(TibetanReview.net, Oct17, 2017) – A growing number of schools in India are adopting a course in secular ethics, also called universal ethics, advocated and actively promoted by Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, said the exile Tibetan administration at Dharamshala India, on its Tibet.net website Oct 16, citing a school in Meerut, a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, as the latest to do so.
The Dalai Lama, while launching the Universal Ethics Curriculum for Indian Schools at the DAV Centenary Public School, has said materialistic education should go side by side with education based on universal ethics. The focus of the course is on ethics based on universal values rather than religious principles.
Explaining the underlying purpose of the course, which was being introduced in nine schools whose students and teachers took part in the event, the Dalai Lama has said, “The purpose of Universal ethics is to create a more peaceful world through education and awareness. We need to educate our mind not only on materialistic values, but also on developing peace of mind, warm heartedness and compassion.”
He has said the course could also benefit the individual, pointing out, “It is a common experience that when we are compassionate, our minds are calmer.”
Calling education a key factor in bringing peace and happiness in the world, the Dalai Lama called on educators to formulate a modern education system which could teach students ways to deal with destructive emotions and transform the world into an abode of peace and happiness, reported hindustantimes.com Oct 16.
The Principal of DAV Public School, Dr Alpna Sharma, presented a tulsi sapling and the four Vedas to the Dalai Lama, the report added.
Earlier, on Aug 14, the Dalai Lama launched a course on “Secular Ethics for Higher Education” in the Convention Centre of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in India’s financial capital Mumbai. The course was stated to aim to foster critical thinking and an inquiring mind. The Dalai Lama was stated to have long emphasized secular ethics as a tool to transform the existing education system in response to the complex challenges of race, religious and economic divides faced by humanity today.
That course was designed by Dr Monica Sharma, Tata Chair Professor and retired Director of Leadership and Capacity Building United Nations.
“The course on Secular Ethics aims to provide a common foundation for multi-cultural diversity based on universal values of dignity, equity and compassion,” a press release issued by the institute said. It “embodies universal values individually and collectively, and helps unleash one’s full potential to shift disempowering systems and norms in order to create new patterns for equitable and sustainable results.”