His Eminence Professor Samdhong Rinpoche delivered the opening address at the 91st Annual Meeting of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) earlier this month, also speaking at a seminar celebrating achievements in higher education, which was scheduled to coincide with the event. The conference, which took place at Venkateswara University, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, was attended by 320 directors and vice chancellors from universities across India.
Rinpoche held the AIU presidency from 1999-2000, before being elected as the first Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile in 2001.
During the opening speech, Prof Rinpoche laid out his priorities for the period, naming religious intolerance, economic division, environmental degradation and psychological poverty as his greatest causes for concern.
Commenting on a growing sense of “civilisational conflict”, he remembered the late Martin Luther King, who said that life is always a choice between non-violence or non-existence. Rinpoche told the audience that men and women must turn away from the path of violence to assure the continued existence of all mankind.
Finally, he expressed sadness at a perceived loss of “national consciousness”, observing that “real Indianness” had become obscured as a result of Western colonialism and the rise of modernity. “India was once reckoned ‘Jagadguru’ (guru of the world), due to its capacity to awaken the inner intelligence of humanity. I appeal to universities to bring back the hallowed status”, he said.
Professor Samdhong Lobsang Tenzin is the former Tibetan Prime Minister who still works closely with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Prof Rinpoche currently presides over the University of Buddhist-Indic Studies, Madhya Pradesh, where he was appointed Chancellor in April, 2013. A full biography can be found on the Rinpoche’s official website at www.samdhongrinpoche.com which is managed by Lha Charitable Trust under their initiative to preserve and promote Tibetan language and culture.
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