The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is in New York this week for a series of public lectures. On Thursday, the Dalai Lama told an audience at Radio City Music Hall that he sees hope for the future of the planet in the outpouring of generosity following the 2004 tsunami and the January earthquake in Haiti.

The Dalai Lama: “When tsunami disasters happened and the Haiti disaster, you see the response from the the rest of the world. Immense! Such response at the early part of the twentieth century, impossible. So these are the signs we human beings [are] becoming more sensible. And also they developed sense of oneness of entire six billion human beings. These are positive. Therefore, these are the sources of my optimism.”