it has been widely reported that the 14th Dalai Lama has announced he will retire from political life within days. He will, of course, remain the Dalai Lama, but he will no longer be the head of the Tibetan parliament in exile. He will continue in his role as a spiritual leader.
A speech by the 75-year-old Nobel prize winner, posted on the internet, said he would ask the Tibetan parliament in exile to make the necessary constitutional changes to relieve him of his political role. The Dalai Lama is one of the world’s best known political figures and his office traditionally combines spiritual and political roles. But Tenzin Gyatso, the current Dalai Lama, has expressed a desire to live as a simple monk.
The Most Famous Buddhist
This will be the formal end of his five decades as head of state, but he has always been known for far more than that. To his admirers, he is an icon and guru. The Dalai Lama says he is giving up his role as Tibet's political leader, and Tibetans need a leader freely elected by them.
He made his remarks in India, on the Tibetan National Uprising Day, on the 52nd anniversary of fleeing Tibet after a failed uprising against the Chinese when China took control of Tibet back in 1950. His announcement came on the anniversary of the failed 1959 Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule that led to his dramatic escape through the Himalayas into India.
The Dalai Lama will keep his other job as Tibet's spiritual leader. He remains the most well-known Buddhist on the planet and is regarded as the reincarnation of the Buddha. He has said he might choose his successor before he dies. Historically, senior lamas have identified the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation after his death. Chinese leaders have apparently claimed authority to choose his reincarnation.
The 14th Dalai Lama
The current Dalai Lama was born on July 6, 1935, to a farming family in northeastern Tibet. At the age of two, Lhamo Dhondup was recognized as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama. He was formally recognized as the 14th Dalai Lama in 1950, at the age of 15. Dalai Lamas are believed to be manifestations of the Bodhisattva of Compassion and patron saint of Tibet. Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings who have postponed their own nirvana and chosen to take rebirth in order to serve humanity.
His monastic education started at age six and included logic, Tibetan art and culture, Sanskrit, medicine, and Buddhist philosophy, plus poetry, music, drama, and astrology. He graduated with honours and was awarded the Geshe Lharampa degree, the highest-level degree equivalent to a doctorate of Buddhist philosophy.
In 1950 he was called upon to assume full political power after China's invasion of Tibet in 1949. In 1954, he went to Beijing for peace talks with Mao Zedong and Chou Enlai. In 1959, he was forced to escape into exile. Since then he has been living in Dharamsala, in northern India, and traveling the world to meet other political leaders and teach Tibetan Buddhism.
Awards and Honours
In 2006, he became one of only five people ever to be recognised with Honorary Citizenship by the Governor General of Canada. After the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Dalai Lama the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent struggle for the liberation of Tibet. He also became the first Nobel Laureate to be recognized for his concern for global environmental problems. He has received over 84 awards, honorary doctorates, prizes, and so on, in recognition of his message of peace, non-violence, inter-religious understanding, universal responsibility, and compassion. His Holiness has also authored more than 72 books but he describes himself as a simple Buddhist monk.
The Movies
Seven Years in Tibet, a 1997 film starring Brad Pitt, set largely in the holy city of Lhasa, Tibet, depicts the Dalai Lama from the time he was still a boy until he escapes to India. Kundun is a 1997 epic biographical film directed by Martin Scorsese, based on the life and writings of the 14th Dalai Lama, showing the two-year-old boy being visited by searching lamas, the test to confirm his identity as the reborn Buddha of Compassion, includes his meeting with Mao, when he made clear his view that "religion is poison", and ends after the Chinese make clear their intention to kill him, and the Dalai Lama flees to India.
