Dalai Lama Center To Open At MIT

Tenzin Priyadarshi, Buddhist chaplain of MIT, with WBUR's Bob Oakes. (WBUR)

BOSTON — A new “think tank” focused on fostering enlightened leaders will be inaugurated at MIT on Thursday. The Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values will be the fourth institution in the world named for the spiritual leader, who will be visiting for its formal launch.

WBUR spoke recently with the center’s director, the Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi. He’s served as MIT’s Buddhist chaplain since 2001, and is also the founding president of the Prajnopaya  Foundation, a worldwide humanitarian organization.