Dalai Lama’s U.S. Visits Bring ‘Renaissance’

| March 22, 2010

DALAI LAMA’S U.S. VISITS BRING ‘RENAISSANCE’

Those planning the Tibetan spiritual leader’s visits in Florida, California and Iowa also screen the documentary ‘Dalai Lama Renaissance’ (narrated by Harrison Ford – www.DalaiLamaFilm.com) to lay the spiritual groundwork for audiences’ transformation.

March 22, 2010

HOLLYWOOD, CALIF. – Over the last six months, three U.S. visits by Tenzin Gyatso, the spiritual leader and 14th Dalai Lama of Tibetan Buddhism, all have something in common: Their organizers have chosen to screen the award-winning documentary Dalai Lama Renaissance (narrated by Harrison Ford) prior to his arrival.

Before coming to California and Florida earlier this year, organizers of the Dalai Lama’s visits researched films about the spiritual leader. They did so to find a means of telling their communities who the Dalai Lama is and why his message is relevant to their world.

They discovered ‘Dalai Lama Renaissance,’ a documentary film that won 12 international awards and that screened in hundreds of cinemas in the United States and around the world. When ‘Dalai Lama Renaissance’ screened in cinemas in Taiwan in 2009, the Chinese government took notice and aim at the film in its People’s Daily newspaper. In an attempt to help prison inmates resolve inner and outer conflicts through dialog and compassion, the film’s director, Khashyar Darvich, also screened and toured with the film in prisons.

“What we found was a film that was captivating,” said Maria Santamarina, Diversity Officer at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Ratón. “It gave us a personal glimpse of the Dalai Lama and his perspective on the transformation needed in the world right now.” The film screened Feb. 17 and 23, 2010, in anticipation of the Feb. 24 visit by the Dalai Lama.

Santamarina said a colleague referred her to the film, which she found online at DalaiLamaFilm.com. On the other hand, Pema Choden, president of the Tibetan Association of Southern California, first became familiar with Dalai Lama Renaissance when she met the film’s producer/director Khashyar Darvich at a celebration of the Dalai Lama’s 74th birthday.

“I saw the film shortly after meeting Khashyar,” said Choden, “and I felt that it was appropriate to screen during His Holiness’ teachings in Long Beach last September. The film captured the Dalai Lama’s ability to humble people in such a way that no matter who they are, their egos fly out the window.”

Erin Wheat, Program Coordinator for Campus Activities at the University of Northern Iowa, discovered the film online while doing research. She found it in time to plan a screening prior to the Dalai Lama’s May 18, 2010, visit to Cedar Falls.

“We chose to screen Dalai Lama Renaissance because of its content related to His Holiness’ visit in May,” Wheat said. “With so many concerns that people have in our country and in the world – the economy, wars, natural disasters – we felt that his message of peace would set the right tone for his visit,” she said. “We also felt it would be great to have a question and answer session with the producer/director Khashyar Darvich to expand on that message and to share details of how the film was made.”

Santamarina said the Florida screening featured a Q & A with Darvich, who related not only his experiences of shooting the film in remote Dharmsala, India, and editing more than 140 hours of footage, but also told about his personal transformation that took place in the process. She said Darvich spoke of how he meditated and prayed for guidance in editing the film.

“The audience was obviously moved and soulful,” Santamarina said. “There was active participation by the audience members who were extremely engaged, curious and responsive.” Pema Choden had a similar experience with the California screening.

“The response from the audience was extremely gracious,” she said. “Many who attended were so inspired by the film that they wanted to take home a copy on DVD to see it again or to share with loved ones.”

Erin Wheat said she believes that screening Dalai Lama Renaissance and engaging the community in a discussion about the film through a Q & A with Darvich will provide a needed transition for the community toward assurance that spiritual answers and self-reflection can solve many problems.

“This transition will set the stage for the Dalai Lama to present his message of peace and offer his wisdom based on more than 60 years of spiritual leadership,” she said.

Choden added that the film captures the Dalai Lama’s ability to inspire people to be the best human beings that they can be.

“The theme of the film and the teachings of the Dalai Lama are extremely relevant today because both focus on the essence of compassion and altruism,” she said. Maria Santamarina agrees.

“Screening Dalai Lama Renaissance for our community provided a beautiful segue to the Dalai Lama’s visit because the film deals with the transformation of 40 intellectuals who visit with him to discuss changes that need to be made in our world,” she said.  “Nothing else could be more relevant and transforming today.”

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Dalai Lama Renaissance, narrated by Harrison Ford, was produced by Khashyar Darvich and Wakan Films. To view trailers, schedule a screening or to purchase the film on DVD, visit www.DalaiLamaFilm.com.

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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

*****

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 – Hobart, Australia – Schedule, Tickets, Public Talk, Teachings – Derwent Entertainment Centre

| September 11, 2009

Public Talk in Hobart, Australia on December 8: His Holiness will give a public talk on Compassion in Diversity organized by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Australia Committee.

Contact Website: www.dalailamainaustralia.org

Dalai Lama Public Talk: Our Earth, Who is Responsible?”

Tuesday 8th December 2009, 2pm – 4pm
Derwent Entertainment Centre, Hobart

Event Information

As long as we are on this planet together, it is important not just to live harmoniously but also to take genuine care of the environment.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a passionate advocate for individual and universal responsibility. This is his message and is the very basis of his teachings and those of the Buddha. During the Hobart public talk His Holiness will present, demonstrate and discuss how responsibility for the future of the earth lies with each of us.

Our Earth, Who is Responsible? is about helping people to become aware of their individual responsibility as global citizens for their own actions, the world in which they live and for all other living beings they share it with.

Do not miss the opportunity to hear one of the most respected and thoughtful figures of our time. Reconsider what is important to you and how you can make a difference to Our Future

“As people alive today, we must consider future generations. A clean environment is a human right like any other. It is therefore part of our responsibility toward others to ensure that the world we pass on is as healthy, if not healthier then we found it.”

Schedule:
Date Event Location
Tue 1st & Wed 2nd Teaching – Awakening the Mind Sydney
Thu 3rd Mind & Its Potential Conference
Our Future, Who is Responsible? Public Talk		 Sydney
Sat 5th & Sun 6th Visit to New Zealand Auckland
Tue 8th Visit to the University of Tasmania
Our Earth, Who is Responsible? Public Talk		 Hobart
Wed 9th Parliament of World Religions Melbourne
Thur 10th Nobel Peace Prize Breakfast
World Peace, Who is Responsible? Public Talk		 Melbourne

Contact Website: www.dalailamainaustralia.org

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