We are on the same beautiful planet.

We live under the same roof.

We are facing the same challenges.

We are creating the same future.

In any university, there must be a discussion about one topic: how to promote close cooperation and harmonious coexistence between Eastern and Western peoples. Every university must take on this responsibility: to seek common roots, common needs, and common solutions between East and West.

The vision, mission, and values of DSEU Golden Silk Entrepreneurship University are rooted in this principle. Let us now hear from DSEU’s founding personality, Geshe Michael Roach, as he introduces the university’s vision, mission, and values.

Hi, I’m Geshe Michael Roach. I would like to share with you the vision, mission, and values of DSEU.

The Vision of DSEU

When it comes to vision, it reminds me of many stories about universities. I once visited Greece and taught in Athens. I stood in the Agora marketplace, the very place where Socrates and Plato lectured. I discovered that it was the birthplace of modern universities. Sitting there, it felt incredibly exhilarating. You can still see the cave where Socrates was imprisoned and witness the impact this history has had on Western universities.

I attended Princeton University, where I excelled academically and even received the Presidential Scholars Medal from the President of the United States upon graduation. I am immensely grateful for my university experience, which I hold dear and consider life-changing, improving my life significantly.

Later on, I received a scholarship from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs to pursue a Geshi degree program at a traditional Asian university. This university has been around for six centuries, and studying there expanded my consciousness greatly. I never imagined that in this ancient Asian university, there would be so many wonderful and important research topics. It took me over twenty years to complete this degree program. I felt that I gained the best of both Western and Eastern universities.

Therefore, when we talk about the vision of DSEU, what we aim to do is to integrate the essence of both East and West. I know that many universities have Asian Studies departments and offer courses on Asian languages, but I believe these universities have not truly merged the great ideas of East and West. There still exist differences between the great Eastern and Western thoughts, as well as differences between the modern and ancient.

I studied Classical Literature at Princeton University, and some of us learned Greek or Latin classics, while another course focused on Sanskrit classics. However, we did not truly appreciate the history of knowledge and the history of great ideas. There was even a bias, assuming that modern ideas must be more profound than ancient ones. In my view, these ancient Asian concepts have existed in a vivid, healthy, and vibrant manner for two thousand years. People can still learn from them today.

If we have a university that combines the greatness of the West, such as new technologies in outer space, mobile phones, internet technology, and big data, with profound personal insights and the grand developmental systems of humanity, blending the essence of the East and West, as well as the ancient and modern, then the students nurtured there will undoubtedly experience holistic and complete development.

I believe this is the vision of DSEU.

The Mission of DSEU

Certainly, we can discuss this vision theoretically: “We will combine the great wisdom of the East with the great technical knowledge of the West. We will merge modern development with ancient ideas that have been passed down for thousands of years…” This is indeed our vision, but it is not enough. We must clarify our mission.

Mission means that we must truly bring the vision into reality. The mission of building a university requires us to teach this ancient wisdom to young people who have just graduated from high school, or those pursuing MBA/EMBA programs, or even people in their forties or fifties.

Mission and vision are different. Vision is like closing your eyes and saying, “Oh, maybe this is possible, maybe we can do this.” The mission is about how you will achieve it. How will you educate people? How can you integrate the great visions of the East and West, ancient and modern, into a person’s thinking? How can you truly create a practical education system that allows people to study MBA/EMBA programs, law courses, medical courses, and more? The mission is about how you will change people’s hearts. How do you plan to change their inner character and habits? This is a great mission.

Our mission is reflected in the name of the university. I know it is an unusual name, and we discussed it for a long time before making this difficult decision. Because the name may sound a bit unusual, we don’t want people to think that we are not serious or that we haven’t laid a solid foundation in traditional education. But we took the risk and named this university “JinDa Silk Road Entrepreneurship University,” and each part of this name has a significant meaning.

“Diamond” represents the oldest printed book in the world, the “Diamond Cutter” which was discovered in the Dunhuang Caves in China. We believe that this 2,500-year-old book and the great ideas contained within it are revolutionary guiding principles that bring success to people’s lives and the world. Therefore, we included the word “Diamond” in the name of the university.

“Silk” refers to the Silk Road. For over a thousand years, it served as a channel for better communication and the spread of new products. Today, we have airplanes and ships, but we lack the spirit of the Silk Road. The Silk Road is a spirit where people were willing to spend three months traveling from Italy to China to see a new world, and gain new ideas, trade products, trade literature, and trade wisdom. We want to incorporate this feeling of the Silk Road into the name of our university.

“Entrepreneur” means that we want to foster an entrepreneurial spirit not only in business disciplines but also in fields such as medicine, law, philosophy, history, literature, languages, sciences, and any other academic department. We want the spirit of the university to be filled with creativity and innovation. We want to showcase the spirit of entrepreneurs, not just cultivate senior managers who do the same thing every day. We need innovation. We hope to have a spirit of seeking new solutions and new ideas to create a better world.

Lastly, of course, DSEU is a university. We still retain the best aspects of traditional Western universities. Indeed, the Western universities that have spread throughout the world are a great invention, and we all benefit from them. Many developments in this world have come from this magnificent kitchen called “university.”

The Values of DSEU

We have a unique value system that sets us apart. Among our faculty and staff are some of the finest scholars who study both Western classical literature and the traditions of ancient Asian literature. Within this tradition, there is a fascinating theme that can be summarized as follows: the world doesn’t come towards us, it comes from within us.

For instance, if you raise a pen, what you see actually comes from the imprints in your consciousness. It is not from outside to inside but from inside to outside. Although this is just a perspective, a philosophical concept, it also prompts us to consider the following questions: How do you plant these seeds in human consciousness? How do these imprints within consciousness influence our careers and the success in our lives? How are these imprints deposited into the human mind?

Within this ancient wisdom tradition, there is a strong moral component. One important aspect is that if you try to use the same energy that helps you to help others, it will bring about fundamental and beneficial changes throughout the world. This actually impacts your experiences beyond that particular moment.

Therefore, we aspire to promote such a value system within the university: if the purpose of education is to live a more successful life, have a fulfilling family, become a more productive individual, and contribute to society, then it is crucial to understand that all the related factors—our families, our businesses, our health, and so on—ultimately depend on our willingness to help and serve others.

We aim to advocate a value system that states: if the world succeeds, I also succeed, if the world prospers, I too can prosper. We want to promote this value system not only in our own towns, not only within our own families, not only within our own countries, but also across the East and West.

Without this attitude, we won’t have a truly successful or happy world.

This is the value system we seek to promote within the university—that serving others is, in fact, serving everyone, including ourselves. We cannot neglect our own well-being or happiness by sacrificing them for the sake of others’ happiness.

If we can instill an attitude in the university that the purpose of education is to foster a world that is successful, healthy, and peaceful—both in the East and the West—then that is true education, that is the value of education.

This is the reason for creating this university, the reason we are so committed to building it, and the purpose for which future students come here.

This is the vision, mission, and values of DSEU.

Welcome to join DSEU!