Who the heck is the Dalai Lama?

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The Dalai Lama is a spiritual and secular ruler of some Buddhists in Tibet (and around the ruler). There are other "lamas" -- leaders of other followers who belong to other sects of Tibetan Buhhism.

Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ Wylie: Bstan 'dzin Rgya mtsho) (b. July 6, 1935) is the fourteenth and current Dalai Lama. The fifth of nine children of a farming family in the Tibetan province of Amdo, he was proclaimed the tulku (reincarnation) of the thirteenth Dalai Lama at the age of three. On November 17, 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 was active in establishing the government of Tibet in exile and preserving Tibetan culture and education among the thousands of refugees who accompanied him.

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 to publicise the cause of Free Tibet. In 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.


In Tibetan Buddhism, the successive Dalai Lamas (taa-la'i bla-ma) form a tulku lineage of Gelugpa leaders which trace back to 1391. Tibetan Buddhists believe the Dalai Lama to be the present incarnation of Avalokitesvara ("Chenrezig" [spyan ras gzigs] in Tibetan), the bodhisattva of compassion. Between the 17th century and 1959, the Dalai Lama was the head of the Tibetan government, controlling a large portion of the country from the capital Lhasa. The Dalai Lamas never had authority over every region of Tibet nor over the other sects of Tibetan Buddhism. The current Dalai Lama (the 14th) is a respected Tibetan Buddhist religious leader and figurehead of the International Tibet Independence Movement; in English, he is often granted the style "His Holiness" (or HH) before his title.

Source(s):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalai_lama, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenzin_Gyatso%2C_14th_Dalai_Lama

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GREAT!!!! Thanks!