Renounced Political And Spiritual Leader: The Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama is a renounced political and spiritual leader for Tibet and for Buddhism. The current Dalai Lama is the 14th Dalai Lama to exist. He was born, Lhamo Dhondup on July 6, 1935. The Dalai Lama was not only the embodiment of a living god, but Tibet itself (Marcello 1). Religious training at the early age was customary in Tibet. While a lot of families had a lot of children, it was normal for families to send one or two children to monasteries, where the children were sheltered, clothed, and taught to read and write and the Buddhist Dharma, the holy teachings of the Buddha. Before Lhamo Dhondup was born, his family was going through a rough time; all thirteen horses they owned were killed by a plague, a storm of hail killed all their crops, and his father was struck with a mysterious disease, leaving him to faint every time he …show more content…
Lhamo Dhondup was the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet. To citizens of Tibet, the Dalai Lama is more than just a ruler. He is a living Buddha, a being that has reached enlightenment. They also believe him to be the “manifestation of the bodhisattva of compassion, Chenrezi or
Avalokiteshvara, whose head exploded into one thousand fragments when he realized the enormity of his task of working toward the happiness of all sentient beings. It is the vow by which the Dalai Lama lives” (Marcello 20). Lhamo and the high Lamas started their journey, taking the young boy to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. They arrived on October 8, 1939 at Norbulingka, the Dalai Lamas summer palace, and he would remain here until his formal instillation and move to Potala, the winter palace and seat of the Tibetan government (Marcello 35). At the age of ten-years-old the Dalai Lama life was full of education and ritual. He studied Buddhism enlightenment in the history of Tibet. He lived his life in one palace or another never leaving Lhasa. He craved opportunity