Dalai Lama
by Wendy AronA man his disciples believe to be the incarnation of the Buddha himself, the Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of a 2500-year-old Tibetan religious tradition known as Buddhism. The Dalai Lama has been a political refugee in exile in neighboring India for nearly 40 years. His title means ocean of wisdom and he is the supreme leader, both religious and political, of 6 million Tibetans. His followers believe that over the past 600 years he has died 13 times. On each occasion his soul has returned in a new body or incarnation.
The search for the current Dalai Lama began in 1933, after the death of the thirteenth Dalai Lama. At that time, a team of Tibet’s most respected monks began to look for his successor, for a child born with the same soul as each deceased Dalai Lama. The monks prayed for his speedy return to this world. Their search parties spread out across vast land of Tibet, equal in size to Western Europe, or to Alaska and Texas combined. As they traveled to the far reaches of this desolate wilderness, weeks turned into months and months into years. Finally, in 1937, several auspicious signs lead the monks to believe Tibet’s eastern province of Amdo was the site of the Dalai Lama’s return. It is said the days after his death, the head of the 13th Dalai Lama turned in that direction indicating where to search. A series of rainbows appeared in the cloudless sky. Rumors reached the monks of a boy born on July 6, 1935, shortly after the 13th Dalai Lama’s death. Horns were heard in the heavens on the day of his birth and the boy it is said often spoke of his home in Lhasa, Tibet’s far off capital, a place he has never even seen. The boy was renamed Tenzin Gyatso and became the 14th Dalai Lama. The son of a mule driver from Tibet’s most remote eastern province, young Lama Dhondrub came a long way from the two-room shack he shared with his parents and 4 brothers and sisters to the magnificent Lhasa palace known as Potala.
As the young Dalai Lama prepared to assume the mantle of Tibet’s supreme spiritual leader, his training was rigorous including logic, Tibetan art, medicine, poetry and philosophy. He would memorize thousands of lines of Buddhist Scripture and practice meditation four hours each day. 75% of Tibet’s budget was spent on education for the priesthood and the maintenance of its religious institutions. Monasteries stood at the heart of Tibetan culture as both temples of worship and institutions of higher education. These were Tibet’s Harvard and Yale, the great centers of learning that has Tibet’s vast libraries of knowledge both spiritual and academic. Many thousands of Buddhist texts were translated; new discourses on medicine, astrology and psychology were published addressing the most complex issues of time and space.
After receiving his education, the Dalai Lama became the Tibetan’s chief spiritual and political leader. Dalai Lama teaching included the Buddha’s message of love and compassion and the Buddhist belief in impermanence. The Dalai Lama taught that all beings are caught up in Samasara, the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. Dalai Lama teaching showed that Samsara could only be escaped through the spiritual fulfillment the leader called, Nirvana. The Dalai Lama taught that although all souls climb life’s ladder to enlightenment, achieving Nirvana takes countless lifetimes. Enlightenment only comes when the true nature of reality is grasped. The concept of Dalai Lama nonviolence also took form with the emphasis on the concept of loving kindness as opposed to physical confrontation.
In 1949, China, the most populous nation on earth, its massive army battle hardened and equipped with the latest weapons of war, invaded its defenseless neighbor Tibet. Citing long standing territorial claims, the Chinese quickly conquered what they called the “Treasure House of the West.” Over the years, Tibetan monks had successfully warded off Chinese aggression, trading spiritual power and blessings for peace and protection. But in the revolutionary fervor of China’s new Communist order, religion was considered a poison and Tibet a backward superstitious society in need of re-education. After 10 years of Chinese occupation, the Dalai Lama decided he had no choice but to leave Tibet. In 1959, undercover of night, the Dalai Lama, his bodyguard and courtiers fled from the holy city to India, never to return. He was only 23 years old, yet he had already witnessed changes far greater than any Tibet had experienced in its long and peaceful history. One hundred thousand Tibetans would follow, seeking asylum in India, but leaving one million more that would die in the atrocities and famines to come.
Although the Dalai Lama still does not have a country to call his own, his philosophy and teachings continue to resonate. His lessons have given the Tibetan people the strength and resolve to cope with tragedy and change. The Dalai Lama’s efforts on behalf of human rights and world peace have brought him international recognition. There is no doubt that what the Dalai Lama did for the world was to make people and countries more compassionate. There is also no doubt that his great work will continue.
