The Dalai Lama on Saturday condemned mindless violence in the name of religion, saying the concept of jihad was being misused and misinterpreted by extremists in the Middle East.
The Nobel Peace prize winner and Buddhist spiritual leader was referring to bloodshed unleashed by the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria and Iraq where it has overrun swathes of territory.
"Killing in the name of faith is unacceptable," he told a meeting of India's religious leaders representing as many as nine different faiths including Islam.
Jihad or holy war should be a fight "to combat our inner destructive emotions", the 79-year-old said. "It [jihad] does not mean harming other people."
The hard-hitting statements by the Dalai Lama come after the IS have released a series of videos showing the beheadings of two American and one British journalist. The group has also executed an unknown number of local media professionals, as well as being responsible for large scale executions of people on the basis of their religious and ethnic identity.
"If we remain indifferent to what is happening around us, it is wrong," the Dalai Lama said.
"The spiritual people can show the world that it can be a happy family [despite] the different faiths."
A senior Muslim cleric, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Bombay and the head of the Jewish community in Delhi were among those who attended the two-day conference in India.
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