The Dalai Lama spent this Tibetan New Year giving a speech titled “The Nature of Happiness, Fulfillment, and Embodiment” at Macalester College in the Leonard Center Field House last Sunday. Speaking to a group of about 3,500 with 1,500 more viewing online, he repeated messages of encouragement and hope throughout the hour long speech.

He mentioned his love of young people stating: ”So when I meet young people, I also feel younger. When I meet old people, it’s like you go first or I go first.” Though there was a range in age among the audience, it was clear who the message was meant for when the Dalai Lama spoke of the 21st century and the younger generation, and followed it with “You are the basis of our hope.”

Throughout his speech he repeated variations of this phrase while poking fun at his own 20th century generation. “We are generation of 20th century,” he said. “We are ready to say goodbye, or at least I say we create a lot of problems,” which brought laughter from the audience.

The speech also centered around the idea of oneness and connection. “In your mind, the world seems small because of technology,” the Dalai Lama said. He went on to add that if something happens here, there is a repercussion in another part of the world, that we’re all connected.

“I think he’s a pretty dope dude,” said junior Kyle Nobles, who found the event entertaining and relatable.

At the beginning of the event the Dalai Lama was presented an honorary degree from Macalester College’s Provost Kathleen Murray. When he received the degree, he also received a Macalester baseball cap, which he promptly placed on his head, causing the crowd to go wild.

His humor and humbleness was one of junior Dani Lizarazo’s favorite parts of the event. “Everyone hears about the Dalai Lama, and you think he is some godly figure, or perfect person,” she said. “But what stood out to me is that he is so human.”

He also said that corruption is the cancer of human society. He spoke of the rapidly increasing human population, not just on a global but national level. He said this leads to natural resource problems, which he believes will be a growing problem in the future.

“I’m not sure I believe in reincarnation, but he seems like the kind of guy who would be reincarnated,” Nobles said. “You could just tell that he had a lot of experience, and this vast depth of knowledge.”

The Dalai Lama said that young people are left to clean up the mess of the previous generation, such as global warming and the global economy issues. He said to fix these issues we need full cooperation, again referencing the idea of oneness. “We need the sense of oneness in seven billion human beings.”

His Holiness noted that the way to joyfulness and satisfaction was through a mental level, freeing yourself of worry and stress, since this was more holistic and longer lasting than sensory experiences—which according to the Dalai Lama are not long lasting—their happiness went away as soon as the sense left.

Holistic means wider and longer, a long term interest. It brings compassion, tolerance, and a source of inner strength. He said fear, distrust and selfishness is not the way to go: we are social animals.

He referenced science, and stated that some medical scientists say a healthy mind is very important for a healthy body. That constant fear is cutting into our immune system.

The Dalai Lama also spoke of the education system, stating that sometimes education creates more anxiety, and that it alone will not guarantee you good health, a happier family, etc. Later in the question and answer session, he spoke more about the educational institutions, stating that we need to pay more attention to inner value, and not just material.

In addition, he addressed young women regarding the importance of external beauty. “External beauty no doubt important, but real beauty is inner beauty,” he said.

He spoke about divorce and the importance of inner beauty in making a marriage last. “Successful marriage means whole life depends on inner beauty.”

He ended his speech by again addressing the younger crowd, saying “Young people should think more serious…now not time to take life for granted…open our world and think more seriously…reality must change.”