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Dalai Lama Biography

in full Lhamo Thondup, Tenzin Gyatso

(1935–)

Related Works

Books
1962 My Land and My People
1966 The Opening of the Wisdom Eye
1977 Universal Responsibility and the Good Heart

1982 Advice from Buddha Shakyamuni
1982 Collected Statements, Interviews & Articles
1982 Four Essential Buddhist Commentaries
1984 Kindness, Clarity and Insight
1985 Kalachakra Tantra Rite of Initiation
1985 Opening of the Eye of New Awareness
1988 The Bodhgaya Interviews
1988 The Dalai Lama at Harvard
1988 Transcendent Wisdom
1988 The Union of Bliss & Emptiness
1989 Ocean Of Wisdom
1990 The Global Community & the Need for Universal Responsibility
1990 The Meaning of Life
1990 My Tibet
1990 The Nobel Peace Prize and the Dalai Lama
1990 Policy of Kindness
1991 Mind Science - An East - West Dialogue
1991 Path to Bliss
1991 Freedom in Exile
1993 Words of Truth
1993 The Meaning of Life from a Buddhist Perspective
1994 A Flash of Lightning in the Dark of Night
1995 Awakening the Mind, Lightening the Heart
1995 Commentary on the Thirty Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva
1995 Dialogues on Universal Responsibility & Education
1995 Dimensions of Spirituality
1995 Essential Teachings
1995 His Holiness the Dalai Lama Speeches Statements Articles Interviews from 1987 to June 1995
1995 The Path to Enlightenment
1995 The Power of Compassion
1995 The Spirit of Tibet: Universal Heritage
1995 The Way to Freedom
1995 The World of Tibetan Buddhism
1996 Beyond Dogma
1996 The Good Heart
1997 The Gelug/Kagyu Tradition of Mahamudra
1997 Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist Perspective
1997 The Heart of Compassion
1997 The Joy of Living and Dying in Peace
1997 Love, Kindness and Universal Responsibility
1997 Sleeping, Dreaming and Dying
1998 The Art of Happiness
1998 The Four Noble Truths
1998 The Path to Tranquillity - Daily Meditations
1998 The Political Philosophy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama-Selected Speeches and Writings
1999 Ancient Wisdom, Modern World - Ethics for a New Millennium
1999 Consciousness at the Crossroads - Conversations with the Dalai Lama on Brain Science and Buddhism
1999 The Heart of the Buddha's Path
1999 The Little Book of Buddhism
1999 Training the Mind
2000 The Dalai Lama's Book of Transformation
2000 A Simple Path
2000 Transforming the Mind
2001 An Open Heart
2001 Stages of Meditation
2002 Advice on Dying
2002 Essence of the Heart Sutra
2002 How to Practice
2002 Illuminating the Path to Enlightenment
2003 The Compassionate Life
2003 Warm Heart Open Mind
2003 365 Dalai Lama Daily Advice from the Heart
2004 Many Ways to Nirvana?
2004 The Wisdom of Forgiveness
2005 The Universe in a Single Atom - The Convergence of Science and Spirituality
2005 Yoga Tantra Paths to Magical Seats

» More

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The Official Site of the Dalai Lama

in the news…

November 08, 2009

The Dalai Lama faced a crowd of thousands on Sunday as he made a controversial visit to a monastery bordering Tibet. The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader is in the city of Tawang in India's state of Arunachal Pradesh, an area that has been a source of contention between Beijing and Delhi. The recent visit has caused Chinese leaders to accuse the Dalai Lama of trying to undermine its rule in Tibet.

They also claim the visit is anti-China.
The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959, after Chinese troops quashed a Tibetan uprising. Arunachal Pradesh was the first stop during the Dalai Lama's flight, and said he felt close ties to the region. "My visit to Tawang is non-political and aimed at promoting universal brotherhood and nothing else," the Dalai Lama said. He insisted that claims otherwise are baseless.
In August, the 74-year-old leader visited Taiwan, another region China considers part of its territory. That visit also sparked anger from China.

Political leader. Born Lhamo Thondup on July 6, 1935, in Taktser, China, northeast of Tibet, to a peasant family. He is the head of state and spiritual leader of the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamshala, India. Tibetans believe him to be the reincarnation of his predecessors. For nearly 50 years he has strived to establish Tibet as a self-governing, democratic state.

Lhamo Thondup was the fifth child in a family of 16 children, of whom only nine survived. After several months of searching for a successor to the 13th Dalai Lama and following many significant spiritual signs, religious officials located Lhamo Thondup, at age 2, and identified him as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso. Young Lhamo was renamed Tenzin Gyatso and proclaimed the 14th Dalai Lama. Dalai Lamas are believed to be the reincarnation of Avalokitesvara, an important Buddhist deity and the personification of compassion. Dalai Lamas are also enlightened beings who have postponed their own afterlife and chosen to take rebirth to benefit humanity. "Dalai" means "ocean" in Mongolian (the name "Gyatso" comes from the Tibetan word for ocean). "Lama" is the equivalent of the Sanskrit word "guru," or spiritual teacher. Put together, the title of Dalai Lama is literally "Ocean Teacher," meaning a "teacher spiritually as deep as the ocean."

Buddhism was created in the sixth century BCE, with the birth of Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, making it one of the oldest religions practiced today. Originating in India, the religion spread throughout most of eastern and southern Asia. Buddhism came to Tibet in the eighth century CE. Unlike other religions that are centered on a supreme being, Buddhism is centered on four basic truths: Life is not perfect; people are left unsatisfied trying to make life perfect; people can realize there is a better way to achieve fulfillment; and by living one's life through wisdom, ethical conduct, and mental discipline, people will reach enlightenment.

Within these truths are countless layers of teachings on the nature of existence, life, death, and the self. Buddhism encourages its followers not to believe in those teachings, as followers of other religions believe in their religion's central figures and dogma, but rather to explore, understand, and test the truths against their own experiences. The emphasis here is on the exploration. The Buddhist belief in rebirth is a concept of "renewal" and not exactly reincarnation of a spirit or body. Under Buddhism, the consciousness of a person can become part of the consciousness of another person, as a flame moves from one candle to another. The second flame is not identical to the first, nor is it totally different. Thus, Buddhists believe life is a continual journey of experience and discovery and not divided between life and the afterlife.

Tenzin began his religious education at age six. His schooling consisted of logic, Tibetan art and culture, Sanskrit, medicine, and Buddhist philosophy, which is divided into five other categories dealing with the perfection of wisdom, monastic discipline, metaphysics, logic, and epistemology, or the study of knowledge. At the age of 11, Tenzin met Heinrich Harrer, an Austrian mountaineer, who became one of his tutors, teaching him about the outside world. The two remained friends until Harrer's death in 2006.