My overriding belief is that it is always possible for criminals to improve and that by its very finality the death penalty contradicts this.

If you focus only on yourself and neglect others, you will lose; but you will gain if you value others as much as you cherish yourself.

There are five billion human beings and in a certain way I think we need five billion different religions, because there is such a large variety of dispositions. I believe that each individual should embark upon a spiritual path that is best suited to his or her mental disposition, natural inclination, temperament, belief, family and cultural background.

Our visit to this planet is short, so we should use our time meaningfully, which we can do by helping others wherever possible. And if we cannot help others, at least we should try not to create pain and suffering for them.

The world will be saved by the western woman.

From adversity we can learn the value of patience.

Since we became Buddhist, we have lived in peace with them. We did not invade them. We did not want them to invade us. We have never declared war on China.