This interactive workshop explores how contemplative practice can help us teach humans to be human—nurturing empathy, discernment, collaboration, and relational intelligence across the lifespan. Drawing on Buddhist practices, the principle of not-self, and collective ways of knowing, participants will consider how contemplative education cultivates the “imaginal cells” within ourselves and our communities—the seeds of a more compassionate, connected, and generative society. The session will also explore the distinction between approaches that focus on personal achievement and those that nurture awareness of ourselves as part of a living community. Drawing on examples such as the founding of Deer Park Monastery’s School of Interbeing and other contemplative educational models, the session will highlight practical approaches to nurturing the capacities necessary for wise, compassionate, and socially engaged citizenship. Participants will leave with insights and tools for integrating contemplative practices into educational and community settings to help young people—and ourselves—thrive in a complex, interconnected world.

This workshop is part one of a three-part series with Kaira Jewel Lingo in the Contemplation By Design Summit.

This workshop will extend the knowledge and skills presented during the keynote lecture on Oct. 14 at 7pm titled We Were Made for These Times: Coming Home to Ourselves in the Age of AI, please consider attending Kaira's keynote as well if your schedule permits you to do so. You may also want to attend her iPause Guided practice titled Interbeing Meditation: Touching Our Source and Growing Our Connection on Fri. Oct. 16 at 7:30am.  

You are welcome to join one or all three of Kaira's Summit sessions.

Kaira Jewel Lingo is a senior Dharma teacher in the Plum Village Zen lineage and a Vipassana teacher, and a member of the Plum Village North American Dharma Teachers Council of Elders. After living as an ordained nun for 15 years in Thich Nhat Hanh’s monastic community, she now offers spiritual mentoring and leads meditation courses and retreats, focusing on racial and earth justice and engaged spirituality. She is the author of We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons in Moving Through Change, Loss, and Disruption and co-author of Healing Our Way Home: Black Buddhist Teachings on Ancestors, Joy, and Liberation. A Stanford alumna, she holds a BA and MA in Anthropology and Social Sciences, and serves as faculty in the Buddhist Eco-Chaplaincy training and as a guiding teacher with One Earth Sangha.

This session is part of the FREE Contemplation by Design Summit, Oct. 14-25, 2026.

The full summit schedule for this year will be posted at: https://med.stanford.edu/contemplation/summit.html.