Shenpenn Khymsar on the importance of unity and harmony for Tibetans

I want to share Shenpen’s opinion here with all of you because I want more Tibetans to open up to wider ways of thinking about politics, Tibet, religion and the world. In this way it will benefit the Tibetan community at large. We need the Tibetan leaders to think much broader also. Since Shenpenn has posted his video on a public space such as FB, I claim no copyright but it belongs to him. I am sharing his video in order to bring his words of wisdom to more people and may it become stronger and grow.That way everyone's understanding will develop more and they can come in line with how the rest of the world thinks, therefore I am sharing his video and transcript in English with all of you. ********** [[TRANSCRIPT]] Today I’m talking through Facebook Live in Tibetan and if I don’t talk in Tibetan I’ll be kicked out of the Tibetan community [joke]. Then they’ll say I’m not a pure Tibetan or I’m not a Tibetan. Especially for us Tibetans who stay in North America, I’ve done a lot of work for Tibetan organisations so today what I want to say, I have no choice but to say it. So the purpose of today’s talk is not to make anyone black, or to insult anyone, or to target anyone. I’m talking today because I have pride in being a Tibetan and for the Tibetan cause, and I am someone who is very worried about the Tibetan situation. For this reason I am talking today. Everyone is allowed to talk about their views, and we can talk respectfully to each other about issues. We Tibetans have to open our eyes bigger, we have to open our ears, and we have to understand more things and see into more things. Every year in Dharamsala in March and September, the Tibetan government has big meetings. Since we are people without a country, our responsibility over there mainly should talk about how we have to improve our education, improve our communities, and most important is how we can make relationships with the Chinese government. Whether we want the Middle Way (umaylam) or we want full independence (rangzen) we have to find a way to talk to the Chinese government. But since officially all of us endorse the Middle Way, we should find a way to talk with the Chinese government about our Middle Way for Tibet. But instead of this, whenever we have these meetings, I always see that people talk about small things that do not matter, that have no consequence. Please don’t be upset that I’m saying this. I’m saying this because I have a responsibility as a Tibetan citizen to tell the truth and I feel it’s important that I say this. Please all of you in Dharamsala, the Tibetan community, the Parliament and the government officials, whenever you get together for meetings, please talk about how to remove the difficulties for the sake of Tibet. Please talk about Tibet’s welfare and how to unite as one the six million Tibetans. Please talk about these subjects. Please don’t mix politics and religion. Since religion and politics have been mixed, we are now suffering the detrimental results of this mixture. Please leave politics on one side, and religion on the other side. So how can we confront the Chinese, how to make a better relationship with India, America and the European Union? How to make a better relationship with foreign countries? How can we be less of a sycophant? How can we REALLY make our community united and one? Please don’t talk about unity among Tibetans for one’s own personal gain. We have to think all of us are Tibetans. We must think we are all Tibetans and as Tibetans, if you want to be Middle Way, be Middle Way. If you want to be an independence seeker for Tibet, you can be that. If you want to be Gelug, Kagyu, Sakya, Nyingma or Bönpo, you want to be Dolgyal (Dorje Shugden) follower, you want to be a Tibetan Muslim, you want to be a Tibetan transgender, you want to be a Tibetan gay, you want to be a Tibetan lesbian – be what you want but it’s important we all think strongly we are Tibetans. We are all one. All of you sangha, please have more interest in the Dharma, I respectfully request of you. For those who are doing work in politics, please have good attention to politics correctly. We have to understand the politics of the world, and in relations to China, we’ve only shown about 30% of our power. We have to think about how to show 80% of our power in relations to China. We should do things in a way that doesn’t hit ourselves and to stop talking small, unnecessary talks, for example like separating our people by saying “they are not Tibetan”, “they are not a pure Tibetan”, “they speak English, they don’t speak Tibetan”, “he practises Dolgyal (Dorje Shugden)”, “he wants independence”, “he is Lukar Jam”, “they are this, they are that” – when we keep doing this separation and accusation, we all create the loss. Nobody else gets the loss, just us... TO CONTINUE READING, PLEASE GO TO http://www.tsemrinpoche.com/?p=144716