I sometimes think, in fact, that the situation will come to its climax this month with the Olympics, which speaks to something fundamental in every society or soul. Beijing finds itself in command of all the world’s attention – and yet is never in any way seen as a spiritual or moral authority. And the same dialogue (between what the Dalai Lama calls “conventional” and “ultimate” reality) plays out within the Tibetan community itself.

For three of the past five springs, I have based myself in Dharamsala, just across the road from the Dalai Lama’s house, and set his views against those of the ever more restless Tibetans who can barely contain their frustration and sorrow as he counsels them to think in terms of the next generation, or even the next century. From afar, the debate looks to be one between universal human need and unworldly tolerance. But up close, one sees that it is really a struggle between reckless passion and pragmatism. A terrorist act, the Dalai Lama suggests, may rouse the conscience of the world for a few days – and then squander its respect for generations to come.

Looked at in a certain light, he freely volunteered to me 12 years ago, his policy, of maximum concessions towards the Chinese has produced no visible effect, as China continues to crack down on Tibet harder and harder. But that does not make it a mistaken policy – and it may in fact pave the way for something entirely unexpected. One of the Dalai Lama’s closest friends and colleagues, Vaclav Havel, was imprisoned one day, and eight weeks later was unanimously chosen to be president of Czechoslovakia. Another of the Dalai Lama’s closest friends and champions, Desmond Tutu, woke up one day in apartheid-shadowed South Africa, never having been able to vote in his 62 years, and woke up the next in a free (albeit troubled and even more dangerous) South Africa.

Three years ago, the Dalai Lama told me that he realised that his people, after his death, may not be able to contain their longing for violent resistance; but as China slowly moves towards a more inclusive sense of things, such action will only retard the process. Besides, India has generously sheltered the community of Tibetan exiles on the grounds that they are spiritual refugees, not political activists. For Tibetans to make mischief from their Indian exile is to hurt the Chinese, harm the Tibetan cause – and, in fact, to put into a difficult position the country that has hosted them so selflessly for so long.