Reaching out to the world's youth

It was already 8 pm on Jan 3 when Sodargye, a Tibetan Buddhist scholar, returned to his hotel from AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong, where he had just finished two days of delivering dharma lectures to more than 11,000 people.

Dharma - cosmic law and order in Buddhism - is applied to the teachings of Buddha and is the form of spiritual education to which Sodargye has dedicated his life.

"Between 70 and 80 percent of the audience were Buddhists, with some from other religions, and some without a religion," the 52-year-old says in a low voice in heavily accented Mandarin. His left thumb moved slowly along his prayer beads throughout the interview.