The Cultivating Emotional Balance Teacher Training (CEBTT) program grew from a meeting between seven scientists studying emotion and the Dalai Lama. This took place in March 2000 in Dharamsala, India and was one in a series sponsored by the Mind and Life Institute to foster an interchange between the Buddhist tradition and Western science.
Paul Ekman was one of seven western scientists selected for this meeting. During the meeting, the Dalai Lama challenged the group to translate their work into a form that could be understood by the general public. Accepting the challenge, Ekman began a collaboration with B. Alan Wallace, a internationally recognized scholars of Buddhist thought. The result of this collaboration is Cultivating Emotional Balance, a psycho-educational program.