By Tendar Tsering

DHARAMSHALA, October 1: The Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama began a four-day teaching on Nagarjuna's In Praise of Dhammadhatu (Choying Toepa) at the request of Taiwanese devotees earlier today in Dharamshala, north India.

Around a thousand Taiwanese and Chinese from mainland China, along with foreigners from 52 different countries and Tibetans attended the day’s teachings.

In the course of the teachings, His Holiness said that morality is the key to social stability and expressed the need of moral institutions in today’s world.

"Morality or religion helps in reducing corruption cases and where there is no morality, there are more corruption cases," said the Dalai Lama referring to the “corruption epidemic” in some countries.

Speaking on the Buddhist emphasis on nurturing the mind, the Tibetan spiritual leader noted that the mind over powers everything in the society.

"If one's mind is full of hatred, anger, and jealousy then it is a torture to oneself as well as brings destruction to the society," said the Dalai Lama.

The 76-year old Tibetan leader who recently announced that he will leave clear instructions on his next reincarnation also urged the gathering not to prioritise any religion.

"Religion is like medicine. One can't say one's religion is the best religion," said the Dalai Lama.

"Like medicine to the sick people, the suitability and fitness of religion also differs from one person to another according to one's needs," His Holiness added.