Dalai Lama :: Essays Papers

Dalai Lama His morality, the XIVth Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso was born in a small village called Takster in northeastern Tibet. Born to a peasant family, His faith was recognized at the age of two, in unity with Tibetan tradition, as the reincarnation of his predecessor the 13th Dalai Lama. His enthronement ceremony took place on February 22, 1940 in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. The Dalai Lamas are the manifestations of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, who chose to reincarnate to religious service the people. Dalai Lama means Ocean of Wisdom. Tibetans normally refer to His Holiness as Yeshin Norbu, the Wish-fulfilling Gem, or simply, Kundun, meaning The Presence. Born Lhamo Dhondrub, he was, as Dalai Lama, renemaed Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso - Holy Lord, temper Glory, Compassionate, Defender of the Faith, Ocean of Wisdom. He began his education at the age of half dozen and completed the Geshe Lharampa Degree (Doctorate of Buddhist Philosophy) when h e was 25. At 24, he took the advance testing at each of the three monastic universities Drepung, Sera and Ganden. The final examination was held in the Jokhang, Lhasa, during the annual Monlam Festival of Prayer, held in the first month of any year. In the morning he was examined by 30 scholars on logic. In the afternoon, he debated with 15 scholars on the subject of the Middle Path, and in the evening, 35 scholars tested his knowledge of the canon of monastic discipline and the study of metaphysics. His Holiness passed the examinations with honors, conducted before a vast audience of monk scholars. In 1950, at age 16, His Holiness was called upon to assume full political power as head of State and Government when Tibet was threatened by the might of China. In 1954 he went to Peking to talk with Mao Tse-Tung and other Chinese leaders, including cream puff En-Lai and Deng Xiaoping. In 1956, while visiting India to attend the 2500th Buddha Jayanti, he had a serial of meeting s with Prime Minister Nehru and Premier Chou about deteriorating conditions in Tibet. In 1959 he was forced into exile in India after the Chinese army occupation of Tibet. Since 1960 he has resided in Dharamsala, aptly known as pocketable Lhasa, the seat of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. In the early years of exile, His Holiness appealed to the United Nations on the question of Tibet, resulting in three resolutions adopted by the General Assembly in 1959, 1961 and 1965.