His Atheist Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

"I'm Buddhist, I'm a Buddhist practitioner. So actually I think that according to nontheistic Buddhist belief, things are due to causes and conditions. No creator. So I have faith in our actions, not prayer. Action is important. Action is karma. Karma means action. That's an ancient Indian thought. In nontheistic religions, including Buddhism, the emphasis is on our actions rather than god or Buddha. So some people say that Buddhism is a kind of atheism. Some scholars say that Buddhism is not a religion — it's a science of the mind.

Do you agree with that?

Oh, yes. I even consider Buddha and some of his important followers like Nagarjuna (one of Buddha's leading disciples) to be scientists. Their main method is analytical. Analyze, analyze — not emphasis on faith. And these masters are not magicians. (Jokingly pretends to clip me around the head and laughs.)"

Japan Times, Sunday, December 02, 2007

1 per cent of Germans think Islam is most peaceful religion

"A study carried out for the news magazine Der Spiegel showed that 44 per cent of those questioned saw the Tibetan spiritual and secular leader as a role model, while only 42 per cent attributed the same qualities to the pope.
The Dalai Lama enjoyed a particularly high popularity rating among the young and better educated, according to the survey by the TNS research organization.

[...]

Asked what they thought was the "most peaceful religion," 43 per cent opted for Buddhism, while 41 per cent chose Christianity. Only 1 per cent picked Islam."

dw-world.de, 14.07.2007