By Tsewang Namgyal

His Holiness the Dalai Lama

His Holiness and our beloved teachers regularly remind us of the reality of death: (i) certainty and (ii) uncertainty.

One day Tibetans will experience one of the saddest days in our lives with the passing away of His Holiness. There are currently much candid discussions about the selection of the XV Dalai Lama. At the risk of being misinterpreted, I believe what appears to be overlooked in our discussion is the action plan immediately (first two-three weeks) after His Holiness passing. How we respond will have a profound impact on how His Holiness legacy will be preserved and the creation of a modern Tibet.

His Holiness is our greatest treasure. Legacies are defined much during the initial periods of the passing away of an important individual. In a civilized world people will not take advantage of a mourning period but we know better by the past behaviors of the Chinese government. Unless we think from their mindset and proactively prepare our reactive response could be too late.

To put things into perspective I would like to humble share a possible scenario I envision soon after the passing away of His Holiness if we do not prepare.

First Week
Huge outpouring of international sympathy and media coverage on His Holiness and Tibet. Tibetans will respond with despair and anger towards the Chinese government (and later possibly blame each other). Sporadic riots may break out in Tibet despite the heavy military presence. Chinese government lay low and then give qualified praise to His Holiness and blame the people surrounding His Holiness.

Second/Third Week
International sympathy slowly replaced by the next world event due to news fatigue on Tibet (similar to the events in Iran drowned by the death of Michael Jackson). To sustain public attention, news media (whose main focus is profits) may try to invite critics/paid Chinese consultants to discuss items that maybe more controversial on His Holiness to retain viewership.

Tibetans feel confused and weakened with the direction or indifference of the media and public. China then goes on the diplomatic offensive, declares martial law in Tibet and with much pomp/publicity starts the process of the selection of the XV Dalai Lama.

Mitigant
I believe we can mitigate such a situation through preparation. As a public, during such a sad and vulnerable period, it is critical we stay calm, united with our leadership and follows their advice on the next steps. It is likely that TGIE has procedures in place during this period and we should heed them.

Ideally, it will be critical soon after such a sad news event a detailed clear Will of His Holiness is immediately released to the Tibetan, Chinese and International community in their respective languages. International sympathy and focus will be focused on the Will. This will be one of the greatest moments to impact the world with His Holiness kind wisdom.

TGIE should stay on the offensive in focusing/managing media discussion, advising our community and not be distracted/defensive by controversies/noise related to selection of the XV Dalai Lama and talking heads blabbing nonsense.

Around the end of the first week while international sympathy is still high, TGIE in the presence of international media and support of influential supporters/governments should formally delegate the task of finding the next Dalai Lama to senior Tibetan Buddhist leaders. TGIE should pledge to depoliticize the process and support whatever decision the respected search committee finds. This would be an implicit challenge to the Chinese government and anyone with common sense will support TGIE. Thus this will allow us to direct the flow of discussion.

To quote His Holiness we should “hope for the best but prepare for the worst.” We need to go beyond prayers if we want to fulfill His Holiness’s wishes. We have to know how, when and where to present His wishes and most importantly act on it. This situation that I highlighted is as worst as it can get. Through such preparation for the worst (if we are not already doing so) we will help lay the foundation for a modern Tibet.

Community Development

Our competitive edge I believe is our Tibetan Buddhist culture. I do not mean this from a tourist revenue standpoint (although this helps) but through absorbing the wisdom of our teachings – so profound, deep, calming, exciting and peaceful. To only get stuck with the tourist dollar level is not much different from getting excited by the recipe and not actually tasting the food. Combining our organic knowledge with the wisdom of outside societies who have made tremendous progress on social justice issues will allow us to build a solid foundation for a modern Tibet.

On the Tibetan Buddhism front, I would like to humbly bring to the attention of young Tibetans to study the seven point mind training to generate Bodhicitta (enlightened mind). This is something I heard from our teachers and found very interesting (although I admit I have not been able to practice). There are so many great teachings in our midst but I believe implementation of the seven point mind training would energize us all to develop a strong sense of gratitude, responsibility and desire to give back to our community.

Seven point mind training tactically provide a step by step process that allow us to help develop (i) equanimity (with the rationality that our relationships keep changing), (ii) view all sentient beings as our loving mothers (since we have been reborn infinitely), (iii) reflecting the kindness of our mothers (starting by remembering the love we were raised while in our mother’s belly and as infants), (iv) create a desire to repair her kindness, (v) generate love (through a wish that states “may all mother sentient beings have happiness and the causes for happiness,” (vi) generate compassion (through a wish that “may all mother sentient beings be free from suffering and the causes for suffering,”) and then (vii) develop Bodhicitta.

On social justice related issues there is much room for improvement in our society in reducing discriminations related to rig, gender/sexuality and mental illness. In addition, certain segments and regions are affected more than others by alcoholism, prostitution and gambling. Developed societies have shown that these issues can be reduced through proven tactics and by viewing social vices as an illness. Through such an attitude they have shown one will then look for the cause and provide helpful remedies rather than viewing the affected individuals as hopelessly good or bad.

There are two vices that I feel we should highlight in our community. One was actually something that a successful Tibetan friend of mine from Tibet told me. He said in Tibet many a time if a business relation goes awry it becomes very personal. He said people become enemies for life and actually would kill each other. There is a medieval style of anger and revenge that is glorified. He felt we need to learn to calm down and resolve conflicts better.

I felt in exile (probably due to a better justice system available) the issue appears to be less physical. However, I felt our weakness tends to be that people tend to disguise personal vendettas more by attacking your opponent’s character (less physical) from behind the scene. Here two I believe we could get help from experts on how to resolve conflicts. For a community to be strong we need to learn to work together not destroy each other.

We Tibetans are very fortunate to have so many great teachers of the past and present (like Milarepa and His Holiness) to train and change our minds. Milarepa’s life story exposes both the weaknesses in our mind and our society. He also showed how He overcame them through regret, compassion, forgiveness, effort and wisdom. Similarly there are many other great teachers in the social level (both Tibetan and non Tibetan) that we need to tap and learn in order to strengthen our community.

To quote Gandhi, “we must be the change we wish to see.” Gandhi did not say we need to complain more. Through freeing our mind and society of our vices we will automatically strengthen our community and lay the foundation of a modern Tibet.

Conclusions
One of my favorite stories in Tibetan Buddhism is the last interaction between Milarepa and his student Gampopa. During their last meeting, Milarepa first questioned Gampopa’s ability to comprehend Milarepa’s final teaching. After initial hesitation Milarepa pulled up his robe and pointed to his butt. Milarepa’s butt was callused due to his long meditations. Milarepa then explained to Gampopa that one has to work and nothing changes without effort. Similarly, I believe all our ideas and theories are near useless if we make no effort. I believe if we all act NOW on the areas where we can bring most value, respect the value addition of others, unite our efforts, have fun/inspire each other in the process and put the good of society above all of us we will create a modern Tibet even if we do NOT hope for it.

The author is an MBA graduate (Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society member) from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and works in the Investment Banking field in New York City. Tsewang is one of the Founding Board of Directors of Students for a Free Tibet, first Tibetan to officially enlist in the United States Military and served as the Executive Director of the Tibetan Community Center Project (NY) from 2007-2008 . He can be reached at densang123@yahoo.com

The views expressed in this piece are that of the author and the publication of the piece on this website does not necessarily reflect their endorsement by the website.