Desmond Tutu, Dalai Lama together at UW

On the last day of the Dalai Lama's five-day visit to Seattle for a gathering on compassion, the Tibetan Buddhist leader took part in a panel with Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu and other religious leaders.

Thousands attended the discussion at the University of Washington's Edmundson Pavilion, where young people asked questions and, along with the religious leaders, talked about ways to overcome anger and remain loving when faced with destruction.

Tutu said anger was not necessarily a bad thing. "It'd be awful if we didn't' get angry when you see someone, for instance, violating a child. That would be awful. So it's something to be thankful for when you lose your cool."

He said he gets angry with God sometimes. "I mean — mmmmgh," he said, shaking his fists. "How can you? How can you let this, that and the other thing happen?"

But God is incredible, he said, and has given people freedom so they can choose their own way. And God "has all of eternity to work" on humankind, which is a "work in progress."

When people mess up, God "picks you up, dusts you off and says: try again," Tutu said.

Tutu also spoke of his experiences on a fact-finding commission in South Africa, where some of the things he learned were devastating: people who shot others then burned the bodies for hours while partying and drinking beer.

"How could anyone sink so low?" he said.

But what was "incredibly exhilarating" was also listening to people who had suffered greatly and ought to have been consumed by bitterness being forgiving and expression generosity.

"And you realize, hey, yeah, we do have this awful capacity for evil, but we also have an extraordinary capacity for good," Tutu said.

The Dalai Lama said he believed that different religions and philosophies existed so people could find the one that best suits them. "I think, everyone, ultimately, deep inside [has] some kind of goodness," he said.

Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America, called interfaith dialogues like this "the Olympics of the spirit."

If belief systems are used for violent purposes, they are a betrayal of spirituality, said Rabbi David Rosen, chairman of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations.

The panel concluded with Tutu saying to the audience: "You came because you care. You, you, you," he said, pointing around the room. "Go for it."

Janet I. Tu: 206-464-2272 or jtu@seattletimes.com