The Dalai Lama spoke on Friday of his sadness at losing his friend Nelson Mandela, whom he hailed as an affectionate and principled man.
“We are very much sad,” the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said in a live webcast broadcast organised by the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg.
“However, this sadness is not much use. This sadness must translate into willpower, determination,” to emulate Mandela’s example of peace, said the Dalai Lama who lives in exile in northern India.
Mandela received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, four years after the Dalai Lama, and the two men last met in 2004 in Johannesburg.
The religious leader said he was an admirer of Mandela, whom he hailed as a “great person” - not least because of his “ability to share affection”.
“So now our responsibility is we must follow his spirit... Whether the person is alive or not, his spirit should be alive.”