This article appeared in the Observer on Sunday March 23 2008 on p43 of the World news section

When the Dalai Lama sat down yesterday with Richard Gere and Robert Thurman, father of actor Uma and US professor of Buddhism, it was supposed to be for a few hours contemplating sacred art and silent meditation.

But with Chinese troops smothering the protests in Tibet with brutal ease, the 14th Dalai Lama, an incarnation of Avalokitesvara, the Buddha of Compassion, found himself pondering not celestial peace but bloody violence. (more)