Quoted from Dalai Lama Ancient Wisdom, Modern World (Abacus),1999, pages 22-23

…I believe there isan important distinction to be made between religion and spirituality. Religion
I take to be concerned with faith in the claims to salvation of one faith tradition or another, an
aspect of which is acceptance of some form of metaphysical or supernatural reality, including
perhaps an idea of heaven or nirvana. Connected with this are religious teachings or dogma,
rituals, prayer and so on. Spirituality I take to be concerned with those qualities of the human
spirit –such as love and compassion, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, contentment, a sense of
responsibility, a sense of harmony –which bring happiness to both self and others. While ritual
and prayer, along with the questions of nirvana and salvation, are directly connected with
religious faith, these inner qualities need not be, however. There is thus no reason why the
individual should not develop them, even to a high degree, without recourse to any religious or
metaphysical belief system. This is why I sometimes say that religion is something we can
perhaps do without. What we cannot do without are these basic spiritual qualities.