Perreault Magazine - 43 -
As we evolved as a species into hunter-gatherer tribes the ability to sense when another was in need or suffering was just as critical for our survival as a species. That being said, growing up, I had always been struck by the fact that often people of wealth or in positions of power made little, if any, effort to help another who is suffering, yet often those with nothing would immediately help another in need. This paradox stayed with me from childhood. So having left Stanford for a period and becoming more reflective regarding this paradox, I decided that upon my return I would gather together neuroscientists and psychologists to help me understand how the brain responds to suffering and what makes people care.
Project Compassion
This led to an informal research initiative called Project Compassion that I funded myself. One day reflecting on this work while walking toward the psychology building at Stanford, it struck me that I should invite the Dalai Lama to come to Stanford to share with him the work I had begun and to have him speak about compassion. I’m an atheist and not a Buddhist and at the time knew very little about Buddhism. I also suddenly remembered his quote, “If one wishes to make others happy, practice compassion. If one wishes to be happy, practice compassion”. To this day, I still don’t know how this possibly entered my head. The Dalai Lama had visited Stanford a number of years before, so I found out the contact person and amazingly after one phone call a meeting manifested. During this meeting with His Holiness in 2008, he expressed great interest in the work we had begun and immediately agreed to visit Stanford. But, what is more amazing at the end of our meeting, he began an animated conversation in Tibetan with his translator for a quarter-century and former monk, Thupten Jinpa. I was concerned that somehow I had insulted His Holiness. Suddenly, they stopped talking and Jinpa turned to me and said, “His Holiness is struck by your intention and wishes to make a personal donation”. This donation turned out to be the largest donation His Holiness had made to a non-Tibetan cause ever. I was overwhelmed.
CCARE
This led to two individuals committing significant funds and thus CCARE was born. His Holiness visited Stanford in 2010 and met with our scientists and give an amazing talk on compassion. This led to further conversations and meetings ultimately culminating in me becoming a member of the Dalai Lama Foundation and later Chairman of its Board.