By: Ashmar Mandou

In the aftermath of the Boston tragedy, now, more than ever, society is in need of peaceful solutions to counter acts of violence.

This weekend, the city of Chicago will welcome Sakyong Jamgon Mipham Rinpoche, an internationally recognized spiritual leader of peace initiatives and author of the book Running with the Mind of Meditation, to address growing violence against youth and create a platform for promoting peace with the help of various community-based organizations and community leaders during a youth initiative at the Imagining Peace Conference.

Hosted by The Shambhala Meditation Center of Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, the Imagining Peace Conference will lead participants on a three-day journey to explore peaceful tactics that will have a great impact on community and help to develop one’s own relationship with peace in families, streets, schools, and workplaces, and spark community dialogue around this social issue.

“Globally, we are at a juncture where many of us are concerned about the direction our society is taking and what will come about,” said Adam Lobel, senior teacher within Shambhala, in a statement. “Realizing the Shambhala principle of our inherent goodness and collective worthiness can be a dynamic and socially transformative opportunity. It is our hope that the Imagining Peace Conference and Youth Congress on Peace can demonstrate how this Shambhala principle is not simply medicine for ourselves, but a principle that we all can apply to the social mosaic of the world we are living in to bring about positive and peaceful transformations.”

Representatives from 30 community-based organizations, including CeaseFire, Community Media Workshop, Enlace Chicago, La Casa Norte, Latinos Progresando, and The Goodman Theatre, to name a few, will facilitate seminars throughout the three-day conference to help gauge the interest of participants and create resolutions to this growing epidemic.

If you are interested in attending the Imagining Peace Conference, visit www.imaginingpeace.com or email info@chicagoshambhala.org. You may also call, 312-520-2565.

The Imagining Peace Conference will take place April 26th through 28th with the opening to take place at the Rockefeller Chapel at 5850 S. Woodlawn Ave., at 7:30p.m. The next two days will take place at Malcolm X City College, 1900 W. Van Buren St., at 8a.m., to 6p.m.