Monks from the Dalai Lama's private monastery in India spent five days building a sand mandala at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City. The mandala is a symbolic structure that represents a Buddha's dwelling. It is said to bring peace and harmony to the area where it is being made. Karen Humphries Sallick, who organized the monks' tour, explains.

“It’s a spectacular opportunity for cross-cultural associations that are peace-based, that are based in the holiness of this land,” says Steve Lozar, a council leader of the Salish Tribe in Montana.

The Dalai Lama leads one of the four schools, or denominations within Tibetan Buddhism. The 23-year-old Karmapa Lama leads another. His supporters believe he may one day succeed the older man as Buddhism's leading international voice.

Read more of the Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly interview with Tu Weiming, professor of Chinese history and philosophy and Confucian studies at Harvard University.

Buddhist teachings do not rule out the use of force to relieve a greater suffering, although the Buddhist tradition is rightly known for the systematic practice of nonviolence, its first ethical precept.

They teach nonviolence, but their demonstrations against the Chinese have sometimes become violent.

Tibetan Buddhists celebrated their New Year, called Losar, with traditional services of prayer and purification, sending positive energy into the world, they hope, to help bring about peace.

Part two of our series on the Tibetan Buddhists in exile in India. They’re refugees not only from Chinese oppression in Tibet but also from what the Dalai Lama calls “cultural genocide.”

Our special report on the life, the plight, and the humor of the Dalai Lama. Forced out of Tibet by the Chinese in 1959, living in exile with little apparent chance of returning, the Dalai Lama remains one of the world's foremost symbols of hope and nonviolence. How does he keep from hating those who are destroying his country?

The Dalai Lama was just 15 years old when the Communist Chinese invaded Tibet, burned its monasteries, and slaughtered upwards of a million of its people. Now, he is the spiritual leader of six million Tibetan Buddhists is and is trying to rally support for freedom for his homeland. He preaches compassion, but some of his followers wonder if his methods can work.