There is only one important point you must keep in your mind and let it be your guide. No matter what people call you, you are just who you are. Keep to this truth. You must ask yourself how is it you want to live your life. We live and we die, this is the truth that we can only face alone. No one can help us, not even the Buddha. So consider carefully, what prevents you from living the way you want to live your life?

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.

There must be a way of promoting human values without involving religion, based on common sense, experience and recent scientific findings.

As far as ignorance is concerned, not just Buddhism, every religion recognizes it as the source of suffering.

I believe compassion to be one of the few things we can practice that will bring immediate and long-term happiness to our lives. I'm not talking about the short-term gratification of pleasures like sex, drugs or gambling (though I'm not knocking them), but something that will bring true and lasting happiness. The kind that sticks.

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.

I believe deeply that we must find, all of us together, a new spirituality.