The Dalai Lama’s office is seeking to clarify His Holiness’s comments on the death of Osama bin Laden. The Los Angeles Times had characterized a statement made by the Dalai Lama on Tuesday, during his University of Southern California appearance, as a justification of the recent killing of bin Laden. (See the Times’ report via this link.)
Read the official account here. Via DalaiLama.com:
“The first question was on His Holiness’ emphasis on compassion as a basis of ethics. It asked whether in some situation ensuring justice is more important than being compassionate to the perpetrator of a crime. It referred to the news of the death of Osama Bin Laden and the celebrations of it by some, and asked where compassion fit in with this and ethics. In his response, His Holiness emphasized the need to find a distinction between the action and the actor. He said in the case of Bin Laden, his action was of course destructive and the September 11 events killed thousands of people. So his action must be brought to justice, His Holiness said. But with the actor we must have compassion and a sense of concern, he added. His Holiness said therefore the counter measure, no matter what form it takes, has to be compassionate action. His Holiness referred to the basis of the practice of forgiveness saying that it, however, did not mean that one should forget what has been done.”
