Wrapping up a whirlwind four-day visit to the islands, the Dalai Lama visited with high-schoolers Monday and urged them to work to make a "happier future" through compassion and nonviolence, before heading to Kua­loa Regional Park to bless the voyaging canoe Hoku­le‘a in preparation for a round-the-world sail.

After blessing the Hoku­le‘a, the spry 76-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader boarded the double-hulled canoe, recently out of dry dock.

Polynesian Voyaging Society President Nai­noa Thompson was clearly moved by the outpouring of graciousness and told the Dalai Lama the blessing was what the canoe and its crew needed to get ready mentally for a planned four-year voyage around the world, scheduled to begin in 2013.

"Your presence and your blessing and your words are so powerful," Thompson told the Dalai Lama. To a gathering of onlookers Thompson added, "The real question is, What are we going to do with what we learned today?"

During his time in Hawaii, the Dalai Lama made two public appearances to large crowds and several private visits with Native Hawaiian spiritual leaders and others.

On Monday he told reporters that it was during this visit, his fourth to Hawaii, that he learned the many meanings of "aloha."

"You need a lot of effort to implement the real meaning of aloha," he told reporters, laughing in his jovial way. The Dalai Lama, whose most recent previous trip to Hawaii was in 2008, was in the islands for a community peace-building initiative sponsored by the Hawaii Community Foundation with funding from the Omid­yar Ohana Fund. From Hawaii the Dalai Lama is scheduled to go to San Diego, where he will make several public appearances to talk about climate change and nonviolence.

At Kualoa Park on Monday afternoon, the Dalai Lama was greeted with a traditional Hawaiian chant and showered with lei.

After blessing the Hoku­le‘a, the Dalai Lama presented its sailors with a "khata," or traditional white Tibetan scarf, which was then tied to one of the canoe’s masts. The Dalai Lama then went aboard the canoe to the delight of onlookers.

Earlier in the day, at Kailua High School, the Dalai Lama’s message to students was simple: The "future is very much on your shoulders."

The Dalai Lama spoke for about an hour at the school, drawing a number of laughs and roaring applause from its student body.

The Dalai Lama delivered a short speech to students before taking questions on everything from "Who or what do you turn to for clarity?" to "Can the world’s leaders be trusted?"

Students said they were honored by the opportunity to ask him questions.

Jeremiah Taleni, 16, presented the Dalai Lama with a canoe paddle and with a "peace quilt" made by students.

"It was an honor to actually touch him," Taleni said, laughing. He added, "If everyone took his message … this world would be a better place."

Senior Caitlin Hooker, 17, was the first to ask the Dalai Lama a question. She wanted to know, "If we have all these reasons to be good people, reasons to have compassion, patience and love, then why is it so hard to be a good person?"

The Dalai Lama said that just like becoming a doctor or a professor, becoming a good person takes work and effort.

"Not easy," he said.

Hooker said she was nervous about the Dalai Lama’s visit and thought it might be a little more formal. Instead, she said, he was able to disarm a crowd of teens almost instantly with his deep laugh and constant smile.

"It was cool to hear him talk," she said. "It wasn’t as much a lecture as I thought."

Kailua High was chosen for the visit because of its philosophy-heavy curriculum, which promotes nonviolence and compassion.

Schools Superintendent Kathryn Mata­yo­shi said the school, to prepare for the Dalai Lama’s visit, developed a new curriculum for "every course and every grade level."

Matayoshi introduced the Dalai Lama at the talk, telling Kailua High students and a number of education officials, lawmakers and others in the audience that the spiritual leader’s message of compassion is "powerful and personal."

The Dalai Lama told students that he and others of his age range are members of the 20th century and that today’s young people now have the responsibility of working for a happier future.

"My time almost ending," he said. "You," he added, pointing to the audience, "just beginning. You belong to the 21st century."

He added that a better future will not merely come to be, but will take work. "We must make preparation now to create better sort of society. The happier future means … nonviolence," he said, pointing to his heart, "and compassion."

After the Dalai Lama’s departure, Kailua High Principal Francine Honda addressed the audience in the gym, saying, "I can honestly say this has been an enlightening, awe-inspiring event." She got a lively round of applause in response.