Biography

His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama (born Lhamo Döndrub, also known by his religious name, Tenzin Gyatso, shortened from Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso), is Tibet's head of state as well as the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. He was recognized at age 2 as the reincarnation of Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. In November 1950, His Holiness assumed full power of Tibet. He completed his Doctorate of Buddhist Philosophy in 1959, the same year that China attacked Tibet; after which he escaped to Dharamsala, India, where he has since led the Tibetan government in exile. On December 10th, 1989, His Holiness accepted the Nobel Peace Prize "on behalf of the oppressed everywhere and all those who struggle for freedom and work for world peace and the people of Tibet." In his acceptance statement, he declared, "This prize reaffirms our conviction that with truth, courage, and determination as our weapons, Tibet will be liberated. Our struggle must remain nonviolent and free of hatred."

- IMDb mini biography by: Robb Hand

As early as 1939, Tanchu, who would bear the monastic name Tenzin Gyatzu, was counted among a group of select Tibetan monks, among whom he was recognized as the Dalai Lama through a series of tests that he passed. The Dalai Lama has been the Tibetans' highest priest and secular dignitary since the 14th century. Dalai means "sea of knowledge" and Lama means "priest" in Tibetan. According to Tibetan Buddhists, the Dalai Lama is the recurring incarnation of the holy Avalokitesvara, the Bodhisattva of Mercy, and thus the living incarnation of one of the aspects said to be the universal Buddha spirit. The Dalai Lama's reincarnation lineage goes back to King Songtsen Gampo, who is considered an emanation of Avalokitesvara. This is revealed at the death of his previous reincarnation carrier in another boy, who can be recognized by certain characteristics.

On February 22, 1940, at the age of 4, the chosen one was enthroned and officially proclaimed the 14th Dalai Lama. This also gave him full political power over the Tibetan religious state. In 1950, Chinese troops invaded Tibet. As a result of the Tibetan uprising against Chinese occupation in 1959, the Dalai Lama fled Tibet under dramatic circumstances from Mao Tse-tung's troops to India, where he arrived at the end of March. The Dalai Lama has lived in exile in India ever since. From Dharamsala in the northern Indian Himalayas, he calls for Tibet's independence from China and calls for non-violent resistance against the Chinese occupiers. His commitment is to the approximately six million Tibetans living under Chinese rule as well as the approximately one hundred thousand Tibetan refugees, to whom he gives identity, support and hope for improvement. The Dalai Lama's commitment to humanity and peaceful and non-violent resistance against China was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo in 1989. On numerous trips that took him all over the world, the Buddhist religious leader proclaimed the message of love, peace and tolerance.

As an overarching figure of integration, the Dalai Lama also developed into a symbol of humanity and interreligious understanding based on Buddhist wisdom for Hindus, Christians and non-believers. In June 2005, the Dalai Lama was awarded the Hessian Peace Prize by the Albert Osswald Foundation in the Hessian state parliament. At the same time, on June 16, 2005, the Dalai Lama awarded the "Light of Truth" prize to Otto Graf Lambsdorff and the former Czech President Vaclav Havel, who had campaigned for the freedom of Tibet. On the occasion of this trip to Europe, the Dalai Lama also visited Italy in the summer of 2005, where, based on the special autonomy status of the South Tyrolean region, he studied an autonomy solution for Tibet, which had long been part of the religious leader's realpolitik goal in his negotiations with the Chinese government counts. On September 23, 2007, he arrived in Berlin for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel, although there had been clear criticism of China beforehand. The government in Beijing criticized Merkel and then canceled various meetings with German government representatives.

From May 14th to 20th, 2008, the Dalai Lama visited several cities, including Bochum, Mönchengladbach, Nuremberg, Bamberg and Berlin, following an invitation from the Tibet Initiative Germany under the slogan "No peace without human rights". In 2009, he and 17 Nobel Prize winners co-signed a petition addressed to US President Barack Obama to abandon nuclear weapons. He resigned from his political positions in 2011; In the same year, the lawyer Lobsang Sangay was elected as the new prime minister of the Tibetan government in exile. In October 2020, His Holiness stated that he did not support Tibetan independence and hoped to visit China as a Nobel laureate.

- IMDb mini biography by: Christian_Wolfgang_Barth