clipped from: www.welt.de

'I am a supporter of globalization'

Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, delivers lecture at school in Dharamsala

He says he is a Marxist monk, yet still the Dalai Lama doesn’t see an alternative for a free market economy or wealth. A contradiction?

But for years now the monk has shifted his focus from solely the Tibetan question and the fight against violence and has engaged himself in matters of the global economy and the challenge of how wealth can be distributed more fairly. Shortly before his trip to Germany at the end of July the Dalai Lama warns not only against greed, but also against having too much faith in the state.

What, in your opinion, is the root cause of the financial crisis?

Greed and gambling. Many people and companies only have one goal: money, money, and more money. Greed is ok when you let others profit from it, but greed for oneself is bad, it makes you ill. The egotistical ambition to always want to earn more money harms both the company and the individual himself.