Jetsun Pema, a former minister in the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) and sister of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, was presented with the Christmas Humphreys Award in Dharamsala, northern India, on Wednesday in recognition of her contributions to the education and welfare of Tibetan children living in exile, and to preserving the cultural identity of the Tibetan community.
The Christmas Humphreys Award is presented by The Buddhist Society in London, and is named after Travers Christmas Humphreys (1901–83), a British jurist and early advocate of Buddhism in the West. Humphreys founded the Buddhist Lodge in 1924, which became the Buddhist Society—one of the oldest Buddhist organizations in Europe. The Christmas Humphreys Award was established following Humphreys’s death in 1983, and is awarded for exceptional contributions to Buddhism and Buddhist culture. Recipients include His Holiness the Dalai Lama, who received the award in 2005.
Ama (Mother) Jetsun Pema received her award at the Upper Tibetan Children’s Village in Dharamsala on 7 October from the president of The Buddhist Society, Dr. Desmond Biddulph. The award recognizes Jetsun Pema’s decades of service providing modern and traditional education to thousands Tibetan children. Her work has been instrumental in the development of the Tibetan Children’s Village (TCV), which has grown into a network with more than 10 branches.
“[In 1962], Christmas Humphreys came to India and traveled among the Tibetan refugee centers and settlements, seeing for himself as circumstances of those who had lost their country and reporting directly to His Holiness [the Dalai Lama], what he had seen,” Dr. Biddulph noted during the presentation ceremony. “And so there is a remarkable continuity between those events and our gathering here today.
“Humphreys came to India, concerned about the future of a people in exile. Ama-la has devoted her life to helping to secure that future. We have heard that following the tragically early death of her elder sister Tsering Dolma, His Holiness the Dalai Lama asked Ama-la to take forward the work that her sister had begun for the Tibetan refugee children in running Tibetan Children’s Villages.”
Dr. Biddulph then outlined some of Jetsun Pema’s achievements over the course of her remarkable life: five children’s villages with schools; seven residential schools; seven day schools; 10 daycare centers; four vocational training centers; four youth hostels; four homes for the elderly; an outreach program for over 2,000 children in exile; while TCV oversees the well-being of more than 15,000 children and youth.
“Ama-la understood well that childhood is not something we simply leave behind; it becomes a resource upon which we draw throughout our lives,” Dr. Biddulph continued. “The security, we experience as children, the language we speak, the stories we hear, the values we learn. Our sense of family and community, and the knowledge that we belong somewhere become part of the foundations upon which adult life is based. And when life becomes difficult, it is often to those early foundations we return.
“For a child in exile, this is particularly important. If a homeland has been lost geographically, it can nevertheless remain present through language, memory, culture, religion, and most importantly community. In giving Tibetan children those foundations, Ama-la gave them something they could carry with them for the rest of their lives. Her work, therefore, did more than provide education and care, it enabled generations of Tibetan children to grow up knowing who they were, with confidence in themselves, and the justified pride in their Tibetan identity and inheritance. And through those children, something immeasurably precious was carried forward into another generation.”
Among guests attending the ceremony were the chief justice of the Tibetan Supreme Justice Commission, Yeshi Wangmo, Justice Commissioners Dawa Phunkyi and Phagpa Tsering; Speaker Dolma Tsering Teykhang of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, and Deputy Speaker Khenpo Sonam Tenphel; and Secretary Lobsang Jinpa of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
To accompany the presentation of the award, Tibetan children performed a tribute song to honor Jetsun Pema, while representatives from TCV schools offered traditional Tibetan khatas.
“There is another aspect of today’s presentation I think is important: we are honoring a woman,” Dr. Biddulph highlighted. “Women have always played an essential part in sustaining Buddhist life—within families, communities, monasteries, and nunneries; as practitioners, teachers, carers, and transmitters of the Dharma. Yet their contribution has not always received the recognition accorded to men.
“It is therefore particularly appropriate that an award bearing the name of the founder of the Buddhist Society should today honor an extraordinary woman whose life has been devoted to the welfare of others. And there is something profoundly significant too in the title by which Ama-la is widely and affectionately known: ‘the Mother of Tibet. . . .’
“There is a Buddhist word which naturally comes to mind when we consider such a life: karuna. This is a Sanskrit word. But in Buddhism, karuna, compassion, cannot be separated from prajna, wisdom. Compassion, recognizes suffering. Wisdom understands what is needed. And together they make possible skillful action. And perhaps that is what we mean by Buddhism in action.
“Ama-la did not simply respond compassionately to the immediate suffering of displaced children. She had the wisdom to understand what those children would need in order to become secure and confident human beings, capable themselves of carrying Tibetan culture and values into the future. That union of compassion and wisdom lies at the heart of the Buddhist path. And it’s beautifully exemplified in Ama-la’s life and work.”
Sharing her thoughts after the ceremony, Jetsun Pema emphasized that the Tibetan Children’s Village had flourished because of the contributions of numerous colleagues, staff members, and others who had labored alongside her to build and nurture Tibetan education in exile.
She also underscored the role of the Dalai Lama, noting the many major initiatives supporting the Tibetan community in exile that had emerged under his spiritual guidance. Jetsun Pema concluded by remarking that with both herself and His Holiness advancing in age, the responsibility for carrying forward his aspirations now rested with the younger generation.
See more
Jetsun Pema honoured with Christmas Humphreys Award for lifelong service to Tibetan education (Phayul)
Kasur Jetsun Pema Honours with Prestigious Christmas Humphreys Award by The Buddhist Society, London (Central Tibetan Administration)
The Buddhist Society
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