Samdhong Rinpoche
Dharamshala
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Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche is an eminent and distinguished scholar, teacher and philosopher, and a life-long campaigner for non-violence
Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche was born in Jol, in Eastern Tibet. At the age of five he was recognized by Tibetan Buddhists to be the reincarnation of the fifth Samdhong Rinpoche. Two years later he took vows as a monk and started his religious training at Drepung Monetary in Lhasa. After the Chinese invasion of Tibet, Rinpoche was forced to exile in India along with the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso.
From 1960 onward he worked in Tibetan religious schools in India and in 1965 he became the principal of Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies and moved on to a Director position by 1988.
From 1988 to 2001 he worked as the Director CIHTS and was awarded the professorship by Banaras Hindu University for his deep knowledge in numerous eastern studies.
He is an eminent scholar who is fluent in Hindi, English and Tibetan and he is respected throughout the world in the areas of Buddhist philosophy, science, and politics. In 1991 Rinpoche was appointed by the Dalai Lama as a member of the Assembly of Tibetan People’s Deputies, and later was unanimously elected as its Chairman. Between 1996 and 2001 he was an elected member of the Assembly representing exiled Tibetans from Kham province, all the while remaining an active Chairman.
From 1999 to 2000, Rinpoche was the president of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), a strong academic group of more than 250 Vice-Chancellors of Indian Universities
In 2000, the Dalai Lama decided that a democratic vote for the Tibetan people in exile to elect their own Prime Minister should take place. Rinpoche won with 84% of the vote. Since 2001 he has travelled extensively to gain support for the cause of Tibetan autonomy and raise awareness of the Dalai Lama’s proposals for negotiating autonomy with the Chinese government.
He is an eminent and distinguished scholar, teacher and philosopher, and a life-long campaigner of non-violence or peaceful resistance that he still acts as a close confidant of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
Rinpoche is an important figure head in the Tibetan community. In addition to being an outspoken proponent of nonviolence, he was the Vice-President of the Tibetan Youth Congress (CENTREX) from 1970-1973, and an Honorary Secretary to the Religious and Cultural Department (CAT) in Dharamsala. He was a speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile twice and was the first directly elected Kalon Tripa (prime minister). Rinpoche is the first person to have exercised political authority following His Holiness the Dalai Lama's renunciation of political power in 2011. He published several books on the subjects of nonviolence and Buddhist philosophy and has been recently appointed as the Chancellor of Sanchi University of Buddhist-Indic Studies based in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh on April 25, 2013.
President International Buddhist Congregation
Member Expert Advisory Committee, Ministry of Culture, Govt of India.
Direct appointed from 26th Feb 2014 to 26th Feb 2016.
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