[257], In 2007, the Dalai Lama received the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award bestowed by American lawmakers,[258] The Chinese government declared this would have "an extremely serious impact" on relations with the United States. He missed giving his annual teaching in Bodhgaya. [145] Over the ensuing decades, as of 2014 at least 28 dialogues between the Dalai Lama and panels of various world-renowned scientists have followed, held in various countries and covering diverse themes, from the nature of consciousness to cosmology and from quantum mechanics to the neuroplasticity of the brain. He sent a delegation to Beijing, which ratified the Seventeen Point Agreement for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet. "I am the messenger of India's ancient thoughts the world over." In 1990, he met a delegation of Jewish teachers in Dharamshala for an extensive interfaith dialogue. The two remained friends until Harrer's death in 2006. Vol. [181], The Dalai Lama has referred to himself as a Marxist and has articulated criticisms of capitalism. The meaning of the word was different than what we understand today. [203], In 2006, the Dalai Lama has expressed concern at "reports of violence and discrimination against" LGBT people and urged "respect, tolerance and the full recognition of human rights for all". … Mr Wu was merely a passive spectator. [citation needed] The Dalai Lama has indicated that he wishes to return to Tibet only if the People's Republic of China agrees not to make any precondition for his return. 'Redcliff Village'), at the edge of the traditional Tibetan region of Amdo in Qinghai Province. Buddhism, Science and Compassion. The Dalai Lama’s older brother Gyalo Thondup (or Thondop), seen here on left with Deng Xiaoping, was often the point person in both public and private talks with the Chinese government about Tibet and the Dalai Lama’s possible return. The US legislation has even gone to the length of lending its support to the role the Dalai Lama can play in choosing his successor, the 15th Dalai Lama. My life is outside Tibet, therefore my reincarnation will logically be found outside. In the concept of republic, ethnic minorities are like Tibetans, The Mongols, Manchus, and Xinjiang Uyghurs, we can live in harmony".[176]. [50], In October 1950 the army of the People's Republic of China marched to the edge of the Dalai Lama's territory and sent a delegation after defeating a legion of the Tibetan army in warlord-controlled Kham. For example, he has stated that the institution of the Dalai Lama might not be needed any more. He also said that by nature, women are more compassionate "based on their biology and ability to nurture and birth children". The Dalai Lama is the 14th reincarnation (Picture: Getty) About 100,000 Tibetans live in India and many worry that their fight for a genuinely autonomous homeland would end with the Dalai Lama. Despite historical records of eyewitness accounts, China's Kuomintang government later presented false claims to have ratified the Dalai Lama, and that a Kuomintang representative, General Wu Zhongxin, presided over the ceremony. [167] He has also clarified that in certain cases abortion could be considered ethically acceptable "if the unborn child will be retarded or if the birth will create serious problems for the parent", which could only be determined on a case-by-case basis. The child said "Sera Lama, Sera Lama" and spoke with him in a Lhasa accent, in a dialect the boy's mother could not understand. They knew that if he was declared to be the Dalai Lama, the Chinese government would insist on sending a large army escort with him, which would then stay in Lhasa and refuse to budge. London and New York: Yale University Press, 2011.'. [20][21][22], Following reported signs and visions, three search teams were sent out to the north-east, the east, and the south-east to locate the new incarnation when the boy who was to become the 14th Dalai Lama was about two years old. [96], Despite becoming 80 years old in 2015 he maintains a busy international lecture and teaching schedule. Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S., Jr. (2013). [145] Engle then started work on arranging a second dialogue, this time with neuroscientists in California, and the discussions from the first event were edited and published as Mind and Life's first book, "Gentle Bridges: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on the Sciences of Mind". [6] As with the recognition process for the 13th Dalai Lama, a golden urn selection process was not used. However, he also says that in modern times all common, consensual sexual practices that do not cause harm to others are ethically acceptable and that society should accept and respect people who are gay or transgender from a secular point of view. [199] In a 1994 interview with OUT Magazine, the Dalai Lama clarified his personal opinion on the matter by saying, "If someone comes to me and asks whether homosexuality is okay or not, I will ask 'What is your companion's opinion?' [126], The Dalai Lama met Pope Paul VI at the Vatican in 1973. The eldest was his sister Tsering Dolma, eighteen years his senior. He says he considers India the master and Tibet its disciple, as great scholars went from India to Tibet to teach Buddhism. "Russia: How Many Missionaries Now Denied Visas'." [243] The Dalai Lama has been successful in gaining Western support for himself and the cause of greater Tibetan autonomy, including vocal support from numerous Hollywood celebrities, most notably the actors Richard Gere and Steven Seagal, as well as lawmakers from several major countries. True!" It was only when he went on his trip to Beijing that he learned about Marxist theory from his interpreter Baba Phuntsog Wangyal. The Dalai Lama refers to himself as a follower of these Nalanda masters,[113] in fact he often asserts that 'Tibetan Buddhism' is based on the Buddhist tradition of Nalanda monastery in ancient India,[114] since the texts written by those 17 Nalanda pandits or masters, to whom he has composed a poem of invocation,[115] were brought to Tibet and translated into Tibetan when Buddhism was first established there and have remained central to the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism ever since. The Chinese government most probably will appoint another Dalai Lama, like it did with the Panchen Lama. [87] In the 1970s, the Paramount leader Deng Xiaoping set China's sole return requirement to the Dalai Lama as that he "must [come back] as a Chinese citizen ... that is, patriotism". Lague, David. He said he hoped that the Chinese-recognised Panchen Lama (Gyaincain Norbu) studied well under the guidance of a good teacher, adding that there were instances in Tibetan Buddhist tradition, of a reincarnated lama taking more than one manifestation. [24] He gave Kewtsang the names of three boys whom he had discovered and identified as candidates. [1][2] He was selected as the tulku of the 13th Dalai Lama in 1937 and formally recognized as the 14th Dalai Lama in a public declaration near the town of Bumchen in 1939. Unfortunately, in 2019, the 14th Dalai Lama stated publicly that because of the feudal origin of the Dalai Lama reincarnation system, the line of succession should come to an end. In 2013 an 'academic dialogue' with a Chinese scientist, a Tibetan 'living Buddha' and a Professor of Religion took place in Beijing. He has met the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Robert Runcie, and other leaders of the Anglican Church in London, Gordon B. Hinckley, who at the time was the 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. (21 December 2015). [120], He has frequently visited and lectured at colleges and universities,[121][122][123] some of which have conferred honorary degrees upon him. [182][183][184], I am not only a socialist but also a bit leftist, a communist. [252], In 1994, he received the Freedom Medal from the Roosevelt Institute. [179] This attracted public attention when, during a visit to the White House, he was offered a vegetarian menu but declined by replying, as he is known to do on occasion when dining in the company of non-vegetarians, "I'm a Tibetan monk, not a vegetarian". Years later, in 2011, the Dalai Lama issued an official statement concerning his reincarnation giving exact signs on how the next one should be chosen, as well as the place of rebirth. The Dalai Lama has said that his first language was "a broken Xining language which was (a dialect of) the Chinese language", a form of Central Plains Mandarin, and his family did not speak the Tibetan language. According to the Tibet Information Network, "authorities in Tibet have begun banning photographs of the exiled Dalai Lama in monasteries and public places, according to reports from a monitoring group and a Tibetan newspaper. So when the Dalai Lama leaves this plane of existence, it’s highly likely a 15th incarnation will be chosen by the godless CCP. [228], The Dorje Shugden Controversy reappeared in the Gelug school by the publication of the Yellow Book in 1976, containing stories about wrathful acts of Dorje Shugden against Gelugpas who also practiced Nyingma teachings. Nobody knew about it at first because his Holiness suddenly stopped appearing in public. [151], Apart from time spent teaching Buddhism and fulfilling responsibilities to his Tibetan followers, the Dalai Lama has probably spent, and continues to spend, more of his time and resources investigating the interface between Buddhism and science through the ongoing series of Mind and Life dialogues and its spin-offs than on any other single activity. [187] Moreover, he believes one flaw of historically "Marxist regimes" is that they place too much emphasis on destroying the ruling class, and not enough on compassion. They are capitalists.[182]. [73], The Dalai Lama is a target of Chinese state sponsored hacking. The purpose of reincarnation is to fulfil the previous [incarnation’s] life task. And also this is not a political matter," he said in the interview. 7. He held an old mala that had belonged to the 13th Dalai Lama, and the boy Lhamo Dhondup, aged two, approached and asked for it. "[210][211], In September 2018, speaking at a conference in Malmö, Sweden home to a large immigrant population, the Dalai Lama said "I think Europe belongs to the Europeans", but also that Europe was "morally responsible" for helping "a refugee really facing danger against their life". His voicemail message just said, “Finally, I met the One.” HHDL’s aides and close students thought “the One” must mean that their teacher had reached some higher stage of enlightenment. He supported the refounding of 200 monasteries and nunneries in an attempt to preserve Tibetan Buddhist teachings and the Tibetan way of life. As a result of this, in a 2004 interview with Time, the 14th Dalai Lama stated: “The institution of the Dalai Lama, and whether it should continue or not, is up to the Tibetan people. In Tibetan Buddhism, a lama is one of a lineage of reincarnated spiritual leaders, the most famous of which is the Dalai Lama. "[162] He has also cited examples of archaic Buddhist ideas he has abandoned himself on this basis. [116], As examples of other teachings, in London in 1984 he was invited to give teachings on the Twelve Links of Dependent Arising, and on Dzogchen, which he gave at Camden Town Hall; in 1988 he was in London once more to give a series of lectures on Tibetan Buddhism in general, called 'A Survey of the Paths of Tibetan Buddhism'. The Dalai Lama is one of the most beloved and inspirational figures of the last century. [226] In 2008, the Dalai Lama said for the first time that the territory India claims and administers as part of Arunachal Pradesh is part of India, citing the disputed 1914 Simla Accord. [88], The Dalai Lama celebrated his seventieth birthday on 6 July 2005. For the past few centuries, the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama have been reincarnating in tandem based on a longstanding spiritual tradition. H.H. If they feel it is not relevant, then it will cease and there will be no 15th Dalai Lama. The 14th Dalai Lama has appeared in several non-fiction films including: He has been depicted as a character in various other movies and television programs including: Two characters in the animation series' Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra were named after him. In terms of social economy theory, I am a Marxist. Plainclothes police went to hotels and restaurants in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, on 22 and 23 April and ordered Tibetans to remove pictures of the Dalai Lama ..."[245] The ban continues in many locations throughout Tibet today. [39], In 1959, at the age of 23, he took his final examination at Lhasa's Jokhang Temple during the annual Monlam or Prayer Festival. Center for Agriculture and Rural Development Mutually Reinforcing Institutions (CARD MRI), Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation, Inc. (AIDFI), This page was last edited on 4 December 2020, at 00:24. Chiang Kai Shek ordered Ma Bufang to put his Muslim soldiers on alert for an invasion of Tibet in 1942. "Naturally my next life is entirely up to me. "Let the 21st century be a century of tolerance and dialogue. [85], In 2016, there were demands from Indian citizens and politicians of different political parties to confer the Dalai Lama the prestigious Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honour of India, which has only been awarded to a non-Indian citizen twice in its history. November 25, 2020 Thekchen Chöling, Dharamsala, HP, India - His Holiness the Dalai Lama was invited to take part in a discussion this morning with members of the Einstein Forum, a foundation in the state of Brandenburg, … He did no more than present a ceremonial scarf, as was done by the others, including the British Representative. The Chinese authorities reverted to the ancient Qing Dynasty’s Golden Urn process to select Gyaincain Norbu instead. [143] Engle accepted, and Varela assisted him to assemble his team of six specialist scientists for the first 'Mind and Life' dialogue on the cognitive sciences,[144] which was eventually held with the Dalai Lama at his residence in Dharamsala in 1987. On 6 July 2020, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, will celebrate his 85th birthday. [23][24], The 14th Dalai Lama claims that at the time, the village of Taktser stood right on the "real border" between the region of Amdo and China. [117] Again in London in 1996 he taught the Four Noble Truths, the basis and foundation of Buddhism accepted by all Buddhists, at the combined invitation of 27 different Buddhist organisations of all schools and traditions belonging to the Network of Buddhist Organisations UK. The first Dalai Lama, Gedun Drupa was born in 1391 and his reincarnation, the second Dalai Lama, Gedun Gyatso was born in 1475. From the time of the 5th Dalai Lama to 1959, the central government of Tibet, the Ganden Phodrang, invested the position of Dalai Lama with temporal duties.[4][5]. He followed with a joke about his current success being due to his own appearance. [234][235], The Dalai Lama places highly in global surveys of the world's most admired men, ranking with Pope Francis as among the world's religious leaders cited as the most admired. For more than 600 years since Gedun Drub, a series of unmistaken reincarnations has been recognised in the lineage of the Dalai Lama. In his essay "The Ethic of Compassion" (1999), the Dalai Lama expresses his belief that if we only reserve compassion for those that we love, we are ignoring the responsibility of sharing these characteristics of respect and empathy with those we do not have relationships with, which cannot allow us to "cultivate love." Here are the details of this comparison that ends up landing on the square of immigration! [154] On the Western side, university and research programmes initiated by these dialogues and funded with millions of dollars in grants from the Dalai Lama Trust include the Emory-Tibet Partnership,[155] Stanford School of Medicine's Centre for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARES)[156] and the Centre for Investigating Healthy Minds,[157] amongst others. 14th Dalai Lama, title of the Tibetan Buddhist monk who was the 14th Dalai Lama but the first to become a global figure, largely for his advocacy of Buddhism and of the rights of the people of Tibet. [189] Around 2005, he started campaigning for wildlife conservation, including by issuing a religious ruling against wearing tiger and leopard skins as garments. [61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69] China sporadically bans images of the Dalai Lama and arrests citizens for owning photos of him in Tibet. The most notable films, Kundun and Seven Years in Tibet (both released in 1997), portrayed "an idyllic pre-1950 Tibet, with a smiling, soft-spoken Dalai Lama at the helm – a Dalai Lama sworn to non-violence": portrayals the Chinese government decried as ahistorical. Conkin, Dennis. [127] He has since visited Israel three times, and in 2006 met the Chief Rabbi of Israel. [137] As the institute's Cofounder and the Honorary chairman he has personally presided over and participated in all its dialogues, which continue to expand worldwide.[152]. This vision was also interpreted to refer to a large monastery with a gilded roof and turquoise tiles, and a twisting path from it to a hill to the east, opposite which stood a small house with distinctive eaves. Marxism is concerned with the distribution of wealth on an equal basis and the equitable utilisation of the means of production. [124][125], Dozens of videos of recorded webcasts of the Dalai Lama's public talks on general subjects for non-Buddhists like peace, happiness and compassion, modern ethics, the environment, economic and social issues, gender, the empowerment of women and so forth can be viewed in his office's archive. About 10,000 Tibetan refugees, monks and foreign tourists gathered outside his home. The Dalai Lama donated the 50,000 Deutsche Mark prize to a German charity active in Tibet. The events of the Great Thirteenth's reign are critical to understanding today's …