The Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics (CSCCBE) at Emory University is a global leader in advancing the scientific study and practical application of compassion, ethics, and contemplative practices. Founded in collaboration with His Holiness the Dalai Lama in partnership with Emory University, the Center’s mission is to foster human flourishing by integrating rigorous science with contemplative wisdom and ethical reflection.
 

Mission and Vision

The Center’s mission is to promote human well-being through evidence-based compassion training, ethical inquiry, and contemplative education. Its vision is a world in which individuals, institutions, and societies cultivate compassion, emotional resilience, and ethical responsibility as foundational human capacities—essential for addressing suffering, injustice, polarization, and global challenges.

CSCCBE achieves this through research, education, and applied programs that bring compassion out of abstraction and into lived experience. Its work bridges neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, education, healthcare, leadership, and public life, grounding compassion in both inner transformation and outward action.
 

Core Contributions

Among the Center’s most widely recognized contributions are:

• Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT®) – a secular, evidence-based compassion training program used globally in education, healthcare, community, and leadership settings
• SEE Learning® (Social, Emotional, and Ethical Learning) – an internationally adopted framework supporting the development of empathy, ethics, and systems thinking in education
• Ongoing research and dialogue exploring the intersection of compassion, ethics, science, and human development

Relationship to the Charter for Compassion and Charter 2.0

The partnership between CSCCBE and the Charter for Compassion is deeply aligned and strategically significant—particularly within the context of Charter 2.0 and the Compassion Transformation Institute.

Charter 2.0 emphasizes capacity-building, measurable impact, and practical pathways for living compassion across sectors and communities. CSCCBE strengthens this vision by providing:

• Scientific credibility to compassion as a trainable human capacity
• Proven methodologies that support personal, institutional, and community transformation
• Global training infrastructure that enables scalable, culturally adaptable compassion education

Within the Compassion Transformation Institute, CSCCBE serves as a foundational partner in grounding compassion-based programs in research, ethics, and contemplative practice, ensuring that compassion is not only aspirational but effective, sustainable, and accountable.

Together, CSCCBE and the Charter for Compassion embody a shared commitment:
to unite inner transformation with outer change, and to help individuals and communities develop the skills, understanding, and ethical grounding necessary to respond compassionately to the complexities of our interconnected world.