His Holiness Talks About Secular Ethics and Human Development at University of Southern California[Wednesday, 4 May 2011, 9:38 a.m.]

His Holiness the Dalai Lama greets a huge crowd of over 6,000 people at a discussion on Secular Ethics’ organised at USC’s Board Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, on 3 May 2011/Photo: Steve Cohan

LONG
BEACH, CA: Holiness the Dalai Lama began his programme in Long Beach on
3 May 2011 morning by meeting with members of the Board of the Gaden
Shartse Thubten Dhargyeling Center as well as some of its long time
practitioners. They were led by Gaden Shartse Abbot Jangchup Choedhen. Thereafter,
His Holiness left for the University of Southern California (USC) in
Los Angeles to give a public talk on “Secular Ethics, Human Values and
Society“ organised by the University’s Student Interfaith Council and
co-hosted by the Dalai Lama Foundation and the Dalai Lama Center for
Ethics and Transformative Values.The University’s Dean of
Religious Life, Varun Soni, gave the initial welcome remarks before the
talk, which took place in the University’s Galen Center.  He said the
University was grateful for His Holiness coming to the event despite
being under the weather. His Holiness was introduced by Dr. James Doty,
Chairman of the Dalai Lama Foundation and board member of the Brain and
Creativity Institute at USC.His Holiness began by talking about
his recent ailments. He said it first started with a throat problem for
which he had taken some Tibetan medicine and on account of taking more
than the dosage he suffered problems, which he jokingly said was of his
own making.  However, His Holiness said since then he is well and was
fit and because he is able to maintain a calm state of mind despite
whatever situation developed, he was able to sleep well. He in fact
told the gathering of around 5000 people that he had 10 hours of sleep
the night before.His Holiness referred to this situation to say
that through his own experience he is able to see that it is very
helpful to have a calm mind.  He said at the age of 16 he had lost his
individual freedom (a reference to his having to assume political
leadership of Tibet at that young age then) and at the age of 24 he had
lost his country (after China’s complete takeover of Tibet in 1959) as
well as a little dog that he had. Even to this day even though there
are occasional positive news from Tibet in general the situation there
is sad one. His Holiness said despite these developments, he has been
able to maintain a calm mental state.

Audience members who came to listen to His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the University of Southern California on 3 May 2011

His
Holiness said although money, fame, power, as well as strong physical
body were important he said ultimately the development of an individual
depended on inner strength. He added that inner strength could never be
brought about through anger.He then talked about his
commitments to promote human values and religious harmony.  He said
everybody wanted happiness and had the same right to happiness. Talking
of the role of religion in history, His Holiness said throughout
history some kind of conflicts has taken place in the name of
religion.  He, however, added that it was absolutely wrong to use
difference in philosophy or view to start conflicts.  He said the main
message of all religions were the same, namely practice of compassion,
love and forgiveness.His Holiness said the common aim of
humanity is to have a happy world. Such a happy world will have to be
based on the existence of a healthy community, which in turn needs to
be based on a healthy family, which fundamentally depends on
individuals, he said. His Holiness therefore added that without
changing individuals a happy world is not possible.He said
while religion helps in this endeavour he felt that given the reality
in the world there was the need to find a means for the objective
without having to touch on religion.  He said secular ethics was thus
needed. Here he clarified that his definition of secularism was the one
that was promoted in India where the Indian Constitution talked of
secularism in the sense of respect for all religions.  He said some of
his Christian friends felt that secularism meant disrespect of
religion, which he did not subscribe to.  His Holiness said a former
deputy prime minister of India had even told him that Indian secularism
even included respect for non-believers, too.His Holiness then
talked about human capability in being educated about secular ethics
and practicing the same saying that unlike animals human beings have
intelligence to bring about calmness of mind. He talked about Pope
Benedict XVI drawing attention to the need for faith and reason to go
together and said that there is now a trend of making a connection
between development of warm heartedness and external development.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama enjoys a light moment during the discussion on ‘Secular Ethics’ at USC’s Board Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, on 3 May 2011/Photo by Don Farber

His
Holiness then answered questions, some of which were submitted through
the Internet. The first question was on His Holiness’ emphasis on
compassion as a basis of ethics.   It asked whether in some situation
ensuring justice is more important than being compassionate to the
perpetrator of a crime. It referred to the news of the death of Osama
Bin Laden and the celebrations of it by some, and asked where
compassion fit in with this and ethics. In his response, His Holiness
emphasised the need to find a distinction between the action and the
actor.  He said in the case of Bin Laden, his action was of course
destructive and the September 11 events killed thousands of people.  So
his action must be brought to justice, His Holiness said. But with the
actor we must have compassion and a sense of concern, he added. His
Holiness said therefore the counter measure, no matter what form it
takes, has to be compassionate action. His Holiness referred to the
basis of the practice of forgiveness saying that it, however, did not
mean that one should forget what has been done.His Holiness
then answered a few other questions, including one relating to how a
student should approach the issue of holding on to one’s principles
while facing the reality of having to repay student loans and earn a
living working for corporations whose principles did not complement his
thinking. Here His Holiness said he wanted to quote the Buddha’s
teaching that you are your own master and said the student should
judge.  To a question on whether His Holiness could think of any
unethical acts that he had committed, His Holiness responded in the
positive referring to “my relation with mosquitoes,” much to the
amusement of the audience. His Holiness expanded saying if there was no
risk of malaria then he would tolerate a mosquito or two sucking blood
from his arm but when they come one after another, he would lose his
patience.His Holiness concluded by emphasising on the importance of education and awareness.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaks at a luncheon during his visit to the University of Southern California on 3 May 2011/Photo by Don Farber

This public
talk was hosted by the University of Southern California’s Student
Interfaith Council and co-hosted by the Dalai Lama Foundation and the
Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values of Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT).In a statement announcing today’s
event, Interfaith Council President Sarrah Shahawy said, “The USC
Student Interfaith Council is deeply honored to host His Holiness, the
Dalai Lama, who embodies the religious pluralism and interfaith
cooperation which we stand for. We anticipate that his visit will
greatly enrich our USC community and enliven our discussions on
interfaith dialogue, social responsibility, and spirituality and
science.”Following lunch, His Holiness gave a brief address to
the attendees of a luncheon during which he emphasised on the
importance of donors to watch how their money was being spent. He then
went to the University’s Bovard Auditorium to participate in a
discussion titled “Secular Ethics: Origins, Elements and Their Function
in Society.” His co-panelists were Antonio Damasio, David Dornsife
Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Southern California; 
Gideon Yaffe, Professor of Philosophy and Law at the University of
Southern California; Jonathan Haidt, Professor of Psychology at the
University of Virginia; and Dr. Duncan Williams, Shinjo Ito
Distinguished Chair of Japanese Buddhism at University of California at
Berkeley. Pico Iyer, acclaimed journalist, essayist and author of a
recent biography of the Dalai Lama, moderated the session.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaking on ‘Secular Ethics, Human Values and Society’ at the University of Southern California on 3 May 2011Photo by Steve Cohn

The
discussion touched on the role of individuals, religions and science
regarding human behavior and how secular ethics fit into these. His
Holiness expanded on how his concept of secular ethics related to human
development. He talked about his interaction with scientists saying he
had two purposes in doing so. One, to expand knowledge and secondly to
see the role of moral ethics in enabling scientific knowledge to become
constructive.Over 600 people attended this session. Following
this discussion, His Holiness returned to his hotel. This is His
Holiness’ first visit to the University of Southern California.On
4 May 2011, His Holiness will receive the “Shine A Light” Award from
Amnesty International and give a keynote address on Human Rights at the
California State University.In the afternoon, he will visit University of California Irvine for a public talk on “Compassion & Global Leadership.”