Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has made a renewed call for Buddhists in Myanmar and Sri Lanka to cease violence towards the countries ' Muslim minorities , in an address delivered on his 79th birthday . Speaking before tens of thousands of Buddhists , including Hollywood actor Richard Gere , the exiled Buddhist leader implored the faithful in the majority-Buddhist countries to refrain from such attacks . `` I urge the Buddhists in these countries to imagine an image of Buddha before they commit such a crime , '' he said in the Indian town of Leh . `` Buddha preaches love and compassion . If the Buddha is there , he will protect the Muslims whom the Buddhists are attacking . '' Rising Buddhist nationalism in both countries , spearheaded by movements led by extremist monks , has led to communal violence targeting Muslims in recent years . In Myanmar , religious violence has left more than 200 dead and close to 150,000 homeless -- predominantly members of the Rohingya Muslim minority , since unrest broke out in in the western state of Rakhine in June 2012 . Outbreaks of anti-Muslim violence have also occurred elsewhere in the country . Curfews were introduced in the second-largest city , Mandalay , last week after rioting left two dead and 14 injured . READ MORE : Curfew imposed after deadly clashes between Buddhists , Muslims in Mandalay . Human rights groups said that extremist monks helped incite last week 's violence , and were present in the rioting mobs . In Sri Lanka last month , four people were killed in nights of religious violence in which Buddhist mobs attacked Muslim neighborhoods around the southwest town of Aluthgama . Witnesses told CNN the rioting began after a rally organized by the far-right Bodu Bala Sena ( Buddhist Power Force ) group , at which the group 's leader , a monk , gave an inflammatory speech against Muslims . The Dalai Lama , who has lived in exile since 1959 , has previously spoken out about the violence perpetrated by Buddhist nationalists . In May last year , he made comments at a U.S. university decrying the violence in Myanmar , and he has written to Aung San Suu Kyi , a renowned Burmese pro-democracy campaigner and fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner , calling for a halt to the violence , his staff said . The Dalai Lama was speaking before the audience in Leh to confer Kalachakra , a process intended to empower tens of thousands of his Buddhist followers to reach enlightenment , his office said . READ MORE : Fear , shock among Sri Lankan Muslims in aftermath of Buddhist mob violence . READ MORE : Aung San Suu Kyi 's silence on Myanmar 's Muslims .
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has condemned violence by Buddhists . The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, is now living in exile in India. In both Buddhist majority countries , the attacks have been linked to extremist monks . The Dalai Lama has previously decried religious violence perpetrated by Buddhists .