Dalai Lama calls for ‘moral principles’ in business

TIBETAN spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has urged Yorkshire business leaders to help bridge the “morally wrong” gap between rich and poor and said that a “luxury lifestyle” should not be the aim of corporate legacies.

Addressing delegates at the Yorkshire International Business Convention in Leeds yesterday, he said the financial crisis had been caused by factors including greed, speculation, ignorance and chasing “short-term profit”.

The 76-year-old told the audience that from the 1960s to today “lots of people were dreaming about money” and that that hadn’t “left much room for moral principle”.

The Dalai Lama, whose visit to the annual event has been overshadowed by a threat by Chinese authorities to pull its Olympics team out of a training camp in Leeds because of his visit to the city, said that large companies had a “direct responsibility” to help people.

“Multi-nationals depend on the larger community,” he said. “For people in the world the moral principle is very relevaent. To bring trust and respect transparency is essential.”

Without moral principles frustration and jealousy can boil over into violence, he said, adding that too much time was taken by people thinking about making profit.

He went on to say that material goods “wouldn’t bring inner strength” and that honesty was important.

Taking questions from the floor he added that doing good for other people was the greatest legacy any one person could leave.

He also condemned censorship, especially through the internet, adding that “the world belongs to human beings”.

Tibet is governed as an autonomous region of China and Beijing claims a centuries-old sovereignty over the Himalayan region.

But the allegiances of many Tibetans lie with the Dalai Lama, seen by his followers as a living god, but by China as a separatist threat.

Other speakers during this morning’s event in Leeds included Will Whitehorn, who helped Richard Branson grow Virgin into a super brand, and Olympic medallist Steve Cram.

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