Dalai Lama Returns To Madison This Spring

MADISON, Wis. (WTAQ) - The Dalai Lama will return to Madison this spring – this time to help open the UW’s new Center for Investigating Healthy Minds. The center was created to study the development of the human mind. Its founder, UW neuroscientist Richard Davidson, will speak at a public forum with the Dalai Lama on May 16th as part of the center’s grand opening weekend. Davidson said the highly-regarded peace envoy encouraged him to start the center, when he challenged him in 1992 to use scientific tools to study positive qualities like kindness and compassion.

Davidson has worked with meditation experts to see how the brain encourages happiness and compassion. The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of Tibet. He has made 6 previous visits to the Madison area since 1979. The most recent was 3 years ago, when he addressed over 12,000 people at the Kohl Center. The Dalai Lama is connected with the Deer Park Buddhist Center in Oregon, just south of Madison. And he has worked with UW experts on the benefits of meditation.