Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, kicked off his visit to the Bay Area on October 4, 2005. He began the day by leading a morning mass meditation for 6,500 people at Stanford's Maples Pavilion.
In the two-hour forum titled "The Heart of Nonviolence" to an audience of 1,000 at Stanford University's Memorial Church, the exiled leader of Tibetan Buddhism praised such pacifists as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Actions taken out of compassion -- even if lives are lost -- can be justified if those actions reduce future suffering, .
However, the Dalai Lama cautioned, war and violence generally leads to more war and more violence, more hatred and more resentment.
Other appearances this weekend included a dialogue on the human experience with doctors, Buddhist scholars and scientists, and a ceremony at San Francisco's Ritz-Carlton hotel honoring 48 "Unsung Heroes of Compassion." (Source: San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 4, 2005).