Tenzin Gyatso, better known as His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, will stop in Charlottesville on October 11 for a day of cultural events and a panel discussion that will culminate with a talk at the Pavilion supporting the thesis of his latest book, Beyond Religion: Ethics For a Whole World. A preview of the talk’s focus comes from one of the religious leader’s Facebook status updates from earlier this month: “The reality of the world today is that grounding ethics in religion is no longer adequate. This is why I am increasingly convinced that the time has come to find a way of thinking about spirituality and ethics beyond religion all together.”
The spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism has long been a vocal proponent of compassion and peace as secular organizing principles (receiving the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize), as well as emphasizing creating dialogues between spirituality and science. He will be leading such a dialogue at the Paramount Theater, alongside a crew of UVA health care experts entitled “Compassionate Care in 21st Century Medicine” regarding the integration of mindfulness into the Western medical philosophy and practicum–a prescient local topic given UVA’s newly launched Contemplative Sciences Center.
This event will be followed by a sold out appearance of the Dalai Lama at the nTelos Wireless Pavilion. This engagement will be streamed live online and broadcast to the Paramount Theater’s large movie screen. More details can be found at www.theparamount.net.