Lama was given the name Bstan ’dzin rgya mtsho when
he became a monk. Bstan ’dzinmeans “holder of the
Buddha’s doctrine.” Out of respect, Tibetans call him
Sku ’dun (pronounced “Kundun”), which means lit-
erally “the presence before us.” The regent, Rva streng
(Reting) rin po che, guided a search party to the north-
eastern region of Tibet after a sign given after death by
the thirteenth Dalai Lama, whose body had miracu-
lously turned to face in that direction. A house like the
future fourteenth Dalai Lama’s had also appeared on
the surface of the sacred lake. When special marks were
observed on Hla mo don grub’s body and he was able
to distinguish items belonging to the thirteenth Dalai
Lama from among similar items, Rva streng rin po che
declared him the reincarnation. After payment of a
large ransom to the local Chinese warlord, Rva streng
had the young boy brought to Lhasa, where he was en-
throned in 1940 at the age of five.
The fourteenth Dalai Lama divided his early years
between the Potala and the Nor bu gling kha summer
palace, studying Buddhism under the supervision of
learned Dge lugs pa monks. This changed abruptly in
1950 when, at the age of fifteen, a political crisis forced
the Tibetan government to ask him to assume both po-
litical and spiritual authority.
In China, decades of civil war and instability ended
with the dominance of the Chinese Communist Party
led by Mao Zedong. Mao immediately declared Tibet
an integral part of the Chinese motherland and China’s
Red Army marched in, easily defeating the badly
equipped Tibetans in 1950 at Chamdo, on the tradi-
tional border between central and eastern Tibet. In
desperation, Tibet’s political leaders invested the
young Dalai Lama with full political authority. In 1951
China forced a totally defeated Tibet to sign the Sev-
enteen Point Agreement in which it was declared that
Tibet had always been a part of China.
The fourteenth Dalai Lama finished his traditional
studies in 1959. Soon after, when the Chinese army
suppressed a Tibetan uprising in Lhasa protesting
tightening Chinese control, the Dalai Lama fled as a
refugee to India. He was eventually followed by about
100,000 of his people.
In India, as Thubten Samphel says in The Dalai
Lamas of Tibet(2000), “the Fourteenth Dalai Lama has
managed to transform a medieval Central Asian insti-
tution into a positive force recognized globally” (p. 68).
He reorganized the Tibetan government in exile along
more democratic lines and spearheaded attempts to in-
troduce modern education to Tibetan children. In his
campaign against the Chinese presence in Tibet, the
fourteenth Dalai Lama has preached accommodation
and nonviolence. In 1987, in an address to the U.S.
Congress, he unveiled a five-point peace plan that en-
visions Tibet as a neutral zone of peace. The next year,
in Strasbourg, France, he announced his willingness to
accept that Tibet is a part of China if there were a
strong devolution of power that would allow Tibet to
be self-governing and to retain its distinctive identity.
For these efforts he received the Nobel Prize for peace
in 1989.
The religious beliefs of the fourteenth Dalai Lama
are summed up in a verse of the eighth-century Indian
saint S ́ANTIDEVAthat he often quotes: “As long as space
endures, as long as suffering remains, may I too re-
main, to dispel the misery of the world.” The four-
teenth Dalai Lama travels widely, giving explanations
of Buddhist teaching and exchanging ideas with scien-
tists and leaders of other faiths.See also:Communism and Buddhism; TibetDALAILAMAThe fourteenth Dalai Lama, Bstan ’dzin rgya mtsho (Tenzin Gy-
atso), travels widely to promote his ideas for peace and recon-
ciliation in Tibet and the world. Here he is seen speaking in
California in 2001. © David McNew/Getty Images. Reproduced
by permission.