NONVIOLENT DGCEC
RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, Drepung Gomang Center for Engaging Compassion is a Tibetan Buddhist Dharma Center and a non-religious Compassion Education Center, and is therefore committed to growing compassion skills and practices, and recognizes that a wish to do no harm lies at the foundation of this effort;
WHEREAS, DGCEC has more than a decade of involvement in this work including launching Twelve Days Toward Peace in September 2015 and Louisville’s Arms of Compassion in April 2016, convening Engaging Nonviolence Symposium for Empowered Young Leaders in 2017, and offering nonviolence history and skills programs for more than 10 years;
WHEREAS, these times in which we are living call for extensive understanding of the principles and skills of nonviolence as taught by great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Gene Sharp, as well as a myriad of world leaders and everyday people;
WHEREAS, contemporary nonviolence research examining movements across cultures and countries in the past one hundred and twenty years, those movements using a personal commitment to nonviolent principles have been twice as successful, three times as fast, and ten times safer than violence-oriented movements and movements using nonviolence and violence intertwined;
THEREFORE, DGCEC believes in the principles of the Nonviolent Louisville movement and is committed to helping create a more just and peaceful community using nonviolence.
DGCEC HEREBY MAKES A TEN-YEAR COMMITMENT to seek to transform personal attitudes, practices and structures toward helping foster a culture of nonviolence in Louisville by offering programs and classes in nonviolent skills and strategies, and by engaging in nonviolent efforts locally.
We commit to strive to live a path of nonviolence by
transforming our violent thoughts into thoughts of benefitting others,
avoiding violent words that harm or humiliate others,
resisting fighting back even if we are provoked,
refusing to bully anyone or allow anyone to be bullied,
choosing forgiveness, tolerance and patience as our regular response to others’ violence,
and adopting compassionate-mind and loving-kindness toward others.
We make this commitment for the benefit of our community, all people and our world.
Signed by DGCEC Leadership on 21 July 2025