THE DALAI LAMA CENTER FOR PEACE AND EDUCATION

“My religion is kindness,” says the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education embraces this ethos and the Dalai Lama's belief that each one of us has a responsibility to “develop the heart, cultivate compassion and work for peace within oneself and in the world.”

The Vancouver-based Center is an embodiment of the Dalai Lama's lifelong commitment to compassion and inner well-being. Founded in 2005, the Center is envisioned as a world-class institution, firmly grounded in Vancouver yet highly visible on the global stage. The Center will offer programs that tap into the myriad alliances and initiatives forged by the Dalai Lama over the last four decades. To promote international peace, the Center will translate the Dalai Lama’s principles into concrete action.

“Educating the heart” is our tag line. The Center will provide a learning environment that cultivates mindfulness: the integration of mind, body and spirit. It will encourage heightened awareness of our inner potential through diverse practices of art. And it will provide a venue for creative interpretation of the world’s many wisdom traditions.

The Center has no religious or political affiliations. Peace will be advanced through education, personal transformation and dialogue. The Dalai Lama believes that vital, sustainable communities depend upon many small, individual acts of compassion and helpfulness. By thinking less about ourselves and more about others, we enhance our own growth and happiness. By helping others, we contribute to the greater good. Along the way, our lives and the lives of others are transformed.

The purposes of the Center are to enhance awareness of interconnectedness, to encourage the practice of compassion among youth and adults in all walks of life and to contribute to the development of peace across the world.