NEW DELHI, November 12 : The 17th Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje has said China must take responsibility for the environmental emergency on the Tibetan plateau. The young head of Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism who is also a known environmental crusader was addressing the final day of a conference attended by 60 monks and nuns from various monasteries at the India International Centre today.
“Some people think the Tibetan cause is a political issue, but it is much more than that. The Tibetan plateau is of such great environmental importance that we call it the Third Pole and the water tower of Asia. Therefore, most importantly, Tibet is an environmental issue that affects all of Asia,” the young Buddhist leader said.
The Karmpa said China can not do whatever it likes with Tibet just because it has political control over it. “Historically, the Tibetan way of life was in harmony with the land, spiritually and environmentally, with no negative impact on Tibet’s fragile ecosystems. This way of life must at all costs be preserved, because of the central importance of the Tibetan plateau as a source of most of Asia’s freshwater.”
“As spiritual practitioners and certainly as Mahayana Buddhists, our greatest aspiration is to bring about the happiness of all beings. The conservation of our environment, which is the very ground of the existence of many billions of beings, must be our primary concern. Conservation must be the very essence of our spiritual practice.”
The 5th Khoryug Conference on conservation of freshwater resources in the Himalayas started on Saturday in the Indian capital and was attended among others by Indian Union minister for rural development Jairam Ramesh.
The Karmapa also urged his host Indian government to play a greater role in protecting Tibet’s environment which he said is of “great concern to the entire world.”
The 5 day environmental conference that the Karmapa convened himself brought together monks and nuns from 55 communities across the Himalayan region for education, problem-solving workshops and to formulate specific water conservation projects to implement in their local communities. The conference included a trip to the bank of the Yamuna River, where the Karmapa led prayers for the restoration of the sacred, yet highly polluted Yamuna. The Karmapa was accompanied by the Khoryug monks and nuns and local residents, as well as Dr. Manoj Misra, Director of the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan organization which aims to restore the river.
Khoryug is a network of 55 Buddhist monasteries, nunneries and centres working together on environmental protection of the Himalayan region under the leadership of the Karmapa.
