TPiE Speaker and Kalon Tripa Conclude US Visit[Friday, 4 June 2010, 9:58 a.m.]
New York:
Chitue Tsogtso Penpa Tsering and Kalon Tripa Samdhong Rinpoche
concluded their two week visit to the United States on 30 May. During
their stay in the United States, they visited New York City and the Bay
Area in California.In New York City, they participated in the
Tibetan community event on 22 May, which was also graced by His
Holiness the Dalai Lama and attended by 4,000 Tibetans. In his address
at the gathering, Kalon Tripa gave a detailed report of the activities
of his Kashag, ranging from looking after the welfare of the Tibetans
in the settlements to the education of the Tibetan children, to health
care of the Tibetan people in India, to financial state of the Central
Tibetan Administration, to international lobbying on the Tibet issue,
and to the security of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He also elucidated
upon His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Middle- Way approach and the current
status of the Sino-Tibetan dialogue.Chitute Tsogtso, on the
other hand, spoke in detail about the role of “Chitues” in formulating
rules and regulations that govern the Central Tibetan administration
and also the role they play in serving check and balance on the
administration. He also spoke at length about the importance of the
coming election of “Chitues” and Kalon Tripa and requested the public
to take active part in the election.Apart from the local
Tibetans, 50 representatives of the executive boards of the Tibetan
associations in North America attended the event, which was also web
cast live and watched by around 2,400 people online.On 23 May,
Chitue Tsogtso and Kalon Tripa spend a whole-day in face-to-day
dialogue with the Tibetan Community, discussing TGIE’s policy,
institutional development and administration. More than 800 Tibetans,
who participated in the event, took the opportunity and aired their
opinions and sought clarification on issues ranging from Sino-Tibetan
dialogue to the role of Chitues, the procedure to obtain Chatrel Lagdeb
(Green Book), the amendments required to the current rules and
regulations pertaining to Chitue election, etc. Both Chitue Tsogtso and
Kalon Tripa gave a detailed, in depth answer to each individual
question, which the participants found extremely satisfactory.While
they were in New York, both of them had separate meetings with the
executive members of the Indian American Foundation as well as St. John
the Divine Church.From 24 to 27 May, the two leaders visited
Berkeley, California, at the invitation of the Tibetan Association of
Northern California. During the stay in Berkeley, Chitue Tsogtso and
Kalon Tripa, once again, had a face-to-face dialogue with the Tibetans
living in the Bay Area and more than 400 Tibetans attended the
dialogue. Apart from the dialogue, they had separate meetings with
leaders of the Chinese community and associations in Bay Area, Berkeley
City Council members, and the leaders of the Tibetan Community and
NGOs. They also participated in the public prayer service for the
victims of the Kyegudo Earthquake and gave interviews to the local
media.On the evening of 26 May, the Kalon Tripa gave a public
talk on “Non-violence as a Path to Peace” jointly hosted by the Tibetan
Association of Northern California and Asia Society’s Northern
California branch. He was introduced at the event by a 91-year old
eminent American scholar, Hudson Smith, who taught at five different
universities (University of Colorado, Washington University,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and Syracuse
University) for 39 years before he retired from the teaching profession
in 1983. The talk was attended by 500 people, among them included many
young Tibetans, who were really inspired, and admired the Kalon Tripa’s
profound wisdom and knowledge. Since the talk was in English, the
young Tibetans had no difficulty in understanding it.On 27 May,
Chitue Tsogtso left for Europe and the Kalon Tripa, on the other hand,
left for Silicon Valley for his last leg of the visit to the United
States, hosted by the Gyuto Foundation based in San Jose, California.
While in San Jose from 27 – 30 May, the Kalon gave several talks and
had meetings with several important personalities of the area.On
the evening of 27 May, he gave the first talk on “Eight Verses of Mind
Training” at the Gyuto Foundation, which was attended by around 70
people. On 28 May, the Kalon Tripa gave a talk at the Stanford
University, which was attended by around 450 university students and
local members of Stanford. In his talk, the Kalon Tripa gave an
overview of the past 1,500 years of Tibetan history, current situation
in Tibet, and his administration’s commitment the dialogue process to
resolve the issue of Tibet for the best interest of both Tibetan and
Chinese people. On 29 May, the Kalon Tripa gave a talk on “Ethics in
the Modern Society” at the Double Tree Hotel in San Jose.While
in San Jose, the Kalon Tripa also visited the new site of the Gyuto
Foundation and had a meeting with the board members and benefactors of
the Gyuto Foundation.Kalon Tripa left for India on 30 May.–Report filed by Tsewang Phuntso, Office of Tibet, New York
