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14th Dalai Lama
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Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso (born Lhamo Döndrub (;) (6 July 1935 in Qinghai), is the 14th Dalai Lama. He is the head of the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamshala, India. The Dalai Lama is a spiritual leader revered among Tibetans. The most influential figure of the Gelugpa or Yellow Hat Sect, he has considerable influence over the other sects of Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetans traditionally believe him to be the reincarnation of his predecessors.
The Dalai Lama was born fifth of 16 children to a farming family in the village of Taktser, Qinghai province, China.
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Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso (born Lhamo Döndrub (;) (6 July 1935 in Qinghai), is the 14th Dalai Lama. He is the head of the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamshala, India. The Dalai Lama is a spiritual leader revered among Tibetans. The most influential figure of the Gelugpa or Yellow Hat Sect, he has considerable influence over the other sects of Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetans traditionally believe him to be the reincarnation of his predecessors.
The Dalai Lama was born fifth of 16 children to a farming family in the village of Taktser, Qinghai province, China. His first language was the regional Amdo dialect. He was proclaimed the tulku or rebirth of the thirteenth Dalai Lama at the age of two. At the age of fifteen, on 17 November 1950, one month after the Chinese army's invasion of Tibet, he was formally enthroned as Dalai Lama. He thus became the region's most important spiritual leader and political ruler.
In 1959 the Dalai Lama fled through the mountains to India following a failed uprising and the effective collapse of the Tibetan resistance movement. He had at first, in 1951, ratified under military pressure a Seventeen Point Agreement to let his government to be a part of People's Republic of China. In India he set up a Tibetan government-in-exile. Among the 80,000 or so exiles that followed him Tenzin Gyatso strives to preserve traditional Tibetan education and culture. The Chinese government, whose occupation of Tibet in 1959 forced him into exile, regards him as the symbol of an outmoded theocratic system.
A noted public speaker worldwide, the Dalai Lama is often described as charismatic. He is the first Dalai Lama to travel to the West, where he seeks to spread Buddhist teachings and to promote ethics and interfaith harmony. In 1989 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He was given honorary Canadian citizenship in 2006, and was awarded the United States Congressional Gold Medal on 17 October 2007. The Dalai Lama has received more than 100 honorary conferments and major awards outside of Tibet.
On 17 December 2008, after months of speculation, he announced his semi-retirement. He said that the future course of the movement he had led for nearly five decades would now be decided by the elected parliament-in-exile under the prime minister Samdhong Rinpoche. The 73-year-old Nobel laureate, who had recently undergone surgery, told reporters in Dharamshala: "I have grown old.... It is better if I retire completely and get out of the way of the Tibetan movement."
Early life and background
Lhamo Döndrub (or Thondup) was born on 6 July 1935 to a farming family in the small hamlet of Taktser in the Tibetan region of Amdo (administered officially since 1928 as part of Qinghai province of China. He was one of nine to survive childhood. The eldest was his sister Tsering Dolma, eighteen years older. His eldest brother, Thupten Jigme Norbu, had been recognised at the age of eight as the reincarnation of the high lama Taktser Rinpoche. His sister Jetsun Pema years later depicted their mother in the 1997 film Seven Years in Tibet.
Tibetans traditionally believe Dalai Lamas to be the reincarnation of their predecessors, each of whom is believed to be a human emanation of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. A search party was sent out to locate the new incarnation when the boy who was to become the 14th was about two years old. It is said that, amongst other omens, the head of the embalmed body of the thirteenth Dalai Lama, at first facing south-east, had mysteriously turned to face the northeast—indicating the direction in which his successor would be found.
The Regent, Reting Rinpoche, shortly afterwards had a vision at the sacred lake of Lhamo La-tso indicating Amdo as the region to search—specifically a one-story house with distinctive guttering and tiling. After extensive searching, the Thondup house, with its features resembling those in Reting's vision, was finally found.
The little boy was presented with various relics, including toys, some of which had belonged to the 13th Dalai Lama and some of which had not. It was reported that he had correctly identified all the items owned by the previous Dalai Lama, exclaiming, "That's mine! That's mine!".
Lhamo Thondup was formally recognized as the reincarnated Dalai Lama and renamed Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso (Holy Lord, Gentle Glory, Compassionate, Defender of the Faith, Ocean of Wisdom). Tibetan Buddhists normally refer to him as Yishin Norbu (Wish-Fulfilling Gem), Kyabgon (Saviour), or just Kundun (Presence). His followers often call him His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the style employed on the Dalai Lama's website.
Monastic education commenced at the age of six, his principal teachers being Yongdzin Ling Rinpoche (senior tutor) and Yongdzin Trijang Rinpoche (junior tutor). At the age of 11 he met the Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer, having spotted him in Lhasa through his telescope. Harrer effectively became one of the young Dalai Lama's tutors, teaching him about the outside world. The two remained friends until Harrer's death in 2006.
In 1959, at the age of 23, he sat his final examination at Lhasa's Jokhang Temple during the annual Monlam or prayer Festival. He passed with honours and was awarded the Lharampa degree, the highest-level geshe degree, roughly equivalent to a doctorate in Buddhist philosophy.
Life as the Dalai Lama
As well as being the foremost religious figure in Tibet, the Dalai Lama has traditionally been the country's absolute political ruler. In 1939, at the age of four, he was taken in a procession of lamas to Lhasa:
- "On 25 November 1939 a nine-member delegation, consisting of staff from the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission, arrived in Lhasa, and were later joined by Wu Zhongxin, the Commission's director of Tibetan Affairs. The arrival in Lhasa was carefully planned to coincide with the enthronement ceremony for the 14th Dalai Lama. On 22 February 1940, Wu Zhongxin and other foreign representatives attended the ceremony in the Potala... Later the Kuomintang and the Communists claimed that Wu had presided over the ceremony and that his involvement was essential to the recognition of the new Dalai Lama.
- "There is no evidence to suggest that Wu Zhongxin presided over the installation of the Dalai Lama. However, the delegation managed to establish a permanent office in Lhasa, and installed a direct radio communication with Nanjing."
The remainder of the Dalai Lama's childhood was spent between the Potala and Norbulingka, his summer residence:
- "On 8 July 1949, the Kashag [Tibetan Parliament] called Chen Xizhang, the acting director of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission office in Lhasa. He was informed that the Tibetan Government had decided to expel all Chinese connected with the Guomingdang Government. Fearing that the Chinese might organise protests in the streets of Lhasa, the Kashag imposed a curfew until all the Chinese had left. This they did on 14, 17 and 20 July 1949. At the same time the Tibetan Government sent a telegram to General Chiang Kai-shek and to President Liu Zongren informing them of the decision."
On 17 November 1950, with the country facing possible conflict with the People's Republic of China, the 15-year-old Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso was formally enthroned as the temporal leader of Tibet.
His governorship was short. In October of that year the army of the People's Republic of China entered the country, breaking through Tibetan defenses with ease.
The Dalai Lama sent a delegation to Beijing and, although under PLA military pressure,
ratified the subsequent Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet and tried to work with Beijing. In September 1954, the Dalai Lama and the 10th Panchen Lama went to Beijing to attend the first session of the first National People's Congress, meeting Mao Zedong. The Dalai Lama was even elected to be the Vice Chairman of the Congress. However, during 1959, there was a major uprising among the Tibetan population. In the tense political environment that ensued, the Dalai Lama and his entourage began to suspect that China was planning to kill him. Consequently, he fled to Tawang, India, on 17 March of that year, entering India on 31 March during the Tibetan uprising. Central Intelligence Agency paramilitary teams from their Special Activities Division were responsible for the Dalai Lama's successful clandestine escape from Tibet and the initial resistance fighters in Tibet to the Chinese communist forces.
Exile to India
The Dalai Lama met with the Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, to urge India to pressure China into giving Tibet an autonomous government, as relations with China were not proving successful. Nehru did not want to increase tensions between China and India, so he encouraged the Dalai Lama to work on the Seventeen Point Agreement Tibet had with China. Eventually, after the failed uprising in 1959, the Dalai Lama fled Tibet and set up the Government of Tibet in Exile in Dharamshala, India, which is often referred to as "Little Lhasa".
After the founding of the exiled government he reestablished the approximately 80,000 Tibetan refugees who followed him into exile in agricultural settlements. He created a Tibetan educational system in order to teach the Tibetan children the traditional language, history, religion, and culture. The Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts was established in 1959 and the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies became the primary university for Tibetans in India. He supported the refounding of 200 monasteries and nunneries in an attempt to preserve Tibetan Buddhist teachings and the Tibetan way of life.
The Dalai Lama appealed to the United Nations on the question of Tibet. This appeal resulted in three resolutions adopted by the General Assembly in 1959, 1961, and 1965. These resolutions required China to respect the human rights of Tibetans and their desire for self-determination. In 1963, he promulgated a democratic constitution which is based upon the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A Tibetan parliament-in-exile is elected by the Tibetan refugees scattered all over the world, and the Tibetan Government-in-Exile is likewise elected by the Tibetan parliament. In 1970, he opened the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamshala which houses over 80,000 manuscripts and important knowledge resources related to Tibetan history, politics and culture. It is considered one of the most important institutions for Tibetology in the world.
At the Congressional Human Rights Caucus in 1987 in Washington, D.C., he proposed a Five-Point Peace Plan regarding the future status of Tibet. The plan called for Tibet to become a "zone of peace" and for the end of movement by ethnic Han Chinese into Tibet. It also called for "respect for fundamental human rights and democratic freedoms" and "the end of China's use of Tibet for nuclear weapons production, testing, and disposal." Finally, it urged "earnest negotiations" on the future of Tibet.
He proposed a similar plan at Strasbourg on 15 June 1988. He expanded on the Five-Point Peace Plan and proposed the creation of a self-governing democratic Tibet, "in association with the People's Republic of China." This plan was rejected by the Tibetan Government-in-Exile in 1991. In October 1991, he expressed his wish to return to Tibet to try to make a mutual assessment on the situation with the Chinese local government. At this time he feared that a violent uprising would take place and wished to avoid it. The Dalai Lama has indicated that he wishes to return to Tibet only if the People's Republic of China sets no preconditions for his return, which they have so far refused to do.
The Dalai Lama celebrated his seventieth birthday on 6 July 2005. About 10,000 Tibetan refugees, monks and foreign tourists gathered outside his home. Patriarch Alexius II of the Russian Orthodox Church said, "I confess that the Russian Orthodox Church highly appreciates the good relations it has with the followers of Buddhism and hopes for their further development." Taiwan's President, Chen Shui-bian, attended an evening celebrating the Dalai Lama's birthday that was entitled "Travelling with Love and Wisdom for 70 Years" at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei. The President invited him to return to Taiwan for a third trip in 2005. His previous trips were in 2001, and 1997.
In Tibet there is a popular song calling for his return to Tibet called Aku Pema.
Teaching activities
The Dalai Lama chief spiritual practice is Dzogchen, a subject he teaches and writes about extensively. He has conducted numerous public initiations in the Kalachakra, and is the author of a great number of books.
His teaching activities in the US include:
- In July 2008, the Dalai Lama had held a public lecture and conducted a series of teachings at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
- He visited the U.S. in April 2008, when he gave lectures on engaging wisdom and compassion, and sustainability, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and at Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y.
- In February 2007, the Dalai Lama was named Presidential Distinguished Professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, the first time that the leader of the Tibetan exile community has accepted a university appointment. The appointment is in part an expansion of a program begun in 1998 called the Emory–Tibet Partnership. As Presidential Distinguished Professor, he will:
- provide opportunities for university community members to attend his annual teachings,
- make periodic visits to Emory to participate in programmes, and
- continue the Emory–Tibet Partnership practice of providing private teaching sessions with students and faculty during Emory's study-abroad programme in Dharamshala.
- The Dalai Lama has strong ties with University of Wisconsin-Madison in Madison, Wisconsin, United States, and is a frequent visitor there. He visited the university in 1981 and again in 1989, the year in which he won the Nobel Peace Prize. In May 1998, he addressed a large audience at the Kohl Center and received an honorary degree from the university. He visited Madison again during the summers of both 2007 and 2008, making public appearances at The Kohl Center and Alliant Energy Center, as well as more intimate sessions at the nearby Deer Park Buddhist Center, where Geshe Sopa (the first Tibetan tenured in an American university), whom the Dalai Lama sent to America in 1959 to bridge cultures, resides.
- In May 2001, he met with a group of neuroscientists who conduct research on the effects of meditation on brain function, emotions and physical health.
Foreign relations
Since 1967, the Dalai Lama has initiated a series of tours in 46 nations. He has frequently engaged on religious dialogue. He met with Pope Paul VI at the Vatican in 1973. He met with Pope John Paul II in 1980 and also later in 1982, 1986, 1988, 1990, and 2003.
In 1990, he met in Dharamsala with a delegation of Jewish teachers for an extensive interfaith dialogue. He has since visited Israel three times and met in 2006 with the Chief Rabbi of Israel. In 2006, he met privately with Pope Benedict XVI. He has also met the late Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Robert Runcie, and other leaders of the Anglican Church in London, Gordon B. Hinckley, late President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), as well as senior Eastern Orthodox Church, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, and Sikh officials.
During the runup to the Beijing Olympics of 2008, the Dalai Lama visited Japan on April 10, 2008 on his way to the United States, amid protests around the world over China's handling of the 2008 Tibetan unrest. The Dalai Lama, whom Beijing claimed fomented the unrest, called for calm, but the protests showed little sign of abating. The Dalai Lama said he did not support a boycott of the 2008 Summer Games outright. Japan's government had been relatively quiet about the violence in Tibet and, out of deference to Beijing, does not deal officially with the Dalai Lama. Tokyo does, however, grant visas to the spiritual leader, who has visited Japan fairly frequently.
International children's villages
The Dalai Lama has long been a supporter of SOS Children's Villages organization. He often visits the villages, and has maintained a friendship with the founder, Hermann Gmeiner.
He has said of SOS's efforts:
Social and political stances
Tibetan independence movement
The Dalai Lama accepted the 1951 Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet with the People's Republic of China. However, he moved to Kalimpong in India and, with the help of the Indian and American governments and organized pro-independence literature and the smuggling of weapons into Tibet. Armed struggles broke out in Amdo and Kham in 1956 and later spread to Central Tibet. The movement was a failure and was forced to retreat to Nepal or go underground. Following normalisation of relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China, American support was cut off in the early 1970s. The Dalai Lama then began to formulate his policy towards a peaceful solution in which a democratic autonomous Tibet would be established.
In October 1998, the Dalai Lama's administration acknowledged that it received US$1.7 million a year in the 1960s from the U.S. Government through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and had also trained an army in Colorado (USA).
The Dalai Lama has on occasion been denounced by the Chinese government as a supporter of Tibetan independence. Over time, he has developed a public position stating that he is not in favour of Tibetan independence and would not object to a status in which Tibet has internal autonomy while the PRC manages some aspects of Tibet's defense and foreign affairs. In his 'Middle Way Approach', he laid down that the Chinese government can take care of foreign affairs and defense, and that Tibet should be managed by an elected body.
The Dalai Lama on 16 March 2008 called for an international inquiry into China's treatment of Tibet, which he said amounted to cultural genocide. He has stated that he will step down as leader of Tibet's government-in-exile if violence by protesters in the region worsens, the exiled spiritual leader said March 18, 2008 after China's premier Wen Jiabao blamed his supporters for the growing unrest. On March 20, 2008, he claimed he was powerless to stop anti-Chinese violence. The Dalai Lama March 28, 2008 rejected a series of allegations from the Chinese government, saying he does not seek the separation of Tibet and has no desire to "sabotage" the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Critics of the news and entertainment media coverage of the controversy charge that feudal Tibet was not as benevolent as popularly portrayed. The penal code before 1913 included forms of corporal punishment and capital punishment. In response, the Dalai Lama agreed many of old Tibet's practices needed reform. His predecessor had banned extreme punishments and the death penalty. And he had instituted key reforms like removal of debt inheritance before the Chinese invaded in 1951.
On June 4, 2008, Dalai Lama said that Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, a territory that is called Southern Tibet in mainland China and still claimed by the People's Republic of China, is part of India, acknowledging the validity of the McMahon Line as per the 1914 Simla Agreement signed by Tibetan and British representatives.
On October 25, 2008, the Dalai Lama announced he had given up negotiating for increased autonomy for Tibet within the People's Republic of China. He stated that from now on Tibetans themselves should decide how to continue a dialogue with the Chinese government.
Interfaith dialogue
On January 6 2009, at Gujarat’s Mahuva, the Dalai Lama inaugurated an interfaith "World Religions-Dialogue and Symphony" conference convened by Hindu preacher Morari Bapu. This conference explored « ways and means to deal with the discord among major religions », according to Morari Bapu.,
Social stances
The Dalai Lama endorsed the founding of the Dalai Lama Foundation in order to promote peace and ethics worldwide. The Dalai Lama is not operationally involved with this foundation, though he suggests some overall direction and his office is routinely briefed on its activities. He has also stated his belief that modern scientific findings take precedence over ancient religions.
Abortion
The Dalai Lama is generally opposed to abortion, although he has taken a nuanced position, as he explained to the New York Times:
Economics
Environment
He has also expressed his concern for environmental problems:
In recent years, he has been campaigning for wildlife conservation, including a religious ruling against wearing tiger and leopard skins as garments.
Firearms
In 2001, he discussed firearms and self-defense:
Sexuality
In his view, oral, manual and anal sex (both homosexual and heterosexual) is not acceptable in Buddhism or for Buddhists, but society otherwise should tolerate gays and lesbians. He explains in his book Beyond Dogma: "homosexuality, whether it is between men or between women, is not improper in itself. What is improper is the use of organs already defined as inappropriate for sexual contact". In 1997 he explained that the basis of that teaching was unknown to him and that he at least had some "willingness to consider the possibility that some of the teachings may be specific to a particular cultural and historic context". In a 1994 interview with OUT Magazine, the Dalai Lama explained "If someone comes to me and asks whether homosexuality is okay or not, I will ask 'What is your companion's opinion?'. If you both agree, then I think I would say 'if two males or two females voluntarily agree to have mutual satisfaction without further implication of harming others, then it is okay'". He has said that sex spelled fleeting satisfaction and trouble later, while chastity offered a better life and "more independence, more freedom." He says that problems arising from conjugal life could even lead to suicide or murder.
Buddhist vegetarianism
In Tibet, meat being the most common food, most monks have historically been omnivores, including the Dalai Lamas. After leaving Tibet the Dalai Lama has become a vegetarian and promotes vegetarianism.
Controversies
British journalist Christopher Hitchens criticised the Dalai Lama in 1998, questioned his alleged support for India's nuclear weapons testing, his statements about sexual misconduct, his suppression of Shugden worship, as well as his meeting Shoko Asahara, whose cult Aum Shinrikyo released sarin nerve gas in the Tokyo subway system. Hitchens proclaims that he "makes absurd pronouncements about sex and diet and, when on his trips to Hollywood fund-raisers, anoints major donors like Steven Segal and Richard Gere as holy."
Despite protest from China, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with the Dalai Lama in the Berlin Chancellery on 25 September 2007. The meeting was characterized as "private and informal talks" in order to avert potential retaliation by China such as the severance of trade ties. In response to the meeting, China cancelled meetings with German officials including Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries.
Several Tulkus or "reincarnate Lamas" have criticized Tenzin Gyatso. Two months after the 2008 Tibetan unrest and before the 2008 Beijing Olympics, news carried by Xinhua, the Chinese official government news agency, said that the twelfth Samding Dorje Phagmo (considered to be Tibet's "only female living Buddha,") who is also the vice-chairwoman of the standing committee of the Tibetan Autonomous Regional People's Congress, was quoted saying that "The sins of the Dalai Lama and his followers seriously violate the basic teachings and precepts of Buddhism and seriously damage traditional Tibetan Buddhism's normal order and good reputation." She told Xinhua that "Old Tibet was dark and cruel, the serfs lived worse than horses and cattle."
The Dalai Lama's talks in the UK, May, 2008, were attended by Chinese protestors who oppose Tibetan independence.
Dorje Shugden
During a teaching tour of the UK in May, 2008, there were demonstrations by the Western Shugden Society and Chinese students. The Western Shugden Society say they are protesting the ban of a prayer to Dorje Shugden, which they argue constitutes religious persecution. Similar protests occurred in Sydney when the Dalai Lama arrived in Australia in June 2008. The Dalai Lama says he had not banned the practice, but strongly discourages it as he feels it promotes the spirit as being more important than Buddha, and that it may encourage cult-like practices and sectarianism within Tibetan Buddhism. The Shugden worshipers in India say they are denied admission to hospitals, stores, and other social services provided by the local Tibetan community.
Recognition of the 17th Karmapa
Another controversy associated with the Dalai Lama is the recognition of the seventeenth Karmapa. To briefly sum up this controversy, two sides of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism have chosen two different Karmapas, leading to a deep division within the Kagyu school. The Dalai Lama has given his support to Urgyen Trinley Dorje, while supporters of Trinley Thaye Dorje claim that the Dalai Lama has no authority in the matter, nor is there a historical precedent for a Dalai Lama involving himself in an internal Kagyu dispute. In his 2001 address at the International Karma Kagyu Conference, Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche - one of the four Karma Kagyu regents - accused the Dalai Lama of adopting a "divide and conquer" policy to eliminate any potential political rivalry arising from within the Kagyu school. For his side, the Dalai Lama accepted the prediction letter presented by Tai Situ Rinpoche (another Karma Kagyu regent) as authentic, and therefore Tai Situ Rinpoche's recognition of Urgyen Trinley Dorje, also as correct. Tibet observer Julian Gearing suggests that there might be political motives to the Dalai Lama's decision: "The Dalai Lama gave his blessing to the recognition of [Urgyen] Trinley, eager to win over the formerly troublesome sect [the Kagyu school], and with the hope that the new Karmapa could play a role in a political solution of the 'Tibet Question.' ...If the allegations are to be believed, a simple nomad boy was turned into a political and religious pawn." However, according to Tsurphu Labrang, articles by Julian Gearing on this subject are biased, unverified and without crosschecking of basic facts.
CIA backing
In October 1998, The Dalai Lama's administration acknowledged that it received $1.7 million a year in the 1960s from the U.S. Government through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and also trained a resistance movement in Colorado (USA). When asked by CIA officer John Kenneth Knaus in 1995 whether the organization did a good or bad thing in providing its support, the Dalai Lama replied that though it helped the morale of those resisting the Chinese, "thousands of lives were lost in the resistance" and further, that "the U.S. Government had involved itself in his country's affairs not to help Tibet but only as a Cold War tactic to challenge the Chinese."
Western supporters
The Dalai Lama has been successful in gaining Western sympathy for Tibetan self-determination, including vocal support from numerous Hollywood celebrities, most notably the actors Richard Gere and Steven Seagal, as well as lawmakers from several major countries.
In 2005 and 2008
Time Magazine placed the Dalai Lama on its list of the world's 100 most influential people.
On 22 June 2006, the Parliament of Canada voted unanimously to make The Dalai Lama an honorary citizen of Canada. This marks the third of four times in history that the Government of Canada has bestowed this honour, the others being Raoul Wallenberg posthumously in 1985, Nelson Mandela in 2001 and Aung San Suu Kyi in 2007.
In September 2006, the United States Congress voted to award the Dalai Lama the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award which may be bestowed by the Legislative Branch of the United States government. The actual ceremony and awarding of the medal took place on 17 October 2007. The Chinese Government has reacted angrily to the award, which it merely refers to as "the extremely wrong arrangements". Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said: "It seriously violates the norm of international relations and seriously wounded the feelings of the Chinese people and interfered with China's internal affairs".
In June 2007, during an Australian tour, the Dalai Lama made public appearances in Perth, Bendigo, Melbourne, Geelong, Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane.
On December 6, 2008, Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France and current Chairman of the European Union met the Dalai Lama in Poland and appeased the situation after China postponed a China-EU summit.
Health
After suffering abdominal pain in the October 2008, the Dalai Lama was hospitalized in New Delhi. He had routine surgery on October 10 to remove a gallstone.
Four marks on the Dalai Lama's right arm are the consequence of a childhood smallpox vaccination and do not have any special significance. His right arm is uncovered in accordance with Buddhist tradition.
Possibility of retirement
In May 2007, Chhime Rigzing, a senior spokesman for the Tibetan spiritual leader's office, stated that the Dalai Lama wants to reduce his political burden as he moves into "retirement". However, in 2008 the Dalai Lama himself ruled out such a move, saying "There is no point, or question of retirement."
Rigzing stated "The political leadership will be transferred over a period of time but he will inevitably continue to be the spiritual leader because as the Dalai Lama, the issue of relinquishing the post does not arise".
The Dalai Lama announced he would like the elected Tibetan Parliament in Exile to have more responsibility over administration.
On 1 September 2007, China issued new rules controlling the selection of the next Dalai Lama, declaring that any reincarnation must bear the seal of approval by China's cabinet. These regulations could potentially result in one Dalai Lama approved by the Chinese government, and another chosen outside of Tibet. This would be similar to the present situation with the Panchen Lamas and Karmapas. In November 2007, Tashi Wangdi said the new rules mean nothing. "It will have no effect" said Wangdi. "You can't impose a Pope. You can't impose an imam, an archbishop, saints, any religion... you can't politically impose these things on people. It has to be a decision of the followers of that tradition. The Chinese can use their political power: force. Again, it's meaningless".
During the 2008 unrest in Tibet, the Dalai Lama called for calm and concurrently condemned Chinese violence. His call was met with Tibetan frustration at his methodology and goals and Chinese allegations that he himself incited the violence in order to ruin the 2008 Summer Olympics. In response to the continued violence perpetrated by Chinese as well as Tibetans, on March 18, 2008, the Dalai Lama threatened to step down, a move unprecedented in the history of the office of the Dalai Lama. Aides later clarified that this threat was predicated on a further escalation of violence, and that he did not presently have the intention of leaving his political or spiritual offices. Many Tibetan exiles expressed their support for the Dalai Lama, and the People's Republic of China intensified their campaign of attacks against him.
In the ensuing months, he held meetings aimed at discussing the future institution of the Dalai Lama, including:
[A] conclave, like in the Catholic Church, a woman as my successor, no Dalai Lama anymore, or perhaps even two, since the Communist Party has, astonishingly enough, given itself the right to be responsible for reincarnations.
He has clarified that his goal is to relinquish all temporal power and to no longer play a "pronounced spiritual role" and have a simpler monastic life.
Quotation
—The Dalai Lama.
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- The Wisdom of Forgiveness: Intimate Conversations and Journeys, coauthored with Victor Chan, Riverbed Books, 2004, ISBN 1-57322-277-1
- Tibetan Portrait: The Power of Compassion, photographs by Phil Borges with sayings by Tenzin Gyatso. ISBN 0-8478-1957-4
- The Heart of Compassion: A Practical Approach to a Meaningful Life, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin: Lotus Press, ISBN 0-940985-36-5
- Ancient Wisdom, Modern World: Ethics for the new millennium, Abacus Press, 2000, ISBN 0-349-11443-9
- My Tibet, coauthoured with Galen Rowell, ISBN 0-520-08948-0
- Sleeping, Dreaming, and Dying, edited by Francisco Varela, Wisdom Publications, ISBN 0-86171-123-8
- The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality, Morgan Road Books, 2005, ISBN 0-7679-2066-X
- How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving Relationships, translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D., Atria Books, 2005, ISBN 0-7432-6968-3
- Der Weg des Herzens. Gewaltlosigkeit und Dialog zwischen den Religionen (The Path of the Heart: Non-violence and the Dialogue among Religions), coauthored with Eugen Drewermann, Ph.D., Patmos Verlag, 2003, ISBN 3-4916-9078-1
- How to See Yourself As You Really Are, Translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Ph.D. ISBN 0-7432-9045-3
- MindScience: An East-West Dialogue, with contributions by Herbert Benson, Daniel Goleman, Robert Thurman, and Howard Gardner, Wisdom Publications, ISBN 0-86171-066-5
- The New Physics and Cosmology: Dialogues with the Dalai Lama, edited by Arthur Zajonc, with contributions by David Finkelstein, George Greenstein, Piet Hut, Tu Wei-ming, Anton Zeilinger, B. Alan Wallace and Thupten Jinpa, Oxford University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-195-15994-2
- The Power of Buddhism, coauthored with Jean-Claude Carriere ISBN 0717128032
- Dzogchen: Heart Essence of the Great Perfection, translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, Snow Lion Publications, 2000, ISBN 1559392193
- Orphans of the Cold War, America and the Tibetan Struggle for Survival, John Kenneth Knaus, Public Affairs, New York. ISBN 1-891620-18-5 1999
- Violence and Compassion: Dialogues on Life Today (With Jean-Claude Carriere), Doubleday, 2001. ISBN 978-0385-50144-6
Awards and honors
The Dalai Lama has received numerous awards over his spiritual and political career. On 22 June 2006, he became one of only four people ever to be recognized with Honorary Citizenship by the Governor General of Canada. On 28 May 2005, he received the Christmas Humphreys Award from the Buddhist Society in the United Kingdom. Most notable was the Nobel Peace Prize, presented in Oslo on 10 December 1989 (see below).
Other notable awards and honors include:
Nobel Peace Prize
On 10 December 1989 the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The committee recognized his efforts in "the struggle of the liberation of Tibet and the efforts for a peaceful resolution instead of using violence." The chairman of the Nobel committee said that the award was "in part a tribute to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi."
In his acceptance speech the Dalai Lama criticized China for using force against student protesters during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. He said their efforts were not in vain. His speech focused on the importance of the continued use of non-violence and his desire to maintain a dialogue with China to try and resolve the situation.
Filmography
Examples of films recently made about Tenzin Gyatso:
See also
Further reading
- Mullin, Glenn H. (2001). The Fourteen Dalai Lamas: A Sacred Legacy of Reincarnation, pp. 452-515. Clear Light Publishers. Santa Fe, New Mexico. ISBN 1-57416-092-3.
External links
- Original reports and pictures from The Times
- Charlie Rose interview, 16 November 2005
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