(TibetanReview.net, Dec14, 2018) – The Dalai Lama is visiting India’s commercial capital Mumbai from Dec 12 to 14 to speak at three major educational institutions in the city. He has been visiting the city over the past several years for similar purposes, having greatly curtailed overseas visits due to his octogenarian age.
On Dec 12 he delivered the inaugural address at an international conference on “Concept of Maitri (Metta) in Buddhism” organised by the Department of Philosophy, The Centre for Buddhist Studies, University of Mumbai. It was presided over by the university’s Vice-Chancellor Prof Suhas Pednekar. Maitri is translated as loving-kindness or friendliness.
During the conference he was reported to have announced that “meetings on Secular Ethics Curriculum at international and national levels will take place soon.” The Dalai Lama has been promoting secular ethnics and its inclusion in the modern education system as of great importance for ensuring a more peaceful world. He has said that education as a universal medium could serve in fostering oneness of human experiences and strengthening the basic human values of warmheartedness and loving kindness.
“We need to make efforts to promote basic human values not through religious teachings (which won’t appeal to everyone) but through education,” he was stated to have remarked.
On the following day, he spoke on “The Compassion and the Need for Universal Responsibility”, the 11th Silver Lecture at the Guru Nanak College of Arts, Science and Commerce.
And on Dec 14, he was to address the 22nd edition of TechFest 2018 at the Indian Institute of Technology. The Techfest, started in 1998, is said to have emerged as Asia’s largest Science and Technology festival, a conglomeration of scientific thinking and innovation. Previous TechFest lecturers have included India’s late former President Dr Abdul Kalam, Economics Nobel Laureate Dr John Nash Jr, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai and former Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, besides others.
