Religion is personal, not a tool to mobilise: Dalai Lama

[trotsky]

https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/religion-is-personal-not-a-tool-to-mobilise-dalai-lama/1227299

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama today said that religion is a "personal business" and should not be used to "mobilise" people on religious lines.

He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of inauguration of National Teachers Congress, organised by MAEERs MIT World Peace University and MIT School of Government here.

Replying to a question on what message he wants to give in the wake of violence at Koregaon Bhima in Pune district on January 1, the spiritual leader said, "Religion is a personal business. Whether you follow this religion or that religion, it is personal matter. We should not mobilise...As we Buddhist, we Hindus, we Muslims. That is not good."

...

"Today, the world is facing emotional problem and it can be only tackled by education and not religious faiths," he said.

[MineralMan]

1. What? No Evangelism?

What kind of religious leader is he, anyhow. He's certainly no Christian!

[Igel]

4. Not Xian.

Neither Evangelical nor into liberation theology.

Not Muslim.

And plausibly at least obliquely referring to issues in Tibet. Or perhaps Burma, since that's a Buddhist/Muslim conflict. Or maybe even India, with Hindutva vs Muslim. Or Pakistan.

So many places. So many faiths.

Could have been talking about the USSR, with their anti-religion campaigns. Or still the fate of house churches in a government-centric religious system in China (where there may be a god, but the highest power is a Xi man.)

[trotsky]

5. He was using sarcasm.

Might want to switch pedant mode off.

[MineralMan]

6. Did you really think I do not know who the Dalai Lama is?

How odd.

[Act_of_Reparation]

2. "Religion is personal"

Says the guy who owes his career to religion not being especially personal at all, it turns out.

[trotsky]

3. LOL

Yeah, that kinda stuck out a bit.

[Act_of_Reparation]

7. He's like a somewhat less offensive version of Pope Francis.

He gets in front of the camera whenever the opportunity presents itself, he smiles a lot, and offers a lot of spurious quotes for liberal mining operations. It's a carefully constructed public image campaign bolstered in part by US interests looking to upset Chinese influence in Asia. People conveniently forget he's essentially a theocrat, and that Tibetan life under the Lamas included things like serfdom and eye-gouging as punishment.

[MineralMan]

8. He is a fleshly machine that dispenses platitudes and

witty aphorisms at every opportunity. Monetary donations are optional, of course.