UCSB Arts & Lectures (A&L) presents Creating Hope with His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama in Conversation with Pico Iyer, in an online event, 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 18.
The presentation is the keynote event of Arts & Lectures’ new year-long programming initiative CREATING HOPE. The event will stream free on several platforms worldwide, including: His Holiness’ YouTube page, A&L’s Facebook page and its website.
Describing himself as a simple Buddhist monk, His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama is believed to be a manifestation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, inspired by a wish to benefit all sentient beings and vowing to help humanity.
Chief among His Holiness’ principal commitments, he is concerned with encouraging people to be happy, advocating the cultivation of warm-heartedness and human values such as compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment, and self-discipline. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
In this keynote event of A&L’s 2021-2022 CREATING HOPE programming initiative, His Holiness is joined in conversation by Iyer, a friend, observer and student of the Dalai Lama for more than 40 years.
The Dalai Lama most recently visited UCSB in 2009 after an endowed professorship — the XIVth Dalai Lama Chair in Tibetan Buddhism and Cultural Studies — was created in his honor.
“Twelve years since the Dalai Lama’s last visit to the UCSB campus, we are overjoyed to welcome him again to UCSB for this very special conversation with Pico Iyer, part of the Arts & Lectures CREATING HOPE series,” said José Cabezón, the first holder of the Dalai Lama Chair and a professor of Religious Studies at UCSB.
The Dalai Lama first visited UCSB Santa Barbara in 1984, after which it became a top center for Buddhist and Tibetan studies. He returned in 1991, two years after receiving the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize. In June 1991, the university announced the creation of the Tibetan Cultural Studies endowment.
Various donors contributed gifts in an effort to preserve, protect and learn from the traditions of Tibetan culture. His Holiness again visited the campus in 1997 to inaugurate the endowment, and in 2001 the funds were used to establish the XIVth Dalai Lama Endowed Chair in Tibetan Buddhism and Cultural Studies in the Department of Religious Studies.
“It is such an honor to have been chosen as the first custodian of the Dalai Lama Chair,” said Cabezón on the 20th anniversary of the chair’s creation. “Over the last 20 years our programs in Buddhist and Tibetan Studies have grown and evolved into some of the best in the world.
“Hundreds of students have taken our classes, and a dozen Ph.D graduates from our program hold positions at other universities, academic institutes and nonprofits. None of this would have been possible without the amazing support of the university and the Religious Studies Department.“
“We are humbled that His Holiness the Dalai Lama and our good friend Pico Iyer have chosen to honor our community in this way. We’ve collectively seen many unique challenges, this last year in particular, and yet our community forges ahead with courage and grace,” said Celesta M. Billeci, A&L Miller McCune executive director.
“Arts & Lectures is uniquely positioned to bring together the wonder, ideas, creativity and hope that we all need to come through this stronger than ever. The CREATING HOPE programming initiative will help us continue to move forward together, and there is truly no better way to kick it off than with the sage wisdom of His Holiness.”
The Dalai Lamas are believed by Tibetan Buddhists to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and the patron saint of Tibet. Bodhisattvas are realized beings, inspired by the wish to attain complete enlightenment, who have vowed to be reborn in the world to help all living beings.
For more, visit www.DalaiLama.com.
Virtual event stream available on following platforms:
YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJs8yhpXI8U
A&L Facebook page (once live) — https://www.facebook.com/artsandlectures
A&L Website — https://artsandlectures.ucsb.edu/events/?id=4621
A replay of the event will be available in perpetuity on His Holiness’ YouTube channel
More information is at 805-893-3535, www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu