Day 1 Dispatches: Dalai Lama at KeyArena

The Dalai Lama began a five-day visit here on the subject of compassion. After a morning appearance at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, he moved to KeyArena to take part in a panel discussion on turning knowledge about compassion into action and then to meet with musician Dave Matthews. Seattle Times reporters are posting dispatches throughout the day.

Death Cab for Cutie

5:35 p.m.: It was just announced that the band, Death Cab for Cutie, will perform at tonight's benefit concert. — Sanjay Bhatt

Do females rule?

5:34 p.m.: Did the Dalai Lama just say that females rule? It sure sounds like it.

The Dalai Lama's voice is drowned out by the cheers from women in packed KeyArena as he talks about how females have a greater potential to develop compassion than males. It's no surprise that there are more females among nurses than female butchers. "I've interviewed very few female butchers," the Dalai Lama says.

He credits his mother, not his religious teacher, as the source of his ability to show compassion, to which Matthews chimes in: "I've always thought my mother should be the Queen of the World, but I don't think she wants the job. I do agree the world needs more female energy in it. I can speak for myself, sometimes I can't control my anger, and then my wife looks at me like I'm crazy."

Matthews draws applause after saying, "It would help the world if there was a little less machismo." — Sanjay Bhatt

Dalai Lama: We must talk with our enemies

5:17 p.m.: Dave Matthews say he's concerned that today "we refuse to talk to our enemies because they only understand violence apparently. I don't think that's true. How can you understand your enemy if you don't talk to him?" The audience applauds.

The Dalai Lama responds, that yes, respectful dialogue is important to transform our enemy. — Sanjay Bhatt

Dalai Lama talks of compassion, nurturing and mothers

5:08 p.m. Ann Curry, host of NBC's "Dateline," has covered conflict and suffering in Sudan and the Middle East. Curry asks the Dalai Lama how can we show compassion towards those who criticize us and hurt us.

The Dalai Lama responds with a story from nature, talking about baby animals and suckling.

He struggles forward, then points to two points on his chest, then sticks a single finger in the air, and the word, "nipple" tumbles out of his mouth.

Curry smiles and looks at the audience, "didn't expect to hear that word here."

While Curry is stifling a laugh, the Dalai Lama continues talking about the mystery of how a baby animal draws nurture from its mother.

Matthews says the baby "figures it out pretty quick," evoking laughter from the audience. — Sanjay Bhatt

Ann Curry joins Dave Matthews and the Dalai Lama

4:58: Ann Curry, the NBC News anchor, says she finds so much suffering all over the world. "What must we do to find compassion inside ourselves for people far away who have cultures and customs we don't understand?"

The Dalai Lama starts to talk, but is interrupted by Dave Matthews, who apologizes. Who am I to interrupt him? he seems to say.

Dave Matthews talks to the Dalai Lama about music

4:51: Musician Dave Matthews, who will headline this evening's Concert for Compassion, is talking:

"I remember being transformed by the Beatles and the Jackson Five and dancing by my fireplace and (by) Beethoven when my mom would play it to wake us up in the morning.

"When I watch my children listen to music and dance and jump on the couch... they sort of lose sense of the burdens of life when they listen to music.

"I feel the same way when I perform music ... and so my question to your Holiness is how do you think music applies to compassion and can it be a form of compassion?"

The Dalai Lama says music, like prayer, can focus the mind and carry the messages of love, compassion, forgiveness, honesty, and that the "message of love through music may be sometimes stronger impact." — Sanjay Bhatt

'Children are sponges who learn from our actions'

3:10 p.m.: Seattle Center staff usher the crowds out quickly after the program ends.

Carolyn Daniels, 57 and from Renton, says she and her daughter came for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be in the Dalai Lama's presence.

"He's just a very inspiring person," Daniels says. "I think if I told some of my Pentecostal friends that I went and saw a Buddhist priest, they would say, 'You what?'"

Sally Larson, 27, of Seattle Counseling Service for Sexual Minorities, which provides mental health and drug abuse counseling, says, "It's good for people to stop and think about the fact that children are sponges who will learn from our actions."

The Tibetan community is here to support the monk as well, including Passang Ghongpa, 57, of Seattle. "It's an honor to see him," Ghongpa says. "His presence means compassion, peace for the whole world."

Ghongpa says she especially liked hearing the Dalai Lama's comment that we need to have experts in the educational and social-emotional development of children give a plan to families on how to raise a child from kindergarten to the university level. — Sanjay Bhatt

Standing ovation for Dalai Lama

2:42 p.m. The Dalai Lama draws a standing ovation, ending this part of his stop at KeyArena by telling the audience: Raising "healthy — not just physically, but emotionally healthy — children, ultimately, that's the preparation for world peace."

He places white shawls on the shoulders of the afternoon's speakers before turning to the audience, which roars with applause as he salutes them with pressed hands and bows. — Sanjay Bhatt

Women may be in majority at event

2:24 p.m. Among the crowds this afternoon there seem to be more women than men.

Mary Brandt, 55, flew from Spokane to hear the Dalai Lama. A former school nurse, Brandt says she is intrigued by his questions about research. "It's the refined energy of his Holiness that drew me and the juxtaposition of science and spirituality, which I'm interested in."

Similarly, Crysta Swarts, 25, a graduate student at the University of Washington, says "I could have listened to him talk about whatever was on his mind all day long."

Swarts says, "I've been on a spiritual journey since the age of 15" after being turned on to the nonviolent philosophy of the Quakers. Then she read about the Dalai Lama and his teachings.

Swarts is studying child development and education at the UW. — Sanjay Bhatt

A voice in the crowd: world peace starts with peace within

1:49 p.m.: Among the estimated 9,000 spectators at KeyArena this afternoon is 59-year-old Michael Jaquish of Gig Harbor, who is here because a friend had an extra ticket.

Jaquish has been a Buddhist since he was a child growing up in Omak and says he is also a former police chief who spent years with the State Department running diplomat-protection programs in Western Africa. These days, he's a professional life coach and writes books in Gig Harbor.

The Dalai Lama's trip to Seattle is something he didn't want to miss.

"He's like the Pope for Buddhism," Jaquish says. "I just wanted to be in the presence of the Dalai Lama."

He says he expected to see more children in the audience, and that he's glad the Dalai Lama is talking about the significance of cultivating compassion in children.

"A large percentage of the problems we have in society is a lack of children's sense of self-worth," Jaquish said. "World peace will never come until we have peace within." — Sanjay Bhatt

Dalai Lama connects with KeyArena crowd

1:10 p. m: Addressing the audience about the importance of cultivating compassion in daily life, the Dalai Lama says the practice of compassion brings inner strength, less fear — and "sound sleep," prompting laughter from the audience.

"I love my sleep," he tells the crowd. "Eight hours, sometimes nine hours without disturbances." — Sanjay Bhatt

KeyArena event begins

12:51: "How will this world be different because of you?" William Bell, director of Casey Family Programs, delivers those opening remarks as the Dalai Lama's second stop of the day begins at KeyArena. — Sanjay Bhatt

Standing ovation for Dalai Lama

11:12 a.m.: At Hec Ed, the two-hour discussion on compassion ends with a standing ovation from the audience.

When the Dalai Lama clasps his hands in prayer and bows at the crowd, people hoot and howl. Then everyone files silently, respectfully out the exit doors as traditional Tibetan music plays in the background.

A mother and child hold hands and walk down the front steps, smiling. — Haley Edwards

Dalai Lama: Limited vs. unlimited compassion

11:07 a.m.: The Dalai Lama says the difference between limited compassion and unlimited compassion is that the first is biased, the second is not.

His point is that you can't be compassionate only toward people you like, or toward people in your religion, or toward just your countrymen — that's cheating.

You must be compassionate toward people you don't know or even like. You must be compassionate toward people whose ideas you don't agree with, toward people whose lives you find abhorrent, he says.

Even Hitler and Stalin had "the basic human nature," he says.

If you limit your kindness and compassion for people with whom you already have something in common, than you're weakening yourself, he says.

When he finishes speaking, there is silence in the pavilion. None of the six experts sharing the stage speak. The Dalai Lama laughs.

"I don't know, is that right or wrong? Please make correction," he says, to the laughter and applause of the audience. — Haley Edwards

"Mindful Brain" author: Compassion and the frontal cortex

10:57 a.m.: One of the last speakers on the panel is Daniel J. Siegel, who wrote "The Mindful Brain."

He's discussing the importance of understanding that a person's ability to show empathy, love and compassion is not a floaty, ephemeral idea but rather is tied to the brain's frontal cortex.

Siegel says he has worked extensively with a young mother whose brain was damaged in a car accident. He studied her brain and determined that her biological ability to be patient and compassionate toward her children had been hampered. So, when she was impatient and angry, it wasn't her fault, he says.

But Siegel is careful to add that acting impatiently and angry doesn't mean there's something wrong with your brain. Even people with healthy brains have to work to quiet the parts of their brain that foster anger and frustration. "Everyone can flip their lid and get angry, but... true compassion comes from coming back and saying 'I'm sorry,'" he says. — Haley Edwards

Dalai Lama: Compassion is in part innate

10:42 a.m.: The Dalai Lama says he thinks some part of compassion is biological. All animals — humans included — have something to gain from being compassionate toward others, he said. "It's innate."

"To some extent, anger is about defense and protection. Love and compassion is part of survival," he said. Compassion is hard-wired into us, since it helps us, just as it helped our hunter-and-gatherer ancestors, survive in society.

"Now, on top of that, a compassionate mind, even after we don't need to care for other person, is good," he said. Because "this body is continuous on that [compassion]. So more compassionate feeling, much happier. And physical well-being, also much better, until our death.

"Or until, from Buddhist view point, there is another birth."

— Haley Edwards

Dalai Lama: Understanding science despite language differences

10:15 a.m.: It's pretty amazing that the Dalai Lama is able to discuss issues of neuroscience and philosophical development in a language in which he is not fluent.

For the last hour on stage, he has occasionally interrupted speakers to ask his translator to explain what they're saying. He sometimes tells his translator something to say in response, but he often doesn't wait for the translator to finish the idea in English, before he jumps in with his own English, which is halting, but eloquent. — Haley Edwards

Weeks of meditation can change brain, says researcher

10:09 a.m.: Eight weeks of meditation has a profound positive effect on people, says Richard J. Davidson, director of the Laboratory of Affective Neuroscience. Make that three months, and you see even more of an effect, he says.

"The capacity of the brain to change offers a very important message of hope," he said. "We can improve the state of the brain and the state of the mind ... that idea gave me a strong sense of hope." — Haley Edwards

Researchers talk of children's sense of right or wrong

9:52 a.m.: Andrew N. Meltzoff of the UW is talking about kids' innate senses of right and wrong, and of compassion. Children will lie sometimes, he says, but not maliciously. If you're hurt, a three-year-old will come and help you, he said. "That means something."

Meltzoff also speaks of some of the studies he and his team have done with babies over the last few years.

In one study, Meltzoff asked researchers to perform easily-imitable actions — sticking out their tongues, wiggling fingers — to see if the infants copied them. They did. That research taught Meltzoff something about "the origins of human nature, about what people are like at birth," he said.

"This research showed that babies can connect to others. They even knew something about the similarity with themselves and others," he said. In other words, social interaction at a very young age dictates how a baby's brain will develop.

Before that, a documentary about the importance of fostering empathy and compassion in children plays on three large screens above the stage. The video provides an interesting analysis of how the development of young children — how kids learn to problem-solve, how they learn to hug and imitate their elders — is essentially laying the groundwork for how functional they'll be as adults. — Haley Edwards

The Dalai Lama is introduced

9:20 a.m.: He wears a deep, royal red robe with a yellow sash underneath. He spoke for about five minutes, introducing the ideas behind the workshop.

Here are some of his words:

"Life can become meaningful. For that, one important part is healthy body, healthy mind. So I think obviously, health care... And also for that, millions of dollars to spend. But health of mind? Important."

"If a person has a lot of anger, a lot of hatred and jealousy, this is considered something normal. Therefore, we don't pay much attention," he said. But we need to pay attention. Fostering a society with a healthy mind is of paramount importance."

"No one want problem, but problem happen due to our wrong views and wrong action. Now it is very, very important to get right view, right vision. In the next few days, we are discussing about these things... some little contribution from my side, but my knowledge is limited... [this weekend] is a learning opportunity for all of us." — Haley Edwards

Dalai Lama crowds gather at Hec Ed

9:15 a.m. — It's not the kind of excitement you might feel at a basketball game in this same space, but calmer, more patient:

Two young monks in their bright saffron robes perch on purple Huskies seat pads.

Camlynn Schuman and Jared Kink, both teachers at Henry M. Jackson High School in Mill Creek, have front-and-center seats. They're playing hooky from school today to see a global leader they both have taught their students about in the past.

"Kids come into class and they've heard about what's going on with the Olympics and Tibet. They want to know, who's this Dalai Lama guy?" said Kink. "If I'm going to teach about him, it's neat to be able to experience him firsthand."

The events have been organized by Bellevue-based Seeds of Compassion, which is dedicated to nurturing compassion, especially in children.

On his first visit to Seattle 30 years ago, the Dalai Lama drew a couple thousand people and on his second, more than 10,000.

This week, crowds totaling more than 153,000 were expected at the various events, which will examine numerous aspects of compassion: why it's important, what science says about its roots, what children and adults can do to develop it and what specific steps society can take to nurture it.

The Dalai Lama's popularity here and around the world reflects his rise during the past half-century from a relatively obscure spiritual and political leader to a prominent global figure. His visit comes against the backdrop of recent protests against Chinese rule over Tibet.

The Dalai Lama, who leads the movement to preserve Tibetan culture and push for greater autonomy, has condemned violence on both sides.

Today's scheduled events are all about the science of compassion, with psychologists, neuroscientists and other experts to speak at today's opening event about their research and how people can use that knowledge.

They will share their insights with the Dalai Lama, who has an abiding interest in the subject. — Haley Edwards