Sau Paolo, BRAZIL: The Tibet House Brazil was publicly launched in Sao Paulo City on 8 November with a successful talk by Dr. Daniel Goleman, a renowned author, psychologist, science journalist and a close friend of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Dr. Goleman, who is internationally known for his best-seller book “Emotional Intelligence”, spoke on “A Force for Good: The Dalai Lama’s Vision for Our World”.

This is also the title of his latest book, which was published in June this year coinciding with His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 80th birthday.  The book was simultaneously published in 17 languages, including Portuguese.

Prior to Dr. Goleman’s presentation, Tsewang Phuntso, Representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the Latin American Region, formally greet Dr Goleman and the audience. He spoke briefly about the Tibet House Brazil, its aims and objectives as well as future activities.

Prof. Lia Diskin, Co-Founder of the Palas Athena Association and Board adviser of the Tibet House, briefly recounted the effort being made in the past years by Tsewang Phuntso and her in founding the Tibet House Brazil, and expressed her immense joy to see the realization of the project and have Tsewang physically in Brazil now to manage the center.

Dr. Elisa Kozasa, a neuroscientist, Mind & Life Institute Fellow and Chair of the Board of the Tibet House introduced Dr. Goleman to the audience.

In his talk, Dr Goleman initially focused his presentation on what does the Dalai Lama means to every individuals in the contemporary world, no matter what cultural background one come from or what religious background one come from or whether one is a believe or not.

Then Dr Goleman spoke about His Holiness’ message on the importance of maintaining an emotional well-being by cutting down the destructive thoughts and actions.

He dealt at great length on His Holiness’ message of compassion–compassion not only between individuals, but also in the field of economy to reduce the gap between rich and poor as well as in the field of ecology to ensure sustainability of environment and protection of the mother earth for the benefit of future generation.

Later, Dr Goleman talked about His Holiness’ message of non-violence and peace, primarily to promote dialogues as a means to resolve conflicts whether big or small.

While dealing with these issues, Dr Goleman shared some interesting anecdotes, how His Holiness’ messages impacted the life of many individuals around the globe.

After the talk, Dr Goleman also responded to various questions from the audience.

Lama Rinchen, a Board member of the Tibet House and Brazilian Tibetan Buddhist following Sakya tradition, gave a vote of thanks.

The light refreshment of Coffee and snacks as well as signing of books by Dr. Goleman followed the lecture.  The event on the whole turned out to be very lively both for the speaker as well as for the audience. Everyone had a good time to interact with each others.

The talk was attended by over a hundred academics, professionals, intellectuals, and students of Buddhist philosophy and was held at the lecture hall of the Palas Athena Association.

– Report filed by Tibet House, Brazil –