Ethics Summit for Youth, Irvine, California

New Online Community for Ethics and Peace Curricula

Study Guide for Ethics for the New Millennium

The Learning Ethics Game

Launch of Ahimsa Center, Cal. State Pomona

Receptions with His Holiness in Pasadena and Toronto

New Dalai Lama Foundation Logo

Call to Action from His Holiness

Online Volunteer Positions Open

Ethics Summit for Youth, Irvine, California

On the morning of April 15, at U.C. Irvine, you could hear a pin drop in the auditorium packed with over 5,000 high school and college students.  His Holiness engaged in a lively dialog with the participants on a wide range of issues revolving around ethics and how to lead a meaningful life.

One of the young people who presented offerings to His Holiness was our friend Bunthoeun Hack, a former gang member who turned his life towards promoting peace and reconciliation through his art. He presented His Holiness with what Bunthoeun called a “Mousepad of Peace” on behalf of the Dalai Lama Foundation.

In Bunthoeun's words,

…little did I know that I was chosen to fly to Irvine and be within His Holiness's presence. It came all so suddenly, like a thunderbolt on a sunny day. I would be giving a speech and presenting His Holiness with a gift. I was speechless after the announcement. That night, I couldn’t sleep. I knew this would be an experience I’d never forget.  More

The Mousepad of Peace was also given as a gift to all the morning’s participants, and invites them to continue the dialog at the Youthmoves website launched by the Foundation to provide a way for kids worldwide to connect and cultivate the spirit of nonviolence and service.  

Resources from the UC Irvine event include full audio of both the Youth Summit and the public talk later that day, as well as a Curriculum Guide prepared by Global Connect@UCI, designed to introduce His Holiness to students in grades 8-11 who have no previous knowledge concerning the history, leadership, culture and spiritual orientation of The Dalai Lama.

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We are happy to announce the launch of the Discover community, which marks the beginning of our long-term initiative to promote curricula for ethics and peace.

We hope Discover will take root, and grow into a thriving network of people all over the world who are sincerely interested in making our world a better place, who recognize that we are each an indispensable part of that process, and who are committed to becoming the change they wish to see.

Discover is for teachers, parents, teachers, and anyone committed to lifelong learning. Browse our list of selected Books & Videos, or our wonderful compilation of the best children’s literature for grades K-6,  or the more than 1,000 links that have already been entered into our community-generated Ethics & Peace Knowledgebase.

Check out Community Picks to see what resources other Discover participants have found useful in their journeys. Maybe something there will inspire you to share a resource that has proven useful to you.  This is your chance to share that special book, video, organization or course of study with thousands of others around the world.

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Study Guide for Ethics for the New Millennium

To really make your inquiry into ethics and peace come alive, get together with your friends and start a study circle. As a model and guide, we have made available a Study Guide to Ethics for The New Millennium,  developed by a study circle in Los  Altos, California, over the past year.

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The Learning Ethics Game

Following the appearance of His Holiness at UC Irvine, we felt we had an opportunity to facilitate an exploration of ethical questions by youngsters in the age range of 13-23 (in the US this is middle-school thru college) using a unique real-life-gaming approach.  We do this using a software platform that supports the use of phones, email, video and other media in a format that puts interactive content into the “player’s” real life.

Encouraged by the real-life video approach of Focused on Peace, we've worked with two small groups of teens, and have shot video of them discussing ethical dilemmas they face.  Such as cheating on tests, helping friends escape from drug use, and how to be truthful with parents.  Difficult situations and decisions.  We have integrated these video clips into a "game" format where "clues" are discovered by calling phone numbers, or in the form of text messages on your cellphone.  And the payoffs are getting to see the kids discussing their dilemmas and approaches.  It's an interactive-TV experience of sorts.

What we’re doing in the “game” is designed to help students understand that ethical decisions are made all the time. And that they can use a framework to think about and make those decisions. And that there are resources all around them that they can call on. Here are some questions we’ll help the participants explore:

• What is ethics? And  why is it important?
• How do you know when you’re facing an ethical decision?
• What resources do you have when you can’t decide and need to talk, or to read something.
• What kind of factors should you consider, and how can you work thru the decision?

We expect to expand not only the format and interactivity, but the content, greatly over the next few months.  Shooting more video, and getting kids talking about *different* ways they've solved similar problems, is a big target for us.

We've established a separate online "domain" for the game, and you can check out the game at http://youthmoves.org/game or thru the YOUTH section of the main Dalai Lama Foundation web site.

We need participation on the part of teens, and would be happy to hear from interested teens or youth groups.  And we need financial underwriters, since shooting video, putting it up online, maintaining in-game phone lines, is not free.  At the moment, the costs of the game are being underwritten by an individual, but to expand it nation-wide, we'll need additional underwriters.  Let us know if you can help.

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Receptions with His Holiness in Pasadena and Toronto

During His Holiness's recent visits to Pasadena and Toronto, receptions were held for him by his friends and long time supporters of Tibet. The receptions were co-hosted by the Office of Tibet- New York, The Dalai Lama Foundation, Tibet Association of Southern California, Los Angeles Friends of Tibet, Canada Tibet Committee and the Kalachakra Committee 2004. Thanks to all those volunteers who participated in the planning and production of these events!

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Launch of Ahimsa Center, Cal. State Pomona

On May 14 and 15, a historic event occurred at Cal State Pomona: the launch of the Ahimsa Center, a labor of love and commitment championed by Tara Sethia, Professor of History at Pomona.

On one level, this new center represents a gift, from the Jain community to the world at large, of the core Jain cultural value and achievement, which is the value and path of Ahimsa: nonviolence rooted in courage and compassion, fearlessness and forgiveness.

On another level the birth of this new center is a marker of the profound historical shift we are participating in.  In his opening remarks, Dr. Thomas Morales, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Pomona, spoke with conviction of the importance of placing the study of nonviolence squarely in the mainstream of the general university curriculum.

The conference brought together some of the great practitioners of nonviolence in our time, including Dolores Huerta of the United Farmworkers Union, civil rights leader Mary Elizabeth King, and Dr. A. T. Ariyaratne, founder and President of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement of Sri Lanka.

Also part of the mix were scholars like Jack DuVall, co-author of A Force More Powerful the authoritative work on the history and success of nonviolent movements in the 20th century, and Glenn D. Paige, a political scientist who has dedicated his life to promoting the possibility of, and providing maps toward,  what he calls the nonkilling society.

The Dalai Lama Foundation looks forward to working with the Ahimsa center to hasten the day when education for nonviolence is as much a part of the core curriculum as reading, writing or math.  More on our partnership.

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New Dalai Lama Foundation Logo

You may have noticed our beautiful new logo, which was a labor of love and gift from one of our founding members, Jack Schaub, and noted San Francisco artist Georgia Deaver.  Here are Jack’s words on the logo:

We have created a logo that visually represents the core values of The Dalai Lama Foundation. It is a bird of peace, hand drawn using the traditional media of classical calligraphy – ink and brush on paper. The bird is poised on an olive branch. The bird’s body suggests the shape of a heart… More

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Call to Action from His Holiness

We have received a great blessing in the form of a letter from the Dalai Lama in support of the Foundation’s work.  In it, His Holiness writes,

I am very happy to learn that some friends of mine have come together to establish a new foundation for peace and ethics.  Although I have little personal interest in launching new organizations or centers, I am happy to endorse and lend my name to this effort because it promises to try to put into action many of the ideas for peace that I support.

Whenever I speak about peace, all warmly welcome my words, but admiration and approval do not translate into action.  We need determination and effort.  I believe that making peace, ethics, global cooperation and harmony a reality is essential to our very survival.

Therefore, I encourage everyone who appreciates this to work closely and co-operate with all those organizations and individuals already working in these fields.

With my prayers that our efforts contribute to creating a better and more peaceful world.  I trust that the Dalai Lama Foundation will give us an opportunity to fulfil our best aspirations for a better world.

I thank you for your work so far and I welcome all those who will join us in the future in our efforts to advance the cause of genuine peace in the world.  

A copy of the original letter from His Holiness is posted on our Website.

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Online Volunteer Positions Open

Check out the volunteer job descriptions listed at our web site. It’s a great way to make your own contribution to our mission of “supporting action for peace and ethics, where we live, and around the world.” And the great thing about these jobs is they can be done where you live, wherever around the world that is!

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