Dalai Lama Visit – Madison, Wisconsin – Schedule, Tickets, Public Talk & Lecture – University of Wisconson Madison – Madison’s Overture Center for the Arts

| March 7, 2010

Date of Visit: May 15-16, 2010

Location: University of Wisconson, Madison – Madison’s Overture Center for the Arts

Topic: Investigating Healthy Minds

Ticket Information: http://www.investigatinghealthyminds.org

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The science of healthy minds brings Dalai Lama to UW-Madison

March 3, 2010

The Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Waisman Center will welcome His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama to its public grand-opening celebration Saturday-Sunday, May 15-16.

UW-Madison neuroscientist Richard Davidson established the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds (CIHM) to scientifically determine how healthy qualities of mind develop and to investigate interventions to cultivate those qualities in children and adults.

Davidson has worked with expert meditation practitioners to determine how meditation changed their brains to encourage happiness, compassion and kindness. CIHM will extend this research to a broader audience and will be the first translational research facility to include a brain imaging lab and meditation space under one roof.

“When I met the Dalai Lama in 1992, he challenged me to adapt the tools of Western science, used to study fear and depression, to the study of positive qualities, like kindness and compassion. The Center for Investigating Healthy Minds is a response to that challenge and will become what we hope will be the world’s premier center for research of this kind,” says Davidson, a UW-Madison professor of psychology and psychiatry and director of the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior.

The Dalai Lama previously visited Davidson’s lab at the Waisman Center in 2001 and continues his involvement with Davidson and other scientists to further explore the convergence of neuroscience and contemplative traditions.

The Dalai Lama will join Davidson in a public dialogue at 2:15 p.m. on Sunday, May 16, at Madison’s Overture Center for the Arts. Daniel Goleman, best-selling author of “Emotional Intelligence” and “Ecological Intelligence” will moderate the conversation, “Investigating Healthy Minds.” Gov. Jim Doyle will deliver opening remarks, followed by a special musical performance by Madison Youth Choirs.

Tickets for this event are free and will be available to the public in mid-April. The conversation also will be available via live Web cast at http://www.investigatinghealthyminds.org.

The grand-opening weekend also includes a presentation by Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. His talk, “Mindfulness, Meditation and Health: Transformation and Healing at the Confluence of Science and Dharma,” will be available on the CIHM’s Web site shortly following the event.

The Dalai Lama also will participate in a private scientific meeting, co-sponsored by the CIHM and the Mind & Life Institute.

The Center for Investigating Healthy Minds includes a diverse mix of scientists from several different disciplines as well as scholars in the humanities. Their mutual focus on the study of healthy qualities of mind is aided by the major instrumentation housed in the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior.

“The center uses the plural ‘healthy minds’ to convey that there are many ways in which to have a healthy mind, and it is dedicated to studying this diversity,” Davidson explains. “The word ‘investigating’ is used since we do not yet know exactly what constitutes healthy qualities of mind. Part of the center’s mission is to conduct research explicitly examining this question.”

The center plans to use its research to bring practices that encourage healthy qualities of mind to schools, prisons, medical settings and the world at large. It is currently working with three community populations: children and educators in the Madison Metropolitan School District, the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and returning Wisconsin veterans.

“This center combines the basic behavioral and neuroscientific research that is necessary to move our field forward with the translational component, which is critical to extend our work beyond the walls of our laboratory,” Davidson says. “By developing and offering interventions for schools, hospitals, prisons and communities, we hope to create real change for society.”

For more information about the center’s research and the grand-opening celebration, visit http://www.investigatinghealthyminds.org.

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Dalai Lama Quotes, Quotations, Sayings, Words, Wisdom

| September 12, 2009

“All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.”

“I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy. From the very core of our being, we desire contentment. In my own limited experience I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being. Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter. It is the principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone. The key is to develop inner peace.”

“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.”

“I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. That is clear. Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we all are seeking something better in life. So, I think, the very motion of our life is towards happiness…”

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”

“Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.”

“I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe.”

“Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.”

“If you can, help others; if you cannot do that, at least do not harm them.”

“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.”

“If you have a particular faith or religion, that is good. But you can survive without it.”

“If you have a particular faith or religion, that is good. But you can survive without it.”

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”

“As human beings we all want to be happy and free from misery… we have learned that the key to happiness is inner peace. The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as anger, attachment, fear and suspicion, while love and compassion and a sense of universal responsibility are the sources of peace and happiness.”

“In the practice of tolerance, one’s enemy is the best teacher.”

“Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.”

“It is necessary to help others, not only in our prayers, but in our daily lives. If we find we cannot help others, the least we can do is to desist from harming them.”

“All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness … the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.”

“It is very important to generate a good attitude, a good heart, as much as possible. From this, happiness in both the short term and the long term for both yourself and others will come.”

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.”

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.”

“We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.”

“My religion is very simple. My religion is kindness.”

“Be kind whenever possible.It is always possible.”

“Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend – or a meaningful day.”

“Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.”

“Sleep is the best meditation.”

“Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something, and sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remaining silent.”

“The purpose of our lives is to be happy.”

“The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness.”

“The ultimate authority must always rest with the individual’s own reason and critical analysis.”

“There is no need for temples, no need for complicated philosophies. My brain and my heart are my temples; my philosophy is kindness.”

“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.”

“Today, more than ever before, life must be characterized by a sense of Universal responsibility, not only nation to nation and human to human, but also human to other forms of life.”

“We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection.”

“We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.”

“Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.”

“Whether one believes in a religion or not, and whether one believes in rebirth or not, there isn’t anyone who doesn’t appreciate kindness and compassion.”

“With realization of one’s own potential and self-confidence in one’s ability, one can build a better world.”

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