I have found a much greater appreciation of Buddhism because I couldn't take it for granted here in exile.
I could justify violence only in this extreme case, to save the last living knowledge of Buddhism itself.
The antidote to hatred in the heart, the source of violence, is tolerance.
Buddhism strongly discourages blind faith and fanaticism.
I am basically optimistic.
We don't need to respond with desperate violence.
My responsibility is to save Tibet, to protect its ancient cultural heritage.
In Buddhism, ignorance as the root cause of suffering refers to a fundamental misperception of the true nature of the self and all phenomena.
I do not want to carry any public position.
Perhaps our teachings seem less religious and more technical, like psychology, so they are easier for secular people to use.
Even within one person, yesterday and today, there are differences. We must look at a deeper level.
Your motivation should be sincere and your life should be of benefit to some people. That is the main thing. Don't care after my death.
If the Dalai Lama joins one party, then that makes it hard for the system to work.
Up to now my involvement in the Tibetan freedom struggle has been part of my spiritual practice, because the issues of the survival of the Buddha Teaching and the freedom of Tibet are very much related. In this particular struggle, there is no problem with many monks and nuns, including myself, joining.
I don't want to be a prisoner in a palace, living in such a constricted way - too tight!
In our own case, we don't consider the loss of a monastery or a monument the end of our entire way of life. If one monastery is destroyed, sometimes it happens.
We have never declared war on China. We have only asked them to leave us in peace, to let us have our natural freedom.
It may seem unrealistic to think we can ever become free from hatred, but Buddhists have systematic methods for gradually developing a tolerance powerful enough to give such freedom.
Self-rule means that China must stop its intensive effort to colonize Tibet with Chinese settlers and must allow Tibetans to hold responsible positions in the government of Tibet.
China can keep her troops on the external frontiers of Tibet, and Tibetans will pledge to accept the appropriate form of union with China.
At the beginning of this century, people never questioned the effectiveness of war, never thought there could be real peace. Now, people are tired of war and see it as ineffective in solving anything.
In some cases, lack of full knowledge or holistic view, that is also part of the problem. But mainly lack of moral principle. So long you have this genuine sort of concern, well being of other. That's the foundation of moral principle.
In a free country, America, or India, and Japan, and many places, democracy country, free country, but still within the sort of rule of law, some injustice, some sort of problems, some discrimination, and also some sort of scandals or the corruptions. These things, you see, they are always in my mind, I think many people agree, lack of moral principle.
Americans are interested because they are open-minded. They have an education system that teaches them to find out for themselves why things are the way they are. Open-minded people tend to be interested in Buddhism because Buddha urged people to investigate things - he didn't just command them to believe.
Yet even the rich have their own kind of suffering, anxiety, doubt, and fear. So in many cases, wealthy people aren't happy! And once those with material wealth encounter small difficulties, their amount of mental suffering is sometimes bigger than it is for those who have faced such difficulties every day.
