His Holiness the Dalai Lama: The Violence in Gaza is “Unthinkable”

Over at Tricycle: The Buddhist Review‘s blog, the awesome Max Zahn writes about His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s reaction to the ongoing violence in Gaza.

On Tuesday, His Holiness the Dalai Lama called the violence “unthinkable,” criticizing religious actors on both sides:

“All major religious traditions—Islam, Christianity, Hindu, of course, Jainism and Buddhism, all major religious traditions—teach us the practice of compassion, love, forgiveness, tolerance. So then, for a person who believes in a certain faith, why do you involve [sic] in such violence? It is really very, very sad.”

But this is not a call for religious people to remove themselves from the international crisis altogether. The Dalai Lama has previously said that people of faith need to help resolve social and political ills: “When faced with economic or any other kind of injustice, it is totally wrong for a religious person to remain indifferent.” “Religious people,” he said, “must struggle to solve these problems.”

Read the rest here.