routledge: 109-126.

Dunne, J.D. (2019). “Innate Human Connectivity and Śāntideva’s Cultivation of Compassion.” In Readings of Śāntideva’s Guide to Bodhisattva Practice. Edited by J. Gold and D. Duckworth. New York, NY: Columbia  University Press: 235-252.

Dunne, J., E. Thompson and J. Schooler. (2019). "Mindful Meta-Awareness: Sustained and Non-Propositional." Current Opinion in Psychology. 

Dunne, J. (2019). "Is Buddhism Scientific or Religious?" Tricycle.
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Rosenkranz, M., J. Dunne & R.J. Davidson. (2019). “The Next Generation of Mindfulness-Based Intervention Research: What have we learned and where are we headed?” Current Opinion in Psychology 28: 179-183.


Wielgosz, J., S.B. Goldberg, T.R. Kral, J. Dunne & R.J. Davidson. (2019). “Mindfulness Meditation and Psychopathology.” Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 15: 2.1-2.32.

Dunne, J. (2018). “Reflexivity in Buddhist Epistemology: Implications for Cooperative Cognition.” In Dualities, Dialectics, and Paradoxes in Organizational Life. Edited by W. Smith et al. Perspectives on Process Organization Studies. New York: Oxford University Press: 82-105.

In collaboration with Tricycle, Buddhism for Beginners...
Screenshot of the overview page of the course. The full course is in video and available in the link above.

Picture of a book cover. It shows the Dalai Lama sitting in front of an image of mountains and sky, The text is as follows: Ecology, Ethics, and Interdependence, the Dalai Lama in conversation with leading thinkers on climate change, Edited by John Dunne and Daniel Goleman
With Daniel Goleman, John Dunne has published
Ecology, Ethics and Interdependence, an edited volume of contributions from a meeting on the environment with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.




An online course on Buddhist philosophy, "The Essence of Awakening," remains available through Tricycle. 
Screenshot of the first page of the online course. The full course is video-based and available in the link above.

"Unsaying, Not Knowing, and Pointing at the Moon: Language and Non-dual Practice," John Dunne's weekend seminar at Upaya Zen Center in February, 2018 is now available in Upaya's podcast series here.

Picture of John Dunne at the 2017 Ranjung Yeshe Symposium.
For the 2017 Ranjung Yeshe Institute International Symposium, the tenth in the series, Dr. Dunne gave the keynote address, "Science and Buddhism: Why Bother?". All of the talks by a distinguished group of scholars are available  here.


Many lectures from the 2106 International Symposium for Contemplative Studies, 2016, are now available. Below is Dr. Dunne's talk, "The Transdisciplinary Study of Contemplative Practices: Challenges and Opportunities."

Mind and Life XXX: Perception, Concepts & Self. 

​Dr. Dunne  had the honor of presenting with the late Dr. Catherine Kerr (starting at 54:00), available here.


John D. Dunne, PhD

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