The Art of Happiness: A Year With the Dalai LamaOctober 28, 2013 at 7–8:30 p.m.

Deane Curtin (Department of Philosophy) spent the past year living in the Himalayas of northern India working for the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan refugee community. In this illustrated talk he will discuss his personal impressions of the Dalai Lama, as well as his encounters with others in the exile community, from the Nechung Oracle (oracle for the Dalai Lama), to His Holiness the Karmapa (28 year old probable successor to the Dalai Lama), to a nun who was imprisoned in China for thirty years and refused to denounce the Dalai Lama, and to Buddhist hermits living alone in the mountains. He will also recount the experience of teaching Gustavus students in the principal historic sites of Buddhism, such as Sarnath, Bodhgaya, and Vulture Peak. And, yes, there will be a little bit of philosophy focusing on the Dalai Lama's intense interest in neuroscience and his conviction that there is a science of happiness.

The talk is free and open to the public. It is supported by the Department of Philosophy, The Raymond and Florence Sponberg Chair of Ethics, The Hanson-Peterson Professorship in the Liberal Arts, and the Office of the Provost.