Dalai Lama returns to Vancouver
- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -
Visit will engage prominent thought leaders from education, business, academic research and the community to expand focus on social and emotional well-being in children and youth across the province
Vancouver, BC (August 27, 2014) – Today the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education (DLC) announced that it will host the Dalai Lama in Vancouver, BC on October 21, 2014 for the Heart-Mind Summit and the Heart-Mind Youth Dialogue. The two events will showcase the leading work on social and emotional learning taking place across the province and will aim to inspire all British Columbians to “be the village” that educates the hearts of all children and youth in our lives.
At the Heart-Mind Summit, members of the general public will witness the Dalai Lama engage in dialogue with an international group of thought leaders from business, education, academic research, and media to explore what we can do as individuals and as a group to educate compassionate, flourishing, socially responsible young people who rise to the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. The event will take place at the Vancouver Convention Centre, and tickets go on sale on August 28 at noon PDT.
A second dialogue will engage students and educators throughout the province in celebrating and extending BC schools’ efforts in educating the hearts of young people. Taking place at John Oliver Secondary School in Vancouver, the Heart-Mind Youth Dialogue is an invitation-only event, which will be live streamed to classrooms across the province. A group of secondary students who represent a cross-section of school districts in BC will have the opportunity to dialogue with the Dalai Lama and share a personal story of a transformative time in their life when their hearts were educated in school.
“I first invited the Dalai Lama to Vancouver 10 years ago, in 2004, when he had a ground-breaking dialogue with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Shirin Ebadi and others on the importance of ‘educating the heart.’ He came again in 2006 and 2009 under the auspices of the Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education, said Victor Chan, DLC co-founder.
In both these visits the Dalai Lama emphasized over and over again the need to foster empathy and altruism in children and youth. The ripple effect of his message has been significant. It catalyzed a paradigm shift in the way British Columbians view education, the need to balance cognitive development with kindness, mindfulness and compassion. In his coming visit to Vancouver, the Dalai Lama will elaborate further on what he means by ‘educating the heart’ and its effect on our collective well-being.
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