The Dalai Lama

In Tibetan Buddhism, the successive Dalai Lamas form a lineage of allegedly reborn magistrates which traces back to 1391. They are of the Gelug sect of Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhists believe the Dalai Lama to be one of innumerable incarnations of Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. Between the 17th century and 1959, the Dalai Lama was the head of the Tibetan government, administering a large portion of the country from the capital in Lhasa. The Dalai Lama is considered the supreme head of Tibetan Buddhism, and the leaders of all four schools consider the Dalai Lama to be the highest lama of the Tibetan traditions.

Tenzin Gyatso, born in 1935, is the fourteenth and current Dalai Lama, and is often referred to in Western media simply as THE Dalai Lama. The fifth of sixteen children of a farming family in the Tibetan province of Amdo, he was proclaimed the tulku (rebirth) of the thirteenth Dalai Lama at the age of two. In November 1950, at the age of fifteen, he was enthroned as Tibet's Head of State and most important political ruler, while Tibet faced occupation by the forces of the People's Republic of China.

After the collapse of the Tibetan resistance movement in 1959, Tenzin Gyatso fled to India, where he established the Central Tibetan Administration (the Tibetan government in exile) and saught to preserve Tibetan culture and education among the thousands of refugees who accompanied him.[2]

A charismatic figure and noted public speaker, Tenzin Gyatso is the first Dalai Lama to travel to the West, where he has helped to spread Buddhism and publicise the ideal of Free Tibet. In 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.


I felt that this information on the 14th Dalai Lama was important to share because he is a predominant figure in today's society. Tenzin Gyatso is God, in some respects, to millions of people; his words are holy, his actions are always praised, and his decisions are law. He is the only Dalai Lama to make contact with the Western world, and he has made peace forever an ideal in human society by preaching his gospels of wisdom to the world.

It is unfortunate that he is not able to return to Tibet, and I believe that this is wrong. Why does China need Tibet anyway? No one lives there, and all of the their economic power comes from the east. They have no need to keep the Tibetan regions of the west. GIVE IT BACK!

I thought that this was a relevant topic because His Holiness is visiting in a few weeks and he will be speaking to people about peace and harmony, how to reach it and how to maintain it in life. I believe that it is very important to try to encorporate more peace in one's life because when you are at peace you feel more at ease and able to accomplish more good.

The Dalai Lama is the ultimate symbol of goodness and hope and peace, and his presence alone will impact people in a hopefully positive and strong way. I look forward to hearing what he has to say, because I feel that, especially now, with all of the violence in the world, we must learn to gain internal peace, and then spread that peace outward to create a harmonious world around us.