The Dalia Lama and the Pope both wear Doc Martin boots from time to time.

I like to remember that when things get heated.

What he is quoted as saying here sounds as if he was trying to cool things down rather than stir them up, which is consistent with his general approach to life.

There's a whole difference between, on the one hand, letting people know what your religion is all about, and accepting them into it should they choose to come, and on the other hand, energetically setting out to proselytise aggressively, with bribes and threats.

The other side of it, of course, is where people are persecuted as apostates when they choose to change religions, and I didn't see anything in the quotes from the Dalai Lama about that. I would be pretty certain that he would disapprove of that kind of thing, and it would be interesting to hear what he has to say about it.