Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism and plays a vital role in providing guidance to the Tibetan people while promoting the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism and fostering interfaith understanding. This institution, which dates back to the late sixteenth century, is rooted in the belief that each Dalai Lama is a reincarnation of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion. The current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, became the fourteenth in the line when he was recognized at the age of two and later assumed political leadership in 1950. However, following the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1951 and a subsequent uprising in 1959, he fled to India, where he established a government in exile in Dharamsala.
The Dalai Lama has since become a prominent global figure, advocating for non-violence and the peaceful resolution of conflicts, for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. His teachings emphasize meditation, ethics, and the pursuit of happiness, and he has authored several influential books. The process of identifying a new Dalai Lama involves searching for a child who demonstrates signs of being the reincarnation of the previous one, a task traditionally undertaken by high lamas of the Gelug school. The Dalai Lama has expressed concerns regarding the future of his reincarnation, particularly about potential political interference from the Chinese government.
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Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. His primary functions are to provide spiritual guidance to the people of Tibet, perpetuate the philosophical teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, and foster understanding among all world religions. Historically, the Dalai Lama has also been responsible for governing Tibet, but China claimed the territory for itself in 1959, forcing the fourteenth Dalai Lama into exile in India.
The institution of the Dalai Lama has existed since the late sixteenth century, although the title was retroactively applied to two Tibetan Buddhist teachers of the fifteenth century and early sixteenth century. Tibetan Buddhists believe each Dalai Lama is the reincarnation of the Buddhist deity Avalokiteshvara, who was a bodhisattva, a spiritually perfect being who chooses to be continually reborn into the material world to help people. New Dalai Lamas, therefore, are identified as children soon after the death of the previous Dalai Lama. The fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, assumed his title in 1940 at the age of four.
Background
Buddhists from India brought their religion to Tibet in the late eighth century CE. The Tibetan form of Buddhism that eventually developed there was a combination of existing Buddhist traditions, such as Mahayana Buddhism, and ideology from the ancient Tibetan religion Bon. Tibetan Buddhism features teachers called lamas and promotes the use of numerous rituals and mantras in its religious practices. The religion emphasizes meditation and the belief that only spiritual ideals are valuable in a world in which everything is in a constant state of dying.
The Gelug, or Gelugpa, school of Tibetan Buddhism, which is led by the Dalai Lama, was founded by the Tibetan Buddhist teacher Je Tsongkhapa, who lived from the mid-fourteenth century to the early fifteenth century. His philosophy of moral behavior and systematic meditation eventually became known as the Virtuous School, since his followers, known as Gelugpas, sought to become bodhisattvas and help people cast away their suffering.
By the mid-sixteenth century, Tibetan Buddhists within the Gelug school determined that certain lamas within their tradition were tulkus, or individuals who were born as the reincarnations of a past lama to continue guiding the Gelug followers indefinitely. In this case, the Gelugpas believed the Buddhist deity Avalokiteshvara had reincarnated himself to relieve the earthly world's suffering. The first lama to be declared one of these reincarnations was Sonam Gyatso, who received the title Dalai Lama, or "ocean of wisdom," in 1578. The Gelugpas soon declared that two past lamas had also been reincarnations in the Gelug tradition. Therefore, Gedun Drub, who died in 1474, was named the first Dalai Lama, while Gendun Gyatso, who died in 1542, was declared the second Dalai Lama.
In 1645, the fifth Dalai Lama, Lobsang Gyatso, commissioned the construction of Potala Palace on top of Marpo Ri, or the Red Mountain, in Lhasa, Tibet. This was the same location where the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo had built his fort in the seventh century. Potala Palace was to serve as the official government seat and residence of the Dalai Lama. Construction of the massive white and red complex was finished in 1694. Conflicts with China forced the Dalai Lama's government to abandon the palace in 1959. Potala Palace later became a museum and a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site.
Overview
Finding a new Dalai Lama after one has died is a task traditionally entrusted to the high lamas of the Gelug school. Since each Dalai Lama is seen as the reincarnation of his direct predecessor, the high lamas must search for a child who was born soon after the previous Dalai Lama died. Searches usually take between two and four years. The high lamas may be alerted to the location of the boy by dreaming about his location, following the smoke of the previous Dalai Lama's cremated body, or visiting Lhamo Lhatso, a lake in central Tibet, where the high lamas may experience visions showing them where to look. One Dalai Lama was from Mongolia, but most have been found in Tibet.
The high lamas eventually locate the boy they believe to be the reincarnated Dalai Lama and present him with numerous sacred objects, some of which belonged to the recently deceased Dalai Lama. The high lamas consider it a sign that they have found the correct individual if the boy selects the objects of the previous Dalai Lama. The Tibetan people can change the procedure for identifying successive Dalai Lamas by a two-thirds majority vote.
The fourteenth Dalai Lama was born as Lhamo Dhondup on July 6, 1935, in the Amdo region of northeastern Tibet. The high lamas experienced a vision of his location at Lhamo Lhatso, and the boy later correctly chose the objects of the thirteenth Dalai Lama when they were presented to him in 1937, when he was two years old. He was renamed Tenzin Gyatso that year, and the high lamas announced in 1939 that the fourteenth Dalai Lama had been recognized. Gyatso was officially enthroned in his position in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa in early 1940.
Gyatso began training as a monk at age five. He continued his studies over the next several years, while living in Potala Palace, and assumed full political responsibility for Tibet in 1950. Around this time, the Chinese army invaded Tibet with the intention of making the region a full part of China. The next year, a Tibetan delegation signed the Seventeen-Point Agreement with China, handing over Tibet to the Chinese government. In 1959, the Tibetan people, still seeking independence, staged an uprising against the Chinese army. China quickly put down the revolt, and the Dalai Lama, fearing for his life, fled into northern India. He and his followers established a government in exile in the city of Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, where they remained into the twenty-first century.
The fourteenth Dalai Lama later became a world-renowned public figure. He first traveled to the United States in 1979, where he lectured on a speaking tour for nearly two months. In 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his support of the peaceful separation of Tibet from China. In the twenty-first century, the fourteenth Dalai Lama continued speaking around the world. He published several best-selling books on happiness and simple living, including The Art of Happiness (1998) written with psychiatrist Howard Cutler, Ethics for the New Millennium (1999), Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World (2011), and The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World (2016) written with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He claimed that his reincarnated successor, if he had one, would not be born in a country ruled by China but born in a free country, which was a serious point of contention with the Chinese government. The Dalai Lama expressed concerns that his reincarnation would be “hijacked and politicized in brazen meddling” by the Chinese government.
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