Dalai Lama praises Indian culture of religious harmony as an example to the world

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama speaks during an inter-faith meeting in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014. The Dalai Lama brought religious leaders together Saturday to mull some of India's most pressing problems, from gender violence to widespread poverty, while praising the country's religious harmony as proof to the world that different communities can live peacefully together. (AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal) (The Associated Press)

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, center, gently taps a participant as he walks back to his seat after delivering a speech during an inter-faith meeting in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014. The Dalai Lama brought religious leaders together Saturday to mull some of India's most pressing problems, from gender violence to widespread poverty, while praising the country's religious harmony as proof to the world that different communities can live peacefully together. (AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal) (The Associated Press)

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, center, walks for a group photograph during an inter-faith meeting in New Delhi, India, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014. The Dalai Lama brought religious leaders together Saturday to mull some of India's most pressing problems, from gender violence to widespread poverty, while praising the country's religious harmony as proof to the world that different communities can live peacefully together. (AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal) (The Associated Press)

The Dalai Lama says the enduring harmony between India's many religions is proof to the world that different communities can live peacefully and solve problems together.

The Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader has lived for decades in exile in India's Himalayan foothill city of Dharamsala, after fleeing China after a failed 1959 uprising.

He said Saturday that "India is the only country where all major world religions live together, not only in modern time, but over 1,000 years."

The Dalai Lama was speaking to leaders from nine religious groups invited for two days of meetings to mull some of India's biggest problems, including poverty, attacks on women, environmental degradation and communal violence.

He stressed that there was no justification for fighting in the name of faith, calling it "unthinkable."