Daniel David’s Second Annual Illumination Series Will Begin July 3
By Leslie Rott

Daniel David returns this year with his Illumination Series, which will feature scholars from various religions who will speak about peace.

The first in a series of four lectures will be held this Sunday, July 3, at Ste. Anne’s Church in which Gehlek Rimpoche will talk about Buddhism. The program begins at 3 p.m.

Mr. Rimpoche was born in Lhasa, Tibet, in 1939. He was recognized as an incarnate lama at the age of four and he was one of the last lamas to be educated in the Drepung monastery.

Principle teachers of Mr. Rimpoche were junior and senior teachers to His Holiness the Dali Lama.

He gave up monastic life at the age of 25 and worked as an editor for the Tibetan Works and Archives in Delhi and as the head of the Tibetan Service Department for All India Radio.

He founded The Jewel Heart Center in Ann Arbor, which has branches all over the United States and in Malaysia, Singapore, and the Netherlands.

Mr. Rimpoche’s first book, “Good Life, Good Death,” was released in October, 2001.

He is an American citizen and currently resides in Ypsilanti.

Other speakers in the series will include Prasanna Vengadam, who will speak about Hinduism July 17, Wissam Charafeddine, who will speak on Islam August 7, and Mr. David, who will speak about Christianity August 21.

“I came up with the idea for the Illumination speaker series gradually as I saw evolving an atmosphere of war and retribution in America and around the world, particularly after September 11, 2001,” said Mr. David. “I thought it important not to lose sight of the fact that peace was still something worth striving for and to counteract the attitude that war was inevitable in today's climate.”

He added that he started the series to “point out to people that the basic purpose of all the world’s major religions is peace...” and said that all of the speakers for the series believe in that ideal.

Mr. David said he decided to continue the speaker series this year in part because of the positive response he received last year, and also, he added, “due to the fact that war still exists in the world. As long as it does, I will hope to continue the Illumination series.”

Mr. David has been a professional musician for almost 30 years. He started working in bands when he was 14 years old and has had the opportunity to play almost every type of music. He is a first-class jazz pianist and singer and is currently completing a master’s degree in music theory. He also describes himself as a political historian, writer, and social activist and has written a play about Thomas Jefferson returning to the present United States to set it back on its original course, called “Jefferson Lives!” He is also writing a book on the consciousness-raising properties of music.

All lectures in the series will be held on Sunday’s at Ste. Anne’s Church at 3 p.m.

The Second Annual Illumination Series is sponsored by the Center for Peace and Idealism (CPI), an organization started by Mr. David, which is dedicated to world peace. Information about that can be found at www. peaceandidealism.org.