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Kuen dang thuenlam (ཀུན་དང་མཐུན་ལམ།) - one root cause


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Back in our primary school we were taught Kuen dang thuenlam zha go ༴ཀུན་དང་མཐུན་ལམ་བཞག་དགོ།(One must maintain good relations with everyone) and we were also taught that without good kuen dang thuenlam ༴ཀུན་དང་མཐུན་ལམ།one could hardly succeed. And we grew up with this notion that with kuen dang thuenlam ༴ཀུན་དང་མཐུན་ལམ།at our disposal we can do anything in life. Most of our life depends on kuen dang thuenlam་༴ཀུན་དང་མཐུན་ལམ་།.

If we are bred this way, then we can’t do much on our own. Can we? Because we are saying that in order to succeed in life, we need the help of others. Of course the proverb might be suggesting or pointing us to the need of good relations with others in the community. But at the same time we are also indirectly promoting nepotism. Don’t you think? And that’s one of the most rampant forms of corruption that people identify. The need for good relations and having them on the other hand promote mediocrity – we are raising someone on a pedestal that s(he) does not deserve to be placed. So, if we are saying that in life all we need is good kuen dang thuenlam་༴ཀུན་དང་མཐུན་ལམ། to do well then we are seriously promoting corruption!

And when ACC as the leading organization in combating corruption in the country does its duty properly many people hardly appreciate what it does. They are after all doing it for the sake of the country. A living can be made anywhere, but people working in ACC risk everything. We are a small society where everyone knows everyone (at least we claim so) and just because they are doing their duty or what is right and expected of them, people take it seriously. By that I mean personally. Just because ACC is against some corrupt individuals it does not mean people working in ACC are all personally against those persons. I hope we understand that!

And now we get the root cause of all these corrupt practices inherent in our system. This Kuen dang thuenlam ༴ཀུན་དང་མཐུན་ལམ།mentality affects us all – in banks, RSTA offices, hospitals, city corporation offices, and so many other government offices!

Something to think about but by this I am in no way suggesting that we should harbor bad thoughts at our neighbors, colleagues, et al.  That’s a different story altogether!  
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