Dalai Lama defends 'peaceful' Islam

The Dalai Lama has defended Islam, saying that it was "totally wrong, unfair" to call it a violent religion.

Tibet's exiled Buddhist spiritual leader, appearing at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, yesterday, offered a defence of Islam in response to a question about the rise of violent religious fundamentalism.

He added that he has made a point of reaching out to Muslims since the attacks of September 11, 2001.

The Dalai Lama arrived at Lehigh last Thursday for a series of talks on a 600-year-old Buddhist text. He took a break yesterday to lecture on "Generating a Good Heart" and later took questions from Lehigh president Alice Gast that had been submitted in advance by the public.

Asked why so many Americans were depressed and anxious, he joked: "I'm the wrong person to ask. You should ask Americans."

Then he answered that US society was too competitive and that people always wanted "something more, something more, something more".

The Dalai Lama, who attracted a capacity crowd of about 5,000, did not mention next month's Beijing Olympics. The Chinese government has demanded that the Dalai Lama express support for the Olympics and repudiate efforts to disrupt them as a condition for continued talks.

China has ruled Tibet since the 1950s. The Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid a failed uprising in 1959, has said he wants some form of autonomy that would allow Tibetans to practise their culture, language and religion freely.

The Dalai Lama, who was 73 on July 6, said yesterday that he was looking forward to "complete retirement". He joked that he was now considered a "senior most respected adviser" to Tibet's government in exile.