Victor Chan, a confidante and co-author with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, will speak on peace and education at 5 p.m. March 12 at the Abbotsford campus of the University of the Fraser Valley. The talk is free and open to the public.
Photograph by: Submitted photo , for the Times
Not many people can say they are a close friend of the Dalai Lama, the head monk of Tibetan Buddhism and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, but Vancouver author and peace visionary Victor Chan can claim that distinction.
Chan will speak at the University of the Fraser Valley next week on March 12 as part of UFV president Mark Evered’s Leadership Lecture Series.
His topic will be educating the heart, and the role of peace and education.
“Enlightened education for the 21st century calls for a holistic education, one that incorporates social and emotional competencies, creative, critical thinking, as well as academic excellence,” says Chan.
For more than 40 years Chan has had a special relationship with His Holiness, the Dalai Lama and has co-authored two books with him: The Wisdom of Forgiveness: Intimate Conversations and Journeys (2004) and The Wisdom of Compassion: Stories of Remarkable Encounters and Timeless Insights (2013).
Chan is also the author of the Tibet Handbook: A Pilgrimage Guide (1994).
The Vancouver-based Chan is a trustee and founding director of the city’s Dalai Lama Centre for Peace and Education. The centre “educates the heart and fosters compassion” through creative learning, research, and connecting people with ideas.
After the Dalai Lama’s well-received 2004 visit to Vancouver, Chan proposed the idea of the Centre for Peace and Education, a secular and non-political charitable trust.
The Dalai Lama, who saw Vancouver as a multi-ethnic city and a place of peace and compassion, endorsed Chan’s concept and inaugurated the centre during the “Vancouver Dialogues” in 2006. The centre is one of the few institutions to which His Holiness has lent his name.
In 2009, the centre and Chan hosted the Vancouver Peace Summit, which featured five Nobel Peace Prize Laureates and many visionaries from around the world.
This free lecture is open to members of the community and the university. Chan will speak on March 12 at 5 p.m. in the Abbotsford UFV campus lecture theatre (B101).
Books will be available for purchase and signing following his presentation.
