Peace Day: Encouraging Compassion, Empathy and Kindness

I wish to begin with a word from the Dalai Lama, ‘If you wish to experience peace, provide peace for another,’” said 12th grade student Beatrice Miller, in her address to the Mount Madonna School student body, faculty and guests during the commemoration of the International Day of Peace on Sept. 21.

Students kindergarten through high school presented and performed, along with remarks from Head of School Ann Goewert, faculty member Greg Shirley, and special guest Tenzin Chogkyi, Buddhist teacher and activist.

Chogkyi offered a most moving message about empathy and forgiveness and radiated joy all day on campus with those she interacted with.

Afterward, Chogkyi visited several MMS elementary and middle school classes, including sixth and seventh grade humanities classes, where she led workshops that got the students writing and talking about their core values and strengths as individuals.

Several seventh graders read aloud “The Swan” by the late poet Mary Oliver.

“As we rehearsed and studied this poem, the students learned how taking the time to stop and observe nature is one way to inner peace,” said middle school humanities teacher Manjula Stokes. “The poem begins, ‘Did you too see it…’ and the speaker is inviting others into their world by pointing to a bird and sharing their reflections. The poem details the swan as it floats along the river. When the poet asks, ‘And have you too finally figured out what beauty is for?’ they are inviting the listener to join them in self-reflection.”

She added, “The core values exercise was a chance for students to reflect on what they have as a value and how they can share it with others. They discussed their writings with the class and listened to one another. They showed support with what their classmates saw as important parts of themselves. This is related to the peace day commemoration because it connected them to one another in a positive way.”

By hosting this event, “Mount Madonna showed all students that peace is a core value of education at this school,” Stokes said.

Goewert called the International Day of Peace commemoration ceremony “a powerful, unifying experience for our school community.”

She added, “Tenzin brought focus to the room by articulating what peace looks like in action. The guided meditation acknowledging similarities between ourselves and those we perceive as others was illuminating. This practice can serve our community by bridging differences to develop a better understanding of our shared humanity.”

The United Nations has declared this as a day “devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, through observing 24 hours of non-violence and cease-fire.”

The 2023 theme, “Actions for peace: Our ambition for the #GlobalGoals,” represents a call to action.

Chogkyi is based in Santa Cruz and became interested in meditation in the early 1970s. She began practicing Tibetan Buddhism in 1991 during a year-long study in India and Nepal. She worked in administrative positions in several Buddhist centers in the 1990s, and completed several long meditation retreats over a six-year period. In 2004, Chogkyi took monastic ordination with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and has practiced as a monastic for nearly 20 years.

Chogkyi is a certified teacher of Compassion Cultivation Training, a program developed at Stanford University. She also teaches the Cultivating Emotional Balance program, which uses contemplative techniques drawn from Buddhism for managing emotions, developed at His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s request. She is a volunteer for the Interfaith Speakers Bureau of the Islamic Networks Group in the greater San Francisco Bay Area, and is on the Board of Advisors. She is a training and curriculum specialist for the Conflict Resolution Center of Santa Cruz County and is on the Sustainable Caring teaching team. In 2023, she started teaching regularly at Insight Santa Cruz.

Photos Courtesy of Mt. Madonna School