Compassion is a mental quality that can bring us true lasting inner peace and inner strength.

If I had not been a monk, I would have become an engineer.

All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.

We need to take action to develop compassion, to create inner peace within ourselves and to share that inner peace with our family and friends. Peace and warm-heartednes s can then spread through the community just as ripples radiate out across the water when you drop a pebble into a pond

But when it comes to democratic political parties, I prefer that monks and nuns not join them - in order to ensure proper democratic practice.

Material development alone does not yield genuine inner peace.

There is nothing I can't live without. I learned this attitude when I was a child.