The Dalai Lama, a tireless advocate for Tibet and its individuals

[ad_1] By Krishna N. Das

DHARAMSHALA, India (Reuters) -The Dalai Lama, the religious head of Tibetan Buddhism, has typically known as himself a easy monk, however for greater than 60 years armed with little greater than allure and conviction, he has managed to maintain the reason for his individuals within the worldwide highlight.

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, fled into exile in India in 1959 with hundreds of different Tibetans after a failed rebellion towards Chinese language rule. Since then, he has advocated for a non-violent "Center Method" to searching for autonomy and spiritual freedom for Tibetan individuals, gaining the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.

He has met with scores of world leaders, whereas inspiring tens of millions along with his cheerful disposition and views on life resembling "Be type at any time when potential. It's at all times potential."

However his reputation irks China which views him as a harmful separatist, with one former Communist Occasion boss describing him as "a jackal" and having "the center of a beast".

The Dalai Lama turns 90 on Sunday, a very necessary birthday as he has flagged that he could say extra a couple of potential successor round then. Tibetan custom holds that the soul of a senior Buddhist monk is reincarnated within the physique of a kid upon his loss of life.

In a e-book, "Voices for the Unvoiced", revealed earlier this yr, he stated Tibetans worldwide need the establishment of the Dalai Lama to proceed after his loss of life and specified that his successor can be born within the "free world", which he described as outdoors China.

The statements had been his strongest but in regards to the probability of a successor. In earlier years, he has additionally stated that his successor is likely to be a woman and it's potential that there is likely to be no successor in any respect.

He has, nonetheless, said that any successor chosen by China, which has piled strain on overseas governments to shun him, won't be revered.

FLIGHT INTO EXILE

The Dalai Lama was born Lhamo Dhondup in 1935 to a household of buckwheat and barley farmers in what's now the northwestern Chinese language province of Qinghai. On the age of two, he was deemed by a search social gathering to be the 14th reincarnation of Tibet's religious and temporal chief after figuring out a number of of his predecessor's possessions.

China took management of Tibet in 1950 in what it known as "a peaceable liberation" and the teenage Dalai Lama assumed a political function shortly after, travelling to Beijing to fulfill Mao Zedong and different Chinese language leaders. 9 years later, fears that the Dalai Lama may very well be kidnapped fuelled a serious revolt.

The following crackdown by the Chinese language military compelled him to flee disguised as a standard soldier from the palace in Lhasa the place his predecessors had held absolute energy.

The Dalai Lama fled to India, settling in Dharamshala, a Himalayan city the place he lives in a compound subsequent to a temple ringed by inexperienced hills and snow-capped mountains. There, he opened up his government-in-exile to strange Tibetans with an elected parliament.

Disillusioned with how little he had gained from his efforts to interact with Beijing, he introduced in 1988 that he had given up on searching for full independence from China, and as a substitute can be searching for cultural and spiritual autonomy inside China.

In 2011, the Dalai Lama introduced he would relinquish his political function, handing over these obligations to an elected chief for the Tibetan government-in-exile.

However he stays energetic and lately, the Dalai Lama, clad in his customary maroon and saffron robes, continues to obtain a relentless stream of tourists.

He has had quite a lot of well being issues, together with knee surgical procedure and walks with issue. Regardless of that, he expects to dwell for a very long time but.