More than 2000 people filled the cathedral to capacity for the service, while 3000 more gathered in front of the building and heard the address on loudspeakers. Speaking in Tibetan, with his words interpreted into French by French Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard, the Dalai Lama told the congregation that all the great religions deserved respect, and, if practised seriously, were a path to love and peace. Those who waged war in the name of religion had, the Dalai Lama said, failed to look beyond their religion to other faiths which they opposed. If they did examine other faiths, they would recognize the same desire for transformation as in their own. You have to experience it.
Spirituality is like a medicine.
To heal the illness, it is not sufficient to look at the medicine and talk about it. You have to ingest it. In spite of their differing methods, the great religions shared a common goal to make people better, he said. Geneva's Roman Catholic, Old Catholic and Orthodox communities, as well as Muslim, Jewish and Baha'i faiths, were all officially represented by senior officials at the service. A woman journalist asked me whether I was thinking about taking up reincarnation.