India is the best country upholding religious tolerance: Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama said India is still the best country upholding the religious harmony and tolerance.

Dirang (Arunachal Pradesh), April 6: The Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama has said one can have meat of dead animals but not of the slaughtered ones.

"Many in the Buddhist world are vegetarians because they believe it is wrong to slaughter any creature," he said at Bomdila on Wednesday while responding to a question on whether food habit should be an issue in India and does Buddhism endorse non-vegetarianism.

He also said, "The Buddhists are neither vegetarian nor non-vegetarian." The Dalai Lama said India is still the best country upholding the religious harmony and tolerance.

"India, the most populated democratic country has shown the way for thousands of years," he said.

He observed that religion should teach kindness. "My religion is kindness. All religions have the serious scope for promoting harmony," the spiritual leader said adding he was disturbed by terrorism in the name of religion.

The Dalai Lama also supported the Indian government's move to popularise Sanskrit in the country and said Indians should pay more attention to the ancient knowledge.

"I have deep respect for the ancient Indian knowledge. Indians should pay more attention to the ancient knowledge and the rich Sanskrit tradition," he said adding the Tibetan language is closer to Sanskrit and both the languages were ideal for explaining the philosophy and spirituality.

"I had retired from the political role in Tibetan affairs in 2011 and my focus since then is on preservation of the Tibetan culture and language," said the Dalai Lama.

PTI