This paper discusses the application of Buddhism and Buddhist mindfulness practices to the contemplative group process model at Naropa University. I begin by giving some background to the dialogue between Buddhism and Western psychology and then describe the contemplative group. I will discuss its structure, contract and leadership interventions that cultivate reflection, attunement and self-regulation. Finally, I will describe how these groups can contribute to harmonious and skillful relationships through encouraging personal and interpersonal capacities and the Buddhist pāramitās. Background of this East – West Dialogue In the early 1900's, when William James, who is considered the father of American psychology, was giving a lecture at Harvard University, he recognized a Buddhist monk from Sri Lanka in the audience and abruptly departed from his lecture saying to the monk, "Take my chair. You are better equipped to lecture on psychology than I. This is the psychology everybody will be studying twenty-five years from now" (Epstein, 1995, pp. 1-2). James was interested in self-discipline, will and the relationship between attention, mental health and spirituality (McDermott, 1977). Much of his life's work was devoted to understanding the varieties of spiritual experience, and his interest in Buddhism, along with other aesthetic practices, was an important aspect of the early dialogue between Buddhism and Western psychology. Following him, in the 1950s and 60s, the psychoanalyst Karen Horney (Morvay, 1999) developed an additional parallel between Buddhism and Western psychology. The three psychological forces she recognized—moving towards, moving against and moving away from—reflect the essence of the three Buddhist poisons: passion, aggression, and ignorance (Nimmanheminda, Kaklauskas & Sell, 2003). Between 1960 and 1980, this East-West dialogue flourished, as seen in the works of people such as D. T. Suzuki (1963), Alan Watts (1966), and Chögyam Trungpa (1969, 1973, 1975, 1976). In the last couple of decades, dozens of books have been published in Europe and the U.S. regarding the relationship between Buddhism, mindfulness and mental health. Safran's (2003) observation that, "Buddhism gives every sign of being here to stay within our [Western] culture, and its influence on psychoanalytic thinking 1 is growing" (p. 1) can't be contested. This convergence has been further strengthened by the Dalai Lama's work with Western psychologists and scientists from diverse fields at the Mind and Life Institute, as well as other research on the effects that meditation and mindfulness have on the brain. Such research has spawned numerous publications on the subject (see, for example, Segal, et al., 2002, Hayes, et al., 2004, & Germer, et al., 2005). 1 Psychoanalysis is clearly not alone in its appreciation of the relationship between mindfulness and mental health. Cognitive behavioral psychotherapies have also embraced and expanded on the therapeutic use of mindfulness.