July 21st, 2010 | Author: admin
As the flow of new oil in the Gulf subsides, the most important lesson from the catastrophe has yet to be learned: that it is time to move beyond oil as the foundation of our economy.
That is why I have joined with dozens of leaders such as Deepak Chopra, Jack Canfield, Debbie Ford, Michael Bernard Beckwith, Barbara Marx Hubbard, and Jean Houston, to create and sign The Gulf Declaration to call for a truly evolutionary result from this crisis.
The more people who sign the Gulf Declaration, the more visible and powerful it becomes. It calls upon elected officials to use this opportunity to commit to the next giant leap for the United States of America, a leap that can jumpstart the economy and put us on a far more conscious track.
Every crisis has within it an opportunity for transformation – to learn the deepest lesson and correct our course.
In the Gulf Declaration, we call for this catastrophe to mark the end of the era of oil by rapidly scaling up sustainable energy sources so that the United States of America is fully energy independent by the year 2020.
Americans have risen to great challenges many times, from global wars to putting a man on the moon. This crisis has the opportunity to again call forth the greatness in our country’s soul and put us on the path to a sustainable future (and if you live in other countries, it will benefit you as well to have the United States make this shift).
I urge you to join us by signing the Declaration, sending emails to your allies and posting it on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. We have made that as easy as possible on the site and I include an email template below (here are links to rectangular, vertical, horizontal, and small graphic ads).
I have a personal investment in the Declaration since I led the writing with input from others in the Evolutionary Leaders group (which is the project sponsor). So I’d like to personally request your support in helping to make it visible and impactful by joining with us and spreading the word.
Thank you for your partnership in creating positive change!
In spirit,
Stephen Dinan
Founder and CEO, The Shift Network
P.S. Please do share the Gulf Declaration with your friends and allies.
October 2nd, 2009 | Author: admin
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
Mahatma Gandhi Indian political and spiritual leader (1869 – 1948)
October 2nd, 2009 | Author: admin
Visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Montreal, QC
The Dalai Lama Foundation Canada (DLFC) has invited His Holiness the Dalai Lama to give a public talk in Montreal entitled: Educating the Heart: The Power of Compassion.
We welcome everyone to this event. Together, join us in warmly greeting him; bringing a singular receptivity to his message of peace and compassion.
His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama – Biography
The Dalai Lama, whose name derives from of a Mongol title meaning “ocean of wisdom” is considered by Tibetan Buddhists to be a manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of compassion and protective patron of Tibet.
He was born on July 6, 1935 into a peasant family in the village of Takster in the north west of Tibet. Two years later, Lhamo Döndrup, as his parents called him, was recognized as the incarnation of the XIIIth Dalai Lama and was taken to Lhasa.
On 22 February 1940, at the age of only four and a half, he was solemnly enthroned as the XIVth Dalai Lama and received the name Tenzin Gyatso. He began his formal education at the age of six and followed the entire course of Buddhist studies leading up to the highest degree of Geshe Lharampa. Throughout his training in both Buddhist philosophy and meditative practice, he received instruction from some of the greatest masters of Tibet.
His Holiness, the XIV Dalai Lama
Sa Sainteté, le XIVe Dalaï Lama
In 1950, amid mounting tension due to the increasingly aggressive attitude of Communist China, the Dalai Lama was obliged to assume the full political leadership of his country. At the age of fifteen, he was enthroned as the temporal and spiritual leader of Tibet. In 1954 he travelled to Peking in the hope of negotiating a peaceful settlement with Mao Tse-tung and other Chinese leaders, among them Chou En-lai and Deng Xiaoping. In 1956, on the occasion of the Buddha Jayanti, the 2500-year celebrations of the Buddha’s Parinirvana, the Dalai Lama visited India. Many of his advisors pressed him not to go home but to stay in India. He decided, however, to return to Lhasa and to continue his efforts to establish a form of peaceful coexistence with the occupying Chinese forces.
The atrocities committed by the Chinese in the East of Tibet thwarted this initiative and a popular uprising in Lhasa became inevitable. This was brutally suppressed on March 10, 1959, a date now commemorated annually by the Tibetan people. By 1960, this final protest against the Chinese invasion had claimed the lives of about ninety thousand Tibetans.
Escape from Tibet
La fuite du Tibet
Owing to these developments, the Dalai Lama was obliged to seek sanctuary in India. He was followed by over one hundred thousand Tibetans who fled to safety across the Himalayas. In 1960, the Dalai Lama, now residing in Dharamsala, established the Tibetan Government in Exile and since then has worked tirelessly and by every means available to improve the condition of Tibet and its people.
In the early years of his exile, the Dalai Lama appealed to the United Nations for a solution to the Tibetan question. In 1959, 1961, and 1965, the UN adopted resolutions demanding fundamental human rights for Tibetans as well as their right to self-determination.
Regarding the Tibetan community, the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in Exile are determined to do all they can to preserve the Tibetan people and its culture by taking care of refugees, promoting economic development and creating an educational system of schools and universities. More than two hundred monasteries have been re-founded in exile. In 1963, the Dalai Lama promulgated a draft constitution for a future free Tibet and has shown a keen interest in the establishment of a democratic Tibetan society.
The Tibetan Flag
Le drapeau tibétain
Moreover, in addition to his work for the Tibetans in exile, he has been untiring in his efforts to find a non-violent solution to the question of freedom for Tibet.
In 1987, as a first step towards clarifying the future status of his country, the Dalai Lama unveiled a Five Point Peace Plan, which he developed further in June the following year in a speech given before the European Parliament at Strasbourg. He called for genuine Tibetan autonomy within the confines of the People’s Republic of China; he asked that Tibet be declared a “zone of peace”; that the policy of massive settlement of ethnic Chinese in Tibet be discontinued; that human rights be fully restored; and that the stock piling of nuclear weapons and the disposal of nuclear waste in Tibet be brought to an end. Finally he demanded that the future of the country be subject to genuine negotiation.
In 1989, the Dalai Lama, as leader of the Tibetans, was awaded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to find a non-violent solution to the Tibetan issue. The statement of the Nobel Committee declared: “The Dalai Lama has developed his philosophy of peace based on a profound respect for all living beings and on a concept of universal responsibility that embraces not only the human species but the whole of the natural world.”
In July 2001, the Dalai Lama decreed a reduction in his personal political powers. At his behest, the Tibetans in exile elected professor Samdhong Rinpoche as their first prime minister.
In the course of his travels around the world, the Dalai Lama has been officially received by many heads of state. Meetings with him are requested by leading personalities in every field: politics, religion, science and economy. In many countries, he is repeatedly invited to speak at public conferences before thousands of people on the subject of harmonious coexistence and peace in the world.
Copyright 2009 Dalailamamontreal2009.org
