On February 18, 2016 ,The Pennington School hosted guest speaker Tibetan Buddhist high lama, scholar and humanitarian Geshe Pema Dorjee. Born in 1951 to a nomadic family in Shilong, which borders Tibet and India, Dorjee has devoted his life to cultivating meaning, happiness, and service to others and was invited to speak at the School as part of the 2015–16 Stephen Crane Lecture Series.
Dorjee has worked on a wide range of charitable projects, including setting up medical aid systems, developing a solar stove project, and creating orphanages for street children in India and Nepal. He has been the Director of the Children’s Village School at Dharmasala, India and established a monastery in collaboration with the Dalai Lama, which he directs.
Dorjee completed his studies in Prajnaparamita and Madhyamika at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics. He then obtained his Geshe degree at Drepung Loseling Monastery.
Dorjee spoke enthusiastically of compassion and humanity to Pennington students, voicing his belief that a positive attitude is necessary when facing life’s adversities.
Dorjee’s visit was part of Pennington’s Stephen Crane Lecture Series, which commemorates the author of “The Red Badge of Courage,” who was a student at Pennington in the 1880s and whose father was headmaster of the School from 1849 to 1858. The series invites prominent authors, artists, or public figures to speak or perform on the campus. Among the recent lecturers taking part are Haider Hamza, Iraqi-born journalist and peace activist; Prabhjot Singh, director of Arnhold Institute for Global Health; Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mohandas K. “Mahatma” Gandhi; Daniel R. Porterfield, president of Franklin & Marshall College; Kevin Bales, noted scholar on slavery in the world today; former U.S. Senator Rudy Boschwitz, Pennington Class of 1947; philanthropist and former NBA star Dikembe Mutombo; and French ambassador Jean-David Levitte.
For information about the Stephen Crane Lecture Series, contact Director of Speaker Programming Amelia Becker at abecker@pennington.org.
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