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Stanford, CA – January 17, 2014 – His Holiness the Dalai Lama will visit Santa Clara University campus on Feb. 24, 2014 for a morning event titled “Business, Ethics, & Compassion: A Dialogue with the Dalai Lama.” The event is co-sponsored by the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University and the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University.

“Business continues to have a huge impact on people’s lives both at the individual and society level. We have been blessed that His Holiness, as the founding benefactor of CCARE, returns to the Bay Area to participate in this event which will examine how critical compassion and ethics are in business life,” says CCARE Founder and Director James R. Doty, M.D. “We are fortunate to be able to partner with the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics for the visit.”

Doty will moderate a conversation on commerce, ethics, and compassion with the Dalai Lama and Lloyd Dean, the CEO of San Francisco-based Dignity Health. Dignity Health is the 5th largest health care system in the U.S. and has been a leader in bringing compassion-centered patient care to the forefront.

“We expect a productive, enlightening, and inspirational examination of these issues,” says Kirk O. Hanson, executive director of SCU’s ethics center. “It will be an opportunity to advance our understanding whether there is room for ethics and compassion in business.”

His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, has visited the United States regularly over the last 30 years, but this will be his first stop at Santa Clara University. The 78-year-old peace advocate has been a tireless advocate of the importance of compassion, ethics and basic human values in society and for the fostering of interreligious dialogue and harmony.

“All human beings are the same. We all want happiness and we do not want suffering. Even people who do not believe in religion recognize the importance of these human values in making their lives happier,” says His Holiness. “It is therefore important for all religious traditions to respect one another and recognize the value of each other’s respective traditions.”

A “Business, Ethics, & Compassion: A Dialogue with the Dalai Lama” will take place at SCU’s Leavey Event Center Feb. 24 at 10 a.m. Tickets go on sale to the public Jan. 28 at 9 a.m. and will be available at scu.edu/dalailama for $130. The event is expected to sell out, but livestreaming will be available at scu.edu/dalailama.

For press pass and media inquiries, please visit:
http://www.scu.edu/ethics-center/events/dalailama/media/

For media inquiries directed at the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford University, please contact:

Emma Seppala, PhD
Associate Director, CCARE
emmas@stanford.edu
(650) 723-3248

Or

Kelly Haehnel
Administrative Associate, CCARE
khaehnel@stanford.edu
(650) 721-6142