At a recent conference on longevity, co-hosted by Tibet House U.S. and the Columbia Integrative Medicine Program, leading scientists and Indo-Tibetan scholars met to discuss how combining Eastern and Western medical practices can help people live longer, healthier lives.

Discovery Health Channel's Dr. Mehmet Oz co-hosted the event with Buddhist scholar Robert A.F. Thurman, and also interviewed the guest of honor, His Holiness, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.

Here, the Dalai Lama shares his views on ...

Stress
It is extremely important to keep a compassionate attitude toward your enemy. That kind of mental attitude, certainly then much less cause for anxiety or stress ... With training and daily practice and then, I think, analytical meditation, the usefulness about compassion and altruism and harmfulness about anger, hate and these things—that makes differences in mental attitude.

Compassion
It is very essential for a calm mind, compassion is the key factor—intimate compassion or unbiased compassion ... and also I firmly believe, deeds are the seed of compassion, biologically we all possess it and biologically secrete that because it's needed, because helpful to survive, I think including health. So I think the first day after birth is the strongest experience, with mother's sort of care, mother's participation. So through that way, this body builds. So rest of our life, without that, I think difficult.

Suffering
It is very important to realize suffering. So therefore, the first Buddhist teaching: truth of suffering. So that creates desire or interest to look whether there's a possibility to welcome or not. For that, go to the seed or causes or conditions of the suffering.

Also, I think that those people passing through difficult experiences then of course, when we face difficulties, there are two possibilities. One, loss hope and demoralize. One, desire—determined—face it! So usually those people passing through difficulty I think are physically and more importantly mental level, tougher.