Dalai lama biography holiness

In addition, His Holiness has lately spoken of his commitment to creating greater awareness and interest to the value of ancient Indian knowledge among young Indians today. His Holiness is convinced that the rich ancient Indian understanding of the workings of the mind and emotions, as well as the techniques of mental training, such as meditation, developed by Indian traditions, are of great relevance today.

Since India has a long history of logic and reasoning, he is confident that its ancient knowledge, viewed from a secular, academic perspective, can be combined with modern education. He considers that India is, in fact, specially placed to achieve this combination of ancient and modern modes of knowing in a fruitful way so that a more integrated and ethically grounded way of being in the world can be promoted within contemporary society.

The next day they left, only to return a few days later as a formal deputation. This time they brought with them a number of possessions that had belonged to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, together with several similar items that did not belong to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama. This more or less convinced the search party that they had found the new incarnation.

It was not long before the boy from Taktser was recognized to be the new Dalai Lama. The boy, Lhamo Thondup, was first taken to Kumbum monastery. However, there were two consolations to life at the monastery. The second consolation was the fact that his teacher was a very kind old monk, who often seated his young disciple inside his gown. Lhamo Thondup was eventually to be reunited with his parents and together they were to journey to Lhasa.

This did not come about for some eighteen months, however, because Ma Bufeng, the local Chinese Muslim warlord, refused to let the boy-incarnate be taken to Lhasa without payment of a large ransom. It was not until the summer of that he left for the capital, Lhasa, in a large party consisting of his parents, his brother Lobsang Samden, members of the search party, and other pilgrims.

The journey to Lhasa took three months. Lhamo Thondup's party was received by a group of senior government officials and escorted to Doeguthang plain, two miles outside the gates of the capital. The next day, a ceremony was held in which Lhamo Thondup was conferred the spiritual leadership of his people. Following this, he was taken with Lobsang Samden to the Norbulingka, the summer palace of the Dalai Lamas, which lay just to the west of Lhasa.

During the winter of , Lhamo Thondup was taken to the Potala Palace, where he was officially installed as the spiritual leader of Tibet. Soon after, the newly recognized Dalai Lama was taken to the Jokhang temple where he was inducted as a novice monk in a ceremony known as taphue, meaning cutting of the hair. His Holiness then began to receive his primary education.

The curriculum, derived from the Nalanda tradition, consisted of five major and five minor subjects. The major subjects included logic, fine arts, Sanskrit grammar, and medicine, but the greatest emphasis was given to Buddhist philosophy which was further divided into a further five categories: Prajnaparamita, the perfection of wisdom; Madhyamika, the philosophy of the middle Way; Vinaya, the canon of monastic discipline; Abidharma, metaphysics; and Pramana, logic and epistemology.

The five minor subjects included poetry, drama, astrology, composition and synonyms. On the day before the opera festival in the summer of , His Holiness was just coming out of the bathroom at the Norbulingka when he felt the earth beneath his feet begin to move. As the scale of this natural phenomenon began to sink in, people naturally began to say that it was more than a simple earthquake: it was an omen.

Two days later, Regent Tatra received a telegram from the Governor of Kham, based in Chamdo, reporting a raid on a Tibetan post by Chinese soldiers. Already the previous autumn there had been cross-border incursions by Chinese Communists, who stated their intention of liberating Tibet from the hands of imperialist aggressors. If that were so, I was well aware that Tibet was in grave danger for our army comprised no more than 8, officers and men.

Soon, Lhasa would fall to the invaders. Political Retirement On 14 March His Holiness wrote to the Assembly of Tibetan People's Deputies Tibetan Parliament-in-exile requesting it to relieve him of his temporal authority, since according to the Charter of the Tibetans in Exile, he was technically still the head of state. He announced that he was ending the custom by which the Dalai Lamas had wielded spiritual and political authority in Tibet.

He intended, he made clear, to resume the status of the first four Dalai Lamas in concerning himself only with spiritual affairs. He confirmed that the democratically elected leadership would assume complete formal responsibility for Tibetan political affairs. The formal office and household of the Dalai Lamas, the Gaden Phodrang, would henceforth only fulfil that function.

On 29 May His Holiness signed the document formally transferring his temporal authority to the democratically elected leader. In so doing he formally put an end to the year old tradition of the Dalai Lamas functioning as both the spiritual and temporal head of Tibet. The Future As far back as , His Holiness made clear that whether or not a reincarnation of the Dalai Lama should be recognised was a decision for the Tibetan people, the Mongolians and people of the Himalayan regions to make.

However, in the absence of clear guidelines, there was a clear risk that, should the concerned public express a strong wish to recognise a future Dalai Lama, vested interests could exploit the situation for political ends. Therefore, on 24 September , clear guidelines for the recognition of the next Dalai Lama were published, leaving no room for doubt or deception.

His statement also explored the different ways in which the recognition of a successor could be done. They should consult the various heads of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions and the reliable oath-bound Dharma Protectors who are linked inseparably to the lineage of the Dalai Lamas. They should seek advice and direction from these concerned parties and carry out the procedures of search and recognition in accordance with their instruction.

His Holiness has stated that he will leave clear written instructions about this. The five points of the plan were as follows: Transformation of the whole of Tibet into a zone of peace. His Holiness also stated that he hoped that Tibet, comprising of the three traditional provinces of U-Tsang, Amdo and Kham, would be federal and democratic. In May , the reforms called for by His Holiness saw the realisation of a truly democratic administration in exile for the Tibetan community.

In the same year, exile Tibetans on the Indian sub-continent and in more than 33 other countries elected 46 members to the expanded Eleventh Tibetan Assembly on a one-man one-vote basis. The Assembly, in its turn, elected the new members of the cabinet. In September , a further major step in democratisation was taken when the Tibetan electorate directly elected the Kalon Tripa, the senior-most minister of the Cabinet.

The Kalon Tripa in turn appointed his own cabinet who had to be approved by the Tibetan Assembly. In March 10, , His Holiness spoke of his devolvement from the political leadership and stressed that the time has reaped for the new political leader. Subsequently, In March 14, His Holiness explicated in details on his plan of devolving the political leadership in his message to the Tibetan Parliament Assembly.

Draft Amendments to the Charter of Tibetans were prepared and were put to deliberation in the national general meeting of Tibetans held in Dharamsala in May Based on the recommendations of the general meeting, the Tibetan Parliament convened an additional session from 25 — 28 May to give its final approval to amend the Charter. In May 29, , His Holiness the Dalai Lama rectified the amendment to the Charters of Tibetans where all the powers are amended and divided among the elected leadership.

He envisaged that Tibet would become a sanctuary; a zone of peace at the heart of Asia, where all sentient beings can exist in harmony and the delicate environment can be preserved. China has so far failed to respond positively to the various peace proposals put forward by His Holiness. In his address to members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 15 June , His Holiness made another detailed proposal elaborating on the last point of the Five Point Peace Plan.

He proposed talks between the Chinese and Tibetans leading to a self-governing democratic political entity for all three provinces of Tibet. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is a man of peace. In he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent struggle for the liberation of Tibet. He has consistently advocated policies of non-violence, even in the face of extreme aggression.

He also became the first Nobel Laureate to be recognized for his concern for global environmental problems. His Holiness has travelled to more than 62 countries spanning 6 continents. He has met with presidents, prime ministers and crowned rulers of major nations. He has held dialogues with the heads of different religions and many well-known scientists.

Dalai lama biography holiness

Since His Holiness has received over 84 awards, honorary doctorates, prizes, etc. His Holiness has also authored more than 72 books. His Holiness describes himself as a simple Buddhist monk. Firstly, as a human being, His Holiness is committed to the promotion of human values such as compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment and self-discipline.

He says that as human beings we are all the same. We all want happiness and do not want suffering. Even people who do not believe in religion can benefit if they incorporate these human values into their lives. His Holiness refers to such human values as secular ethics or universal values. He is committed to talking about the importance of such values and sharing them with everyone he meets.

Despite philosophical differences between them, all major world religions have the same potential to create good human beings. It is therefore important for all religious traditions to respect one another and recognize the value of their respective traditions. The idea that there is one truth and one religion is relevant to the individual practitioner.

However, with regard to the wider community, we need to recognise that there are several truths and several religions. In addition, His Holiness has lately spoken of his commitment to reviving awareness of the value of ancient Indian knowledge among young Indians today. His Holiness is convinced that the rich ancient Indian understanding of the workings of the mind and emotions, as well as the techniques of mental training, such as meditation, developed by Indian traditions, are of great relevance today.

Since India has a long history of logic and reasoning, he is confident that its ancient knowledge, viewed from a secular, academic perspective, can be combined with modern education. He considers that India is, in fact, specially placed to achieve this combination of ancient and modern modes of knowing in a fruitful way so that a more integrated and ethically grounded way of being in the world can be promoted within contemporary society.

Fourthly, In addition, His Holiness has lately spoken of his commitment to creating greater awareness and interest to the value of ancient Indian knowledge among young Indians today. His given name was Pema Dorjee. He did his primary studies of reading and writing Tibetan script with Gya-Ton Tsenda Pa-La, and then at the age of fourteen, he took his novice vows from Khenchen Drupa Sherab, abbot of Narthang monastery, who gave him the religious name of Gedun Drupa.

Latter, in the year , he took the Gelong vows full ordination from the abbot.