The new center was inspired by His Holiness The Dalai Lama’s 1995 visit to FIU when he emphasized that education should nurture both a strong mind and a warm heart. Featured on the cover is His Holiness The Dalai Lama of Tibet during his September 2004 return to FIU, described by FIU President Modesto Maidique as a “once in a lifetime privilege” for students. The Dalai Lama’s lecture, “Compassion: The Source of True Happiness,” attracted more than 5,000 students, staff and faculty.

By Deborah O'Neil

Something about the words — spoken gently, but with absolute conviction — was unforgettable. From another mouth, they might have rung like an indictment. But coming from the tranquil monk in the saffron robes, they sounded like something else altogether. They sounded like an inspiration.

“In the modern education system, you pay attention to the proper development of the brain, but you do not pay adequate attention to the development of the warm heart,” His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet told a rapt audience on that day five years ago at Florida International University’s Panther Arena. “The development of the good heart, the warm heart, and the development of the good brain — these must go together.”

“A poetic notion. Simple yet profound.

That was the seed. Those words, those ideas, embedded themselves into Professor Nathan Katz’s mind, slowly working into his psyche, melding with concepts honed during a lifelong journey of religious scholarship and personal faith. It took years for Katz to fully grasp their meaning, to understand how deeply compelled he had become to convert those inspiring words into a living testament.