The Dalai Lama started a 16 day U.S. tour, presiding over an interfaith service and receiving a honorary degree at a Jesuit-run university.
Flanked by representatives of 25 religions Friday at the University of San Francisco, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said all faiths have the same basic aim, to breed compassion among their followers.
Before the Dalai Lama received his honorary doctorate of humane letters, worshippers took turns reading from his writings and from Muslim, Hindu, Christian and Jewish sacred texts.
The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet for India in 1959 after a failed revolt against Chinese rule over his country, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for nonviolent resistance to the Chinese occupation there.
The last time the Dalai Lama toured the United States was in May 2001.
The second stop on his tour is Bloomington, Indiana, where his brother, retired Indiana University professor Thubten Norbu, has directed a Tibetan cultural center since 1979.