"But if you want to tap into Berzin’s authority, then you should also acknowledge the latter’s belief in a soft and whitewashing view of Islam. He has devoted his best energies to Buddhist-Islamic dialogue, and like most people engaged in dialogue with Islam, he has interiorised a rosy view of Islam, where Jihad becomes a moral struggle against the evil in oneself, where “the enemies of religion” are not the unbelievers out there but the untamed passions inside. The same view prevails among Western converts to Buddhism about the “real” meaning of the Shambhala War, where the enemies of Buddhism who have to be destroyed are the evil tendencies in ourselves."

"What gives to the Upanishads their unique quality and unfailing human appeal is an earnest sincerity of tone, as of friends conferring upon matters of deep concern."

"Hinduism is one of the greatest assimilants that the world has known... It is infinitely absorbent like the ocean."

"When I left France for India, I came with a dream: I was going to the land of the Vedas, of the Buddha, a continent with an eternal religion. I thought everyone in this country was turned ‘inwards’, seeking a higher light; I believed India would soon be able to guide the world towards a more meaningful tomorrow. Why I am sad now? I can’t help feeling a terrible divide between this dream and today’s reality (at least the one depicted in the English media). I still believe in ’India of the ages’, but I cannot grasp why Indians themselves still refuse to acknowledge the greatness of their culture."