Recalling a
2001 visit to the Roman Catholic shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal, the Dalai Lama said the statue of the Virgin Mary appeared to smile at him.
“Maybe, my eyes, something wrong,” he said.
But he said that although he is a Buddhist, “Mary I always revere as a symbol of compassion.”
The Dalai Lama dropped names of Christian leaders including Mother Teresa, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Trappist monk Thomas Merton.
“His boot - very big, like Army boot,” he said of Merton, who died in 1968. “His hat - very shiny.”
…
As is his usual practice, the 74-year-old Dalai Lama smiled broadly and chuckled at his own remarks.
