Addressing the European Parliament last week, the Dalai Lama said:

“Buddhist terrorist, Muslim terrorist. That wording is wrong.”

“Any person,” the Dalai Lama continued, “who wants to indulge in violence is no longer a genuine Buddhist or a genuine Muslim.”

The Dalai Lama, who is teaching on ethics beyond religion at the moment in Strasbourg, has been making this point for some time already.

He continued by saying that all religions teach, “love, compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment, and self-discipline.” This, he stated, gives us a common ground for building genuine harmony.

This is nothing new coming from the Dalai Lama, who wrote in 2011:

“All religions… to some extent, ground the cultivation of inner values and ethical awareness…” and yet: “…religion alone cannot answer all our problems.” And, “To my mind, although humans can manage without religion, they cannot manage without inner values.” – Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World

Here he is at the European Parliament:

Here he is in the U.S. in June making the same remarks after the Orlando nightclub shooting:

“The very word ‘Muslim Terrorist’ – that, I think, is wrong” (6:20):

This is largely what I have been writing for years, noting that most Westerners, Buddhists included, are okay with the term “Muslim Terrorist” while recoiling quickly from the very possibility of a “Buddhist Terrorist.” Writing in 2013 after the mass shooting by Aaron Alexis and noting the various “dark sides” of Buddhism and meditation, I wrote: