I always emphasize that it is much safer and better to keep one's own religious faith. The other major religions are thousands of years old and have long traditions.

We need to employ a secular approach to ethics, secular in the Indian sense of respecting all religious traditions and even the views of non-believers in an unbiased way. Secular ethics rooted in scientific findings, common experience and common sense can easily be introduced into the secular education system. If we can do that there is a real prospect of making this 21st century an era of peace and compassion.

Violence will only increase the cycle of violence.

The message of love and compassion will travel far and wide if all who follow a spiritual path work together in harmony and mutual respect.

For Tibetans, the real strength of our struggle is truth - not size, money, or expertise.

One can overcome the forces of negative emotions, like anger and hatred, by cultivating their counter-forces, like love and compassion.

In some places, there's the concept of one religion, one truth. In the Muslim world, there's the notion of Allah. The Western, multireligious modern society is some kind of a challenge to this. These, I feel, are the main causes [for terrorism], and, when combined with lots of anger and frustration, cause a huge amount of hate.