This program is an investigation of the Buddhist teaching of the five mental factors and the body in its environment (namarupa) in relation to emptiness and ethics. By exploring contact, attention, feeling-tone, perception, and intention, we will examine how consciousness relates to the experience of the self, the body, and the world. Martine Batchelor will lead an investigation into how to refine attention to recognize more clearly how we perceive objects in our interior and exterior worlds, create meaning, take action as a result of our perceptions, and with discernment, reduce suffering (dukkha) for ourselves and others.