“What is the necessity to survive by compromising?” was the question raised by Samdhong Rinpoche, eminent Buddhist scholar, at a panel discussion on ‘Uncompromising ethics for a Compromised World’, organised by the Chennai International Centre (CIC) at the Madras School of Economics here on Saturday.
The former Prime Minister of Tibet In Exile also asserted that non-ethical living was “worse than death a hundred times”.
Stating that the concept of a compromised world was not a very old one, he said it was only 150 to 200 years old.
There were five major compromises throughout the development of modern civilisation, he said, listing them as follows: comfort of body being given utmost importance, considering the self as more important than others, individual rights becoming much more important than that of society, rights over responsibility and the fight between cooperation and competition.
He said changes to the systems of education, economy and governance could save the planet from destruction due to violence, gap between the rich and poor and environmental degradation.
Introspection needed
Columnist and political and economic commentator S. Gurumurthy, who did not agree with the premise that the world was compromised, said that the Indian society was still a highly recoverable society and that there was a need for introspection as to where we were going wrong.
He too agreed that there was a need to look at the system of education and what kind of exposure was being given to children in institutions.
In the Indian context, modernity, he said, meant irreverence. M
r. Gurumuthy called for a change in the mindset of the English-educated population, describing them as “the so-called intellectuals who lead the discussion in society”.
In conclusion, Priyadarshi, Director, Centre for Ethics and Transformation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was the moderator of the discussion, said there was a need to learn from the past and to think beyond religious notions of ethics.
Earlier, welcoming the gathering, N. Ravi, Director, Kasturi and Sons Ltd. and a founding fellow member of the CIC, said this was the seventh time they were conducting this programme where spirituality meets the more mundane world.
‘There is a need to learn from the past and to think beyond religious notions
of ethics’
