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 --Kalon Tripa Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche's speech |
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| Excerpted from Kalon Tripa Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche's speech during the first conference of Tibetan Enterprises in Exile held at Gurgaon near Delhi from 18th to 19th June 2005 |
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On behalf of exile government’s Kashag, I extend my hearty welcome and applaud the presence of business leaders from India, Nepal and other places in the first conference of Tibetan Enterprises in Exile. I am extremely happy to be here in this conference today because initially I thought that I may not be able to attend it and even if I attend the conference, it may not be much of use, as I don’t have anything to say on business front. |
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| I think it was a year ago when Paljor Kalon informed Kashag about a business conference to be organized for Tibetan businessmen and my immediate response was, would the business people attend it? This obvious question arose in my mind because firstly everybody is busy in his or her own business and secondly, we don’t have any incentives to provide for them like other independent nations. The response from Paljor Kalon was the same as in his speech that people had shown interest while conducting surveys. The proposal to organize a business conference was not accepted right away by Kashag as it came across. It was discussed few times and then agreed to organize this conference. Despite our agreement we weren’t sure whether people are actually going to attend it or not. |
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| Today, when we look at the actual attendance of conference, it is very encouraging and more so because majority of the participants around 70% are youth, which is very significant. Otherwise, in almost every Tibetan meeting, majority of the participants are older people, as youth’s participation and cooperation is very rare in this regard. Their participation is not only encouraging but also have created a sense of assurance that our society is, indeed, well founded in exile for which I sincerely appreciate your thoughts and I have to say well done. In future too, out request to you all would be to carry on with the same zeal of responsibility to evolve our youth in the business field. |
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| Few Years ago, when His Holiness visited US, a successful Jewish businessman had audience with H.H the Dalai Lama and I was also there at that time. In conversation, His Holiness asked him how did your society survived for 2000 years in exile, as our people are already getting frustrated and becoming increasingly diasporic in these 30 to 35 years (it was then) of our struggle. The businessman’s main point was, it is difficult to have same kind of permanent source of revenues to improve economic conditions like independent nations but it is important to achieve economic well-being by taking full advantage of the prevailing business environment while in exile. Also, the able businessmen should take along the less able fellow businessmen by helping them to be successful in business field. The short-term or temporary support will not help much. These endeavors at the individual level have contributed immensely in becoming most Jewish people businessmen today. |
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| And, those who were not interested in business had found their ways into academic field. So, our people’s effort in these two fields i.e. business and education had helped in great deal to sustain and survive our culture and identity. Therefore, in exile Tibetan society, two most important things are business and education. These two shouldn’t be allowed to be dictated by others and must strive for the freedom to carryout on personal initiatives, Even if we don’t have political freedom, the freedom in the field of business and education will help sustain the society in future for thousands of years to come. This incident is being narrated here because it has impacted my mind profoundly. |
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| Today, concept of capitalism, as you all know, has changed tremendously. In the past it was difficult for an individual to single handedly manage huge business and therefore, many people coordinated and involved in it. Today multi-millionaires can manage his business individually from a small room with a computer in it. An American economist, David Korten wrote two books after taking full stock of the capitalistic situation. His books “When The Corporation Rules The World” and “Post Corporate World” convince me how brutal and forceful capitalist is today. |
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| Our main objective is to preserve a national identity from extinction. At present, we are striving for a genuine regional national autonomy under the framework of Peoples Republic of China, which is the crux of Middle-Way approach being adopted by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. If we were bestowed with genuine autonomy then the main responsibility of every Tibetan is to go against a flawed economic system and policy, which has generated hardship for the last 50 to 60 years, sacrifice of around 1.2 million people, destructions of our culture and depletion of invaluable natural resources. In the light of that, we have to naturally go against such economic system and policy in future, as there is no use confronting individual Chinese and also China as a country |
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| When Gandhi Ji was not allowed to travel in an AC train in South Africa despite producing a valid train ticket, he sat outside for whole night thinking whether to report this incident to the security official or to file a case against the concerned individuals who did this act or to protest by gathering people. Finally, before the sunrise, he realized that it is not really a fault of that individual. He went deeper into the incident and realized that it is the British made system that grants him the nerve and encourages doing this kind of act in such manner. So, he felt that unless people could bring change in the system there is no point in confronting individuals’ behavior and this kind of act will not be curbed. The opposition should be against the prevailing unjust system that empowers a section of people to bully others as they wish. |
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| Therefore, our opposition is with both capitalist and socialist economic system. These two systems are the sources of unhappiness and sufferings in this world. Therefore, our approach should not only aim to lessen the sufferings of our people but also that of the world at large. It can be achieved through an economic system, which is different from both capitalism and socialism. Today, when we look at the household in this world, almost all of them are surviving on day- to-day living. The book entitled with “The End of the world” and “21st Century – What Shall We Do” describes the severity of present world. The authors expressed skeptic views on the conditions of today’s world. In this world, population is increasing, gap between rich and poor people are widening, conflict and war is on the rise, religious disharmony is witnessed; environment depletion and exhaustion of other resources that brings different diseases are rampant. |
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| Today, a press on nuclear button has the capability of destroying the world 36 times. All these concerns are mainly caused by the economic systems that we are following now. We should be able to think not only of this generation but also that of future generations. That is precisely why His Holiness has been propagating Universal Responsibility through out the world. With this background, when we were bestowed with genuine autonomy our economic system will be based on middle-way economy. Some people have misconceived notion of defining it as a blend of capitalism and socialism. That is completely wrong and untrue. Middle-way economy is entirely different from capitalism and socialism. It will be based on the economic philosophy outlined in the books of Gandhi Ji and wishes of His Holiness expressed in various interviews on future economic system |
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| In fact, economics originated from the writing of Chanakya who was a minister during Chandra Gupta Maurya period. It was not copied from Western countries, as contrary to popular belief. Western countries distorted the subject and came up with different systems. |
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| n future Tibet, it doesn’t matter even if we cannot produce people like Bill Gates but nobody should be left out without food, shelter, clothing and school. Equal opportunity for all will ensure stability, peace and prosperity. So, we have to work towards the achievement of these goals while in exile |
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| Future Tibetan economy will be guided by various philosophies written in the above-mentioned books. Briefly explaining on future Tibetan economy, it will be based on need and not on greed, as need has limit and greed is unlimited. It will be achieved through cooperation and not through competition. This will ensure self-sufficiency in the long run and help to achieve sustainability, non-violence, equal opportunity and safe environment. The development should be from bottom to the top and not vice-versa. The present systems will never help to bridge the gap between the countries, regions and people. Gandhi Ji summarized the concept of development as food, shelter and clothing for all and in the event of even single person who doesn’t have this facility India will not be considered as a developed nation |
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