If Jobs Are Important, Education Is Important.

Education Makes Human Beings More Articulate. It Transforms People. You Can Think Differently About The World. It Makes It Possible For You To Get Jobs. It Makes A Dramatic Difference. It Generates A Social Equity That We Need.

In India, [in] The Great Documents Like [the] Upanishads In Eighth Century B.c., You Find Some Of The Wisest [women] Making Great, Learned Speeches And Then You Worship Them, But Actually Don't Do Very Much About Girls' Education Generally. So I Think There Has Been A Kind Of Dual Presence Of Pain, Respect, And Saying You Are Great, Etc., But Not Providing The Basic Facilities That Make Women Able To Lead The Kind Of Life That They Would Like To And That Men Easily Do.

I Think East Asian Countries, I Think They're Very Fortunate To Have Buddhism Survive As A Strong Influence Because Right From The Time When Buddha Himself, 2,500 Years Ago, Made The Point About The Importance Of Education, And The Word "buddha" Also Means Enlighten[ed] Or Educated. So All The Buddhist Countries, Not Only Japan And Korea And China And Hong Kong And Thailand But Also Even Burma And Sri Lanka, Had A Higher Level Of Education.

Education Can Really Transform The Insecurities In The World Into A Bigger Vision Of What We Are As Human Beings.

It Seems To Me To Be Kind Of Inescapable That One Has To Be Interested In The Issue Of Gender And Gender Equality. I Don’t Really Expect Any Credit For Going In That Direction. It’s The Only Natural Direction To Go In. Why Is It That Some People Don’t See That As So Patently Obvious As It Should Be?