When Chinese Wanted Tibetan Leader Samdhong Rinpoche to Be the Premier
More than 100 Chinese and Tibetans checked into their rooms at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland. The hotel was an 18-storied, big building, and its capacity was far more than holding this group of people. However, this group added a lot of commotion to the dining rooms and the hallways of the hotel. These people were scholars, educators, writers, and human rights advocates. They came from more than 12 countries across the globe to attend a Sino-Tibetan conference called “Finding Common Ground”.
The conference was held for three days from August 6th to 8th. It was organized jointly by the International Fellowship of Reconciliation and the Swiss-Tibetan Friendship Association. What were the aims of the conference? What common positions did the conference reach? The good thing is that the conference produced a document called the “Final Document of the 2009 Sino-Tibetan Conference ‘Finding Common Ground’”. You can read the document here: http://Tibet.net.
I would like to take this opportunity to tell you about one of the most talked about topics by the Chinese participants at the dining table, at the group discussions, at the all-group sessions, in the hotel bar, and at the tea breaks for the last two days during the conference. What could that be? Guess. It was the “wisdom of Samdhong Rinpoche”.
The conference started at 2:00 pm. His Holiness the Dalai Lama attended the opening session and gave a wonderful speech. Prime Minister Samdhong Rinpoche, Chinese Scholar Yan Jiaqi, and two representatives from the two organizing groups gave their speeches at the opening session as well.
After the opening session, Samdhong Rinpoche, the Premier of Tibetan Government in Exile, spent two hours answering questions on a wide range of issues from the Chinese participants. Some questions were extremely hard. Some people not only criticized the policy of Tibetan Government in Exile toward the Chinese government, but also suggested giving up the “Middle Way Approach”. Questions were pumped out one after another, but they all were answered one after another by Samdhong Rinpoche in a calm and peaceful manner. “Samdhong Rinpoche’s voice was gentle, but every word of his was sparkling wisdom.” That was what I thought at that time. Even though I was so impressed, I did not show any visible expression. I had no idea what the Chinese participants, especially those questioners, thought about Samdhong Rinpoche and his answers.
A Chinese participant asked, “The representatives of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government officials had eight round of talks. At the end, the Chinese government rejected the Memorandum of Genuine Autonomy for the Tibetan People. Do you realize that you have been fooled by the Chinese government?”
“Having the dialogues, we have lost nothing. On the other hand, we got the opportunity to let the Chinese government know the positions of His Holiness and our government in exile, as well as the will of Tibetan people. Now they clearly know what we are seeking. We now know about the Chinese government much better than what we knew eight years ago,” Samdhong Rinpoche answered.
“The communist government won’t give you genuine autonomy. Negotiations with a communist government are useless. Only when China becomes a country of democracy, Tibet will have the chance to get real autonomy. Do you realize that?”
To this question, Samdhong Rinpoche answered, “We wish China was a country of democracy, but we know it is not currently. I believe China is going to be a country of democracy some day in the future, and I also believe that things like Tibet issue could have greater chance to be settled in a democratic China. However, the issues of survival of Tibetan identity, culture, religion and environment are issues to be solved today. What we are asking is the Chinese government to implement the autonomous policies that are written in the Constitution of People’s Republic of China and related laws on regional autonomy for minorities. Therefore, it is not impossible to realize genuine autonomy for Tibetan people before China becomes a democratic state.”
The session of questioning (by Chinese participants) and answering (by Samdhong Rinpoche only) lasted two hours.
At the dinner, several Chinese, who sat the same table with me, talked about how great Samdhong Rinpoche was. At the group discussion the next morning, almost every Chinese in my group expressed his or her impression of Samdhong Rinpoche. A participant from China even said, “Samdhong Rinpoche is the Premier. He is a person with great wisdom. He is one hundred times better than Wen Jiabao.”
At the conference, someone even said, “His Holiness the Dalai Lama should be the President of China, and Samdhong Rinpoche the Premier.”
Samdhong Rinpoche was called “the Premier ”. Now you know who did that, right? The Chinese scholars did.
3 Responses to “When Chinese Wanted Tibetan Leader Samdhong Rinpoche to Be the Premier”
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as a tibetan, i feel very proud, with his abundant wisdom,humulity and compassion, he has earned the respect of one and all.wish our constitution allows third term to his prime mintership.
He truly is a great person.
“wisdom of Samdhong Rinpoche”:
It´s true: “having the dialogues” we need to preserve the capacity to dialogue, we need to learn that, dialogue is a open way for advocacy and non violence agreement and for me…Samdhong Rinpoche teaches us the language of compassion.