His Holiness the Dalai Lama

In 2004, His Holiness the 14^th Dalai Lama was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from LJMU for his continual pursuance of peace, presented by Professor Frank Sanderson.

Born 6 July 1935, he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 and became renowned for his advocacy for Tibetans both inside and outside of Tibet. After the Tibetan Uprising the Dalai Lama fled to India and set up a Tibetan Government in exile. He then travelled the world, spreading the message of Tibetan Buddhism and speaking on behalf of the Tibetan people.

He has received over 150 awards, honorary doctorates and prizes, in recognition of his message of peace, non-violence, inter-religious understanding, universal responsibility and compassion. He has also authored or co-authored more than 110 books.

Since the mid-1980’s, His Holiness has begun a dialogue with modern scientists, mainly in the fields of psychology, neurobiology, quantum physics and cosmology. This led to an historic collaboration between Buddhist monks and world-renowned scientists in trying to help individuals achieve peace of mind.

He is a role model to so many around the world and is courageous in his actions, mirroring our own value of ‘speaking out boldly and acting for change’.

The world is changing at incredible speed, and in order to not be left behind we must embrace effective, impactful change, even when this feels uncomfortable, just as His Holiness has done throughout his life.

Upon becoming an Honorary Fellow, he also gave a public lecture to an audience in Liverpool Cathedral as part of our seventh series of Roscoe lectures. In his speech on ‘Secular Ethics’ he said:

“In Liverpool, Catholicism and Anglican live harmoniously. I think, in the spirit of spiritual brothers and sisters. So, when I hear that, it is wonderful.

“We all have the same potential, potential of good, potential of constructive, and the potential to be destructive. We're all the same so on that level we can communicate easily. That way we can have genuine friendship, genuine trust and genuine happy human family... irrespective of different culture or religious belief we are all the same.

“Whether we agree with each other, or have differences, we have to live on this planet together as a human society. The reality is we are heavily interconnected, interdependent. The modern gap between rich and poor is a problem, both international and on a national level.

“If humanity happy then I am happy, if humanity suffer then I will suffer. Humanity is part of body, so when humanity is hurt it hurts my body...think of humanity as a whole and your mind will become open wide.

“In modern society educational institutions have a more important role for deeper moral values for secular ethics. Our plan should be more emphasis on moral ethics within the education institution, the result will be the individual will become happier...building a happier human family.”