THE DALI LAMA ON BIRTH CONTROL, THE POPE AND POPULATION CONTROL

“I am in favor or birth control.  Birth control methods should be publicized and promoted.  Forbidding this on ancient religious grounds is definitely harmful sometimes.  But how can we make rules more flexible?  It is quite normal the the Pope should be directly influenced by the religious traditions he represents.  Thus, he is attached to the principle that human life is precious and the maximum number of beings should benefit from it.  But there is another principle which contradicts this.  It involves a different kind of respect for life:  the wish to protect all live, not only human life but also the lives of animals and all living beings.  These two principles are in conflict. For Buddhists, no choices are ever absolutely right.  It seems to me that our intelligence is there so we can use it to be flexible and adaptable.  An intelligence that is blocked is not intelligent.”  - Dalai Lama 14th