The Dalai Lama is to mark his 80th birthday, which falls on 6 July this year, with a three-day Global Compassion Summit. The event is being presented by independent non-profit Friends of the Dalai Lama in partnership with The University of California, Irvine (UCI) and Irvine-based non-profit Center for Living Peace, and will be held from 5–7 July. Tickets go on sale at the summit’s official website on 2 April.
From en.wikipedia.org
“This milestone occasion is a joyous opportunity for people to come together in celebration of His Holiness’ life and achievements,” UCI quoted Lama Tenzin Dhonden (His Holiness’s personal emissary for peace and the founder and chair of Friends of the Dalai Lama) as saying. “His Holiness has devoted his life’s work to positively guide audiences all over the world to open their minds and hearts to peaceful and compassionate existence. On this very special birthday, we will have a chance to celebrate his accomplishments in many areas and hear his exciting view for the years to come. I believe 2015 is a year of great hope. On behalf of Friends of the Dalai Lama, I’d like to express my gratitude to UC Irvine and the Center for Living Peace for joining us in hosting the upcoming Global Compassion Summit in Southern California this July 2015.”
“Few people exemplify living peace as poignantly as His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama,” said philanthropist Kelly Thornton Smith, founder of Center for Living Peace. “We feel such a deep sense of gratitude to be able to host this momentous occasion and to help inspire everyone around the globe to make Good Happen every day.”
The conference will be launched with a special event at Honda Center, Anaheim, to celebrate the Dalai Lama’s birthday. The official website of the Global Compassion Summit states that the main highlight will be performances by Tibetan musicians and children, with the latter offering a special traditional song that represents the uniqueness of the Tibetan cultural heritage.
The themes of the conference proper will cover the various areas in which the Dalai Lama has exerted significant influence. It is envisioned to be a platform for on-stage dialogue between other figures such as Nobel Laureates or academics and experts he has worked with. The dialogues will feature discussions on the transformative power of creativity and art, taking action to address the effects of climate change, a Nobel Laureate dialogue on wisdom, vision, and experience, and a youth leadership panel on education and universal human values. However, no details on the specific speakers have been released so far.
It is the Dalai Lama's first visit to Anaheim and his third to Irvine, where an endowed scholarship fund is named after him. The spiritual leader has been associated with UCI since 2004.
The conference is privately funded, and all events are open to the public.