Taking the Long View: Tibetan Refugee Tarthang Rinpoche’s Case of Leadership

One of the most important Buddhist tenets includes taking the bodhisattva vow, which promises to serve and protect all sentient beings and to regard one’s own personal interest to be secondary. Rinpoche, a Buddhist monk, has fulfilled this promise by preserving his nation’s sacred texts as a refugee. First traveling to India and then the United States, he became a prominent Buddhist educator who spread the Dharma, or teachings, throughout the country. Rinpoche often put the preservation of his culture over his own gain and personal safety. Cooperating with his network in the US, he began to revive the Dharma in Asia, and facilitated several cultural events and restoration projects. Rinpoche’s story serves as a lesson of the educational and cultural value that refugees can bring to their host and original communities, and the importance of a democratic and open society such as the US that can allow them to flourish.