Under a bright full moon as the first day of school was winding down, FAU welcomed Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, one of very few Western women in the world to be fully ordained as a bhikkhunī, a Tibetan Buddhist nun.

Palmo headlined a lecture in the University Theater to spread her message of peace, courage and wisdom.

Having studied Buddhism since she was 18 and spending nearly a decade living in isolation in a cave on top of the Himalayas, her talk focused on how to attain happiness, transcend the self and achieve world peace through compassion and understanding.

The lecture was hosted by Peaceful Mind Peaceful Life, a non-profit organization initiated by philanthropist Barb Schmidt in alliance with FAU.

While tickets for the general public were $20 dollars and $5 for FAU students, the lobby of the University Theater was mostly filled with middle-age and senior attendees who were not enrolled at FAU, all patiently waiting to catch a glimpse of Palmo.

When asked what she was hoping to get from the lecture, junior interdisciplinary studies major Iala Teresa said, “I’ve always been interested in peace, joining the peace corps and I thought this was put up by the peace studies program so I wanted to catch a glimpse.”

Leslie Glickman, a yoga instructor, was also present. “I’ve heard Tenzin Palmo speak before, and she’s a really an amazingly beautiful, peaceful human being and I just want to be in her presence,” she said, smiling.

Palmo was met with thunderous applause and a standing ovation which she returned with a humble bow.

She began her lecture by commenting on the luxury of the city. “One comes from a place like India and then to Boca Raton and my gosh, it’s so clean.” She got a laugh from the audience and set a tone of light-hearted humor accompanied by enlightening dialogue, which she maintained through the entire night.

The Buddhist nun spoke a great deal about “the self” and the Western view of it, which contrasts with Eastern thought.

Palmo explained how in America we learn to first love others and subsequently ourselves, where in Buddhist doctrine and Eastern cultures, one loves themselves first and then learns to love others.

Palmo also divulged her views on how we should learn to deal with our minds and how constant thinking and modern living don’t allow us to live in the moment. “We are not the masters of our mind, we are slaves to our mind,” she said, referring to our constant thinking, checking our phones or simply watching television.

With constant stimuli surrounding us, she suggested that one should focus on the present more. “We need to witness our minds instead of being immersed in our minds.” Palmo suggests meditation not only to remedy our inner conflicts, but to confront our constant thinking.

“Until you try meditating, you think you’re OK” Palmo said to a laughing audience as she mentioned how beginners of meditation had trouble simply concentrating on their breathing for 10 seconds.

Regarding peace, Palmo makes note that we should teach ourselves empathy, in our leaders especially.

When an audience member asked if she thought peace was possible, the Buddhist-turned-comedian answered: “Human beings are the one argument against rebirth, you’d think we’d learn by now,” which was again met with laughter by the audience.

As the lecture ended, Palmo was sent off with another standing ovation and spoke to some audience members in the lobby.

When asked what she would hope the audience would take from the lecture she told the UP: “I would like to inspire people to be more conscious, to be more aware, to recognize that the real problem lies within their mind and is not really based on on other people or situations outside of themselves.”

“I thought it was very enlightening and knowledgeable,” said Teresa as we caught her after the show. “Some of those things I felt myself, but she made them deeper for me.”

Palmo then took pictures with members of the audience and quietly left the theater through the front entrance.