Dalai Lama spends 39 thousand euros to make you kinder in the future

(AFP PHOTO / Tim Sloan)

On September 8, the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader known for promoting kindness and compassion, gave the University of Wisconsin at Madison (UWM) in the US a surprise gift of $50,000 (€39,300).

The gift is earmarked for the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds (CIHM) at UWM, according to the blog Healthy Key.

CIHM works on "interdisciplinary research on healthy qualities of mind such as kindness, compassion, forgiveness and mindfulness.

"Scientists at CIHM represent an integrated team with a broad array of research methodologies from behavioral to neuroscientific."

Watch the grand opening of CIHM in May, where the Dalai Lama spoke, donning a UWM baseball cap: http://www.investigatinghealthyminds.org/webcast/archive_grandopeningevent.html

Studying healthy minds in the future could lead to a greater scientific understanding of meditative states and how individuals can maintain a calm mind. Researchers have studied "happiness," "emotional balance" and proven links to good physical health: the goal at CIHM is to understand how it works in the brain and how you can make your mind "healthy."