People spending a lot on weapons, this is totally wrong: Dalai Lama

People are spending a lot of money on weapons which is "totally wrong", Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama said on Friday as he underlined the need for creating a peaceful world.

Genuine compassion is the best weapon to defend oneself, he said at the inaugural session of a two-day conference, 'SEE Learning: A Worldwide Initiative for Educating the Heart and Mind', here.

The Dalai Lama Trust and the Centre for Contemplative Science and Compassion-Based Ethics at Emory University are jointly hosting the conference.

"People are spending a lot of money on weapons... (and) this is totally wrong. We have to think about creating a peaceful world, a compassionate world," the Dalai Lama told the gathering.

"Genuine compassion is the best weapon to defend yourself... Everybody talks about world peace but world peace does not come from the sky," he said.

Genuine compassion is the basis of world peace, family peace and community peace, he added.

The inaugural session of the conference coincided with the 33rd anniversary of the conferment of the Nobel Peace Prize on the Dalai Lama.