"I once read that as a little boy in Lhasa, you liked war toys."

Yes, very much. I also had an air rifle in Lhasa. And I have one in India. I often feed small birds, but when they come together, hawks spot them and catch them - a very bad thing. So in order to protect these small birds, I keep a rifle.

"So it is a Buddhist rifle?"

[Laughs.] A compassionate rifle!

From an interview with H.H. The Dalai Lama