Biography of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama, Tibet's political leader, has strived to make Tibet an independent and democratic nation from China. He and his fans are exiled to India.

The Dalai Lama was into born Lhamo Thondup on July 6, 1935 in Taktser, China. At age 15, he assumed political strength of Tibet because the Dalai Lama. The People's Republic of China invaded that  year. Fearing assassination, he and thousands of followers fled to Dharamsala in northern India, wherein they established an alternative government. Since then, the Dalai Lama has taken severa actions in hopes of setting up an autonomous Tibetan nation inside the People's Republic of China. However, the Chinese authorities has shown no signs of moving in the direction of peace and reconciliation with Tibet. The Dalai Lama has also performed loads of meetings, lectures and workshops global, as a part of his humanitarian efforts. He was provided the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. In December 2008, the Dalai Lama introduced his semi-retirement after having gallstone surgery.

Early Life

Lhamo Thondup was into born on July 6, 1935 in Taktser, China, northeast of Tibet, to a peasant family. He is the pinnacle of country and spiritual leader of the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamshala, India. Tibetans trust him to be the reincarnation of his predecessors. For nearly 50 years, he had aimed to set up Tibet as a self-governing, democratic nation.

Lhamo Thondup was the 5th of sixteen childrens—seven of whom died at a young age. After several months of trying to find a successor to the 13th Dalai Lama and following many vast religious symptoms, spiritual officials located Lhamo Thondup, at age 2, and identified him because the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso. Young Lhamo was renamed Tenzin Gyatso and declares as the 14th Dalai Lama.

Dalai Lamas are believed to be the reincarnation of Avalokitesvara,  most important Buddhist deity and the personification of compassion. Dalai Lamas also are enlightened beings who've postponed their own afterlife and selected to take rebirth to advantage humanity. Meaning of "Dalai"  is  "ocean" in Mongolian (the call "Gyatso" comes from the Tibetan word for ocean). Meaning of "Lama" in Sanskrit wording  is "guru," or spiritual teacher. Put collectively, the title of Dalai Lama is exactly "Ocean Teacher," that means a "teacher spiritually as deep as the sea."

Buddhist Teachings

Buddhism become created within the sixth century, BCE, with the start of Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, making it one of the oldest religions practiced these days. Originating in India, the religion unfold in the course of maximum of japanese and southern Asia. Buddhism came to Tibet within the eighth century, CE. Unlike other religions which are centered on a best being, Buddhism is centered on 4 fundamental truths: Life is not best; people are left unsatisfied by means of seeking to make life best; human beings can realize there may be a better way to acquire fulfillment; and by way of dwelling one's existence thru expertise, moral behavior and mental control, humans will attain enlightenment.

Within these truths are countless layers of teachings on the nature of life, existence, demise and the self. Buddhism encourages its followers now not to believe in those teachings, as followers of other religions believe of their faith's vital figures and dogma, but instead to discover, recognize, and check the truths towards their personal studies. The emphasis here is on the exploration. The Buddhist notion of rebirth is a concept of "renewal" and no longer exactly reincarnation of a spirit or frame. Under Buddhism, the cognizance of a person can come to be a part of the attention of every other individual, as a flame actions from one candle to another. The second flame is not equal to the primary, neither is it totally unique. Thus, Buddhists agree with life is a persistent journey of experience and discovery and not divided among life and the afterlife.

Becoming the Dalai Lama

Tenzin commenced his relogious schooling at age 6. His education consisted of logic, Tibetan artwork and tradition, Sanskrit, medicine and Buddhist philosophy, that is divided into 5 different categories managing the perfection of information, monastic discipline, metaphysics, good judgment and epistemology—the examine of expertise. At age eleven, Tenzin met Heinrich Harrer, an Austrian mountaineer, who became considered one of his tutors, coaching him about the outside world. The two remained pals till Harrer's demise in 2006.

In 1950, on the age of 15, Tenzin assumed complete political power because the Dalai Lama. However, his governorship was brief. In October of that year, the People's Republic of China invaded Tibet hostile to  little resistance. In 1954, the Dalai Lama went to Beijing for peace talks with Mao Zedong and different Chinese leaders. However, in 1959, persevered suppression of the Tibetan humans with the aid of Chinese troops caused their rebellion. The Dalai Lama and his closest advisers believed the Chinese authorities was planning to assassinate him. Consequently, he and several thousand followers fled to Dharamshala in northern India and set up an alternative government there.

At the time, the People's Republic of China considered the Dalai Lama to be a image of an obsolete spiritual move, no longer in step with communist philosophy. More recently, the Chinese government alleges that he is a separatist and a traitor for advocating Tibetan self-rule, and a terrorist for inciting Tibetan rebellion.

Conflict with China

Since the Chinese invasion, the Dalai Lama has taken severa moves in hopes of setting up an self reliant Tibetan nation within the People's Republic of China. In 1963, he issued a draft constitution for Tibet containing some of reforms to democratize the authorities. Called the Charter of Tibetans in Exile, it grants freedom of speech, notion, assembly, and movement. It also offers specific guidelines for Tibetans dwelling in exile.

During the Sixties, the Central Intelligence Agency funded and educated Tibetan forces to withstand the Chinese invasion and career with the Dalai Lama's complete expertise and help. The program was a failure as heaps of lives had been lost in the resistance and is now considered merely a Cold War tactic at the part of america to assignment the Chinese authorities's legitimacy within the place.

In September 1987, the Dalai Lama proposed the Five Point Peace Plan for Tibet because the first steps in a non violent method to reconcile with the Chinese authorities and end the volatile situation there. The plan proposed that Tibet would end up a sanctuary where enlightened people can exist in peace and the environment may be preserved. In June 15, 1988, the Dalai Lama addressed contributors of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. There he proposed talks between the Chinese and Tibetans that would cause a self-governing democratic political entity for Tibet. The entity might be associated with the People's Republic of China, and the Chinese government might be responsible for Tibet's overseas policy and protection.

In 1991, the Tibetan authorities-in-exile declared the Strasbourg Proposal invalid because of the modern-day Chinese leadership's terrible attitude towards the suggestion.

Humanitarian Work

The Dalai Lama is the religious leader of Tibetan Buddhism, and within the lifestyle of Bodhisattva he has spent his lifestyles devoted to  benefits humanity. He has written severa books and performed loads of meetings, lectures and workshops at essential universities and establishments in the course of the arena, discussing conducting wisdom, compassion and, extra currently, environmental sustainability. Unlike his predecessors, the Dalai Lama has met with many Western leaders and has visited the United States, Europe, Russia, Latin America and many nations in Asia on some of activities.

Known as an effective public speaker, the Dalai Lama is often defined as charismatic. His message is usually considered one of peace and compassion for humans everywhere in the global. During his travels abroad, he has burden the want for a higher know-how of and appreciate among different faiths of the sector. He has made numerous appearances at interfaith services and has met with several heads of different religions, which includes Pope John Paul II; Dr. Robert Runcie, the Archbishop of Canterbury; Gordon B. Hinckley, the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of modern-day Saints; and Patriarch Alexius II, of the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 1989, the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his nonviolent efforts for the liberation of Tibet and his problem for international environmental troubles. The Committee's citation said, "The Committee desires to emphasize the fact that the Dalai Lama in his war for the liberation of Tibet continually has adverse using violence. He has alternatively recommended peaceful answers based upon tolerance and mutual appreciate in order to hold the historic and cultural history of his human beings." In latest years, a number of Western universities and establishments have conferred peace awards and honorary doctorate ranges upon the Dalai Lama in reputation of his distinguished writings in Buddhist philosophy, in addition to his fantastic management within the service of freedom and peace.

Working for Peace

In the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, unrest broke out in Tibet in anticipation of media interest and expanded repression by way of the Chinese authorities. The Dalai Lama beseeched for calm and condemned Chinese violence. This was met with frustration by using many in Tibet, who considered his comments ineffective, and allegations via the Chinese that the Dalai Lama incited the violence—an accusation that he strongly denies. While the United Nations has passed numerous resolutions on China, calling for the honour of essential human rights and a cessation of human rights violations, and has expressed situation approximately persevering with human rights violations in Tibet, little has been accomplished to solve the trouble. In recent years, proposed resolutions to defend Tibetan human rights had been postponed or reworded to ease any stress on the Chinese government.

In recent years, Chinese President Hu Jintao has proven no signs and movement of shifting toward peace and reconciliation with Tibet. Some say that the Chinese authorities is simply awaiting the Dalai Lama, now seventy four, to die and thereby subsequently dispel any lingering hopes for an independent, democratic Tibet. In December 2008, the Dalai Lama announced his semi-retirement after having gallstone surgical procedure.

On March 10, 2011, at the 52nd anniversary of his exile from Tibet, the Dalai Lama introduced that he might surrender his position as Tibet's political chief. He stated the selection got here from a long-held notion that the Tibetans wanted a freely elected leader. A spokeswoman from the Chinese overseas ministry known as his resignation "a trick."

In September 2015, the Dalai Lama cancelled numerous talking events within the United States that were scheduled for October on the recommendation of his medical doctors. After a habitual annual checkup, the eighty-year-vintage spiritual leader become instructed to rest for several weeks and remained at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for similarly assessment.

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