This quote struck me today: "... The landscape was so dramatic and powerful it was hard to mind about the danger. I leapt out, sat on a rock and tried to take it all in. This was Tibet. The land of snows. And the struggle to live and be joyful in this frozen and beautiful land is what has made the Tibetan people who they are. Their faith is not in a God outside themselves who will change their circumstances for them - but is a faith in the qualities within themselves that they have to develop in order to live and be happy in this place. So every day the focus is on peace of heart and mind and the development of compassion. I read once that the Dalai Lama said that Buddhista are good at talking about compassion but Chriatians are better at taking action. This may be so, but in the West it is rare to find people who really have Christ's teaching at the centre of each decision they make. In Tibet it is rare to find people who do not have their faith central to their lives."
