Selena Gomez was left speechless after meeting the Dalai Lama at the We Day celebrations in Vancouver, Canada.

The pop star was in rehearsals for her hosting gig at the Rogers Arena on Tuesday (21Oct14) when the spiritual leader took a moment to say hello.

Gomez posted a photo of her encounter and added the caption, "words of wisdom. #speechless."

More than 20,000 people filled Rogers Arena for We Day on Wednesday (22Oct14) for the free youth celebration.

The event also featured appearances by Jennifer Lopez, Nick Jonas, Orlando Bloom and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.

Gomez wrapped up her all-day youth empowerment hosting gig with a strong message to the gathered Canadian teenagers, explaining she knows exactly what it feels like to be "judged" like many of them, adding, "People form opinions of you without even knowing you, trying to dim you light. I know what you guys go through, because I go through it every single day. But I don't let it get to me.

"You are not defined by an Instagram photo, by a (Facebook) like, by a comment... The trick is to focus on the love and what I want you guys to do, every rude comment you get, every person that tries to hurt you personally or through the Internet, I want you to forgive them... because they have no idea.

"There is so much love in this world (and) in this stadium... We all deserve more than we think and in the end nobody remembers those haters and the comments, they're just background noise."

And taking a lyric from pal Taylor Swift's hit Shake It Off, she added, "Like my friend Taylor says, the haters are gonna hate, just shake it off. Just do you, be true to yourself, love yourself, have confidence in yourself and everything will be fine."