Dalai Lama
- This article is about the Dalai Lama lineage. For information on the 14th and current Dalai Lama, see Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama (meaning "Ocean of Wisdom) is an institution and position of great importance in Tibetan Buddhism, whose incumbant is considered to be the spiritual figurehead of the Tibetan people.[1] In addition to his supreme religious and temporal authority, the Dalai Lama is also widely revered as an incarnation of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara ("Chenrezig" [spyan ras gzigs] in Tibetan), the embodiment of compassion.[2] Though especially important within the doctrine of the Gelug sect, all four Tibetan schools of Buddhism respect the Dalai Lama notwithstanding their different Buddhist teachings. It should be noted then that the institution of the Dalai Lama is much older than the current incumbent of the position. Therefore, it is errornous to equate Tenzin Gyatso as the one and only Dalai Lama since others preceeded him.[3]
Historically, the institution of the Dalai Lama began in 1391 C.E. and has been maintained through a successive lineage of allegedly reborn (Tulku) lamas ever since. While the Dalai Lama is deeply respected today, some of the former incumbents of the position were conspicious for their worldly habits, and the position has not been without its history of controversy, power struggles, and political intreague. Between the 17th century and 1959, the Dalai Lama was the head of the Tibetan government, administering a large portion of the country from the capital of Lhasa. Since 1959, however, the current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, has lived in exile from his homeland due to the Chinese takeover of the country. The future of the position in Chinese occupied Tibet is uncertain. His current residence in exile is located in the town of Dharamsala, India.
In 1989, the 14th Dalai Lama won the Noble Peace Prize for his ongoing efforts to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the Chinese occupation of Tibet. He is viewed by many as a voice and spiritual embodiment of peace, dialogue, and reason in our modern world. Thus the office of the Dalai Lama commands a great deal of respect and admiration among millions of Buddhists and non-Buddhist around the world.
History
"Dalai" means "Ocean" in Mongolian, and "Lama" (bla ma) is the Tibetan equivalent of the Sanskrit word "guru", and is commonly translated to mean "spiritual teacher".[4] The actual title was first bestowed by the Mongolian ruler Altan Khan upon Sonam Gyatso in 1578. Gyatso was an abbot at the Drepung monastery who was widely considered the most eminent lama of his time. Although Sonam Gyatso became the first lama to hold the title "Dalai Lama", due to the fact that he was the third member of his lineage, he became known as the "3rd Dalai Lama". The previous two titles were conferred posthumously upon his earlier incarnations.
The 5th Dalai Lama, with the support of Gushri Khan, a Mongol ruler of Khökh Nuur, united Tibet. The Dalai Lamas continued to partially rule in Tibet with, to some extent, autonomous power given by contemporary Chinese governments, until the People's Republic of China invaded the region in 1949 and then took full control in 1959. The 14th Dalai Lama then fled to India and has since ceded temporal power to an elected government-in-exile. The current 14th Dalai Lama seeks greater autonomy for Tibet.
List of Dalai Lamas
There have been 14 Dalai Lamas:
| Name | Lifespan | Reign | Tibetan/Wylie | PRC transcription | Other English spelling(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Gendun Drup | 1391–1474 | [5] | དྒེ་འདུན་འགྲུབ་ dge ‘dun ‘grub |
Gêdün Chub | Gedun Drub, Gedün Drup, Gendun Drup |
| 2. | Gendun Gyatso | 1475–1541 | [5] | དགེ་འདུན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ dge ‘dun rgya mtsho |
Gêdün Gyaco | Gedün Gyatso, Gendün Gyatso |
| 3. | Sonam Gyatso | 1543–1588 | 1578–1588 | བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ bsod nams rgya mtsho |
Soinam Gyaco | Sönam Gyatso |
| 4. | Yonten Gyatso | 1589–1616 | ཡོན་ཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ yon tan rgya mtsho |
Yoindain Gyaco | Yontan Gyatso | |
| 5. | Lobsang Gyatso | 1617–1682 | 1642–1682 | བློ་བཟང་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ blo bzang rgya mtsho |
Lobsang Gyaco | Lobzang Gyatso, Lopsang Gyatso |
| 6. | Tsangyang Gyatso | 1683–1706 | ?–1706 | ཚང་དབྱངས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ tshang dbyangs rgya mtsho |
Cangyang Gyaco | |
| 7. | Kelzang Gyatso | 1708–1757 | 1751–1757 | བསྐལ་བཟང་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ bskal bzang rgya mtsho |
Gaisang Gyaco | Kelsang Gyatso, Kalsang Gyatso |
| 8. | Jamphel Gyatso | 1758–1804 | 1786–1804 | བྱམས་སྤེལ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ byams spel rgya mtsho |
Qambê Gyaco | Jampel Gyatso, Jampal Gyatso |
| 9. | Lungtok Gyatso | 1806–1815 | (1808–1815)[5] | ལུང་རྟོགས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ lung rtogs rgya mtsho |
Lungdog Gyaco | Lungtog Gyatso |
| 10. | Tsultrim Gyatso | 1816–1837 | ཚུལ་ཁྲིམ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ tshul khrim rgya mtsho |
Cüchim Gyaco | Tshültrim Gyatso | |
| 11. | Khendrup Gyatso | 1838–1856 | 1844–1856 | མཁས་གྲུབ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ mkhas grub rgya mtsho |
Kaichub Gyaco | Kedrub Gyatso |
| 12. | Trinley Gyatso | 1857–1875 | འཕྲིན་ལས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ ‘phrin las rgya mtsho |
Chinlai Gyaco | Trinle Gyatso | |
| 13. | Thubten Gyatso | 1876–1933 | ཐུབ་བསྟན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ thub bstan rgya mtsho |
Tubdain Gyaco | Thubtan Gyatso, Thupten Gyatso | |
| 14. | Tenzin Gyatso | 1935–present | 1950–present (currently in exile) |
བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་ bstan ‘dzin rgya mtsho |
Dainzin Gyaco |
Epithets
The title "Dalai Lama" is usually translated as meaning "Ocean of Wisdom." In addition to this title, the Dalai Lama is also called Gyalwa Rinpoche (Rgyal-ba Rin-po-che) meaning "Precious Victor," and Yishin Norbu (Yid-bzhin Nor-bu) meaning "Wish-fulfilling Jewel" the Tibetan language. In English, the words "His Holiness" (HH) are often placed before his title.
Residence
Starting with the 5th Dalai Lama and until the 14th Dalai Lama's flight into exile in 1959, the Dalai Lamas resided during winter at the Potala Palace, and in the summer at the Norbulingka palace and park. Both residences are located in Lhasa, Tibet, approximately 3 km apart. In 1959, subsequent to the then ongoing Chinese occupation of Tibet, the 14th Dalai Lama sought refuge within India. The then Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was instrumental in granting safe refuge to the Dalai Lama and his fellow Tibetans. The Dalai Lama has since been in refuge in Dharamsala, in the state of Himachal Pradesh in northern India, where the Central Tibetan Administration (The Tibetan Government in Exile) is also established. Tibetan refugees have constructed and opened many schools and Buddhist temples in Dharamsala.[6][7]
Succession
The title "Dalai Lama" is presently granted to each of the spiritual leader's successive incarnations (for example, The 14th Dalai Lama's next incarnation will hold the title "the 15th Dalai Lama").
Upon the death of the Dalai Lama, his monks institute a search for the Lama's reincarnation, or yangsi (yang srid), a small child. Familiarity with the possessions of the previous Dalai Lama is considered the main sign of the reincarnation. The search for the reincarnation typically requires a few years. The reincarnation is then brought to Lhasa to be trained by the other Lamas.
The future of the Dalai Lama
Despite its officially secular stance, the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) has claimed the power to approve the naming of high reincarnations in Tibet. This decision cites a precedent set by the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, who instituted a system of selecting the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama by means of a lottery that utilised a golden urn with names wrapped in barley balls. Controversially, this precedent was called upon by the PRC to name their own Panchen Lama. The Dalai Lama and the majority of Tibetan Buddhists in exile do not regard this to be the legitimate Panchen Lama. The Dalai Lama has recognized a different child, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, as the reincarnated Panchen Lama. This child and his family have been taken into 'protective custody' according to the PRC, and all attempts by members of the EU parliament and US government to garner guarantees of the family's safety have been denied by the PRC. There is some speculation that with the death of the current Dalai Lama, the People's Republic of China will attempt to direct the selection of a successor, using the authority of their chosen Panchen Lama.
The current Dalai Lama has repeatedly stated that he will never be reborn inside territory controlled by the People's Republic of China[8], and has occasionally suggested that he might choose to be the last Dalai Lama by not being reborn at all. However, he has also stated that the purpose of his repeated incarnations is to continue unfinished work and, as such, if the situation in Tibet remains unchanged, it is very likely that he will be reborn to finish his work.[9] Additionally, in the draft constitution of future Tibet, the institution of the Dalai Lama can be revoked at any time by a democratic majority vote of two-thirds of the Assembly. The 14th Dalai Lama has stated, "Personally, I feel the institution of the Dalai Lama has served its purpose."[9]
Notes
- ↑ The Dalai Lama is often thought to be the head of the Gelug sect, but this position officially belongs to the Ganden Tripa (Dga'-ldan Khri-pa).
- ↑ His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition.
- ↑ For a fuller account of the life of the current Dalai Lama, see Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama.
- ↑ Art Hughes. "The Thirteen Previous Dalai Lamas", Part of MPR's special report, Ocean of Wisdom: The Dalai Lama's Visit, Minnesota Public Radio, May 7, 2001.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 The title "Dalai Lama" was conferred posthumously to the first and second Dalai Lamas. The 9th Dalai Lama was officially enthroned, but never reigned.
- ↑ A Guide to Little Lhasa in India
- ↑ Buddhist Temples Dharamsala
- ↑ "Dalai's reincarnation will not be found under Chinese control", The Indian Express, Tibetan Government in Exile, 1999-07-06. Retrieved 2007-01-27.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Questions & Answers, The Website of The Office of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Cutler, H. "THE DALAI LAMA: THE MINDFUL MONK This humble man is bridging the gap between Eastern wisdom and Western psychology", Psychology Today, 34, part 3, 34-39, 2009 ISSN 0033-3107
- Goldstein, Melvyn C. The Snow Lion and the Dragon China, Tibet, and the Dalai Lama. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1999 ISBN 9780585087030
- Laird, Thomas, and Bstan-ʼdzin-rgya-mtsho. The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama. NY: Grove Press, 2006 ISBN 9780802118271
- Marcello, Patricia Cronin. The Dalai Lama: A Biography. Greenwood biographies. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2003 ISBN 9780313322075
- Perez, Louis G. The Dalai Lama. Rourke biographies. Vero Beach, Fla: Rourke Publications, 1993 ISBN 9780866254809
- Piburn, Sidney. The Dalai Lama, a Policy of Kindness: An Anthology of Writings by and About the Dalai Lama. Ithaca, N.Y., USA: Snow Lion Publications, 1990 ISBN 9780937938911
External links
- The official site of the current Dalai Lama Retrieved Aug. 3, 2007.
- Namgyal - The official site of the current Dalai Lama's personal monastery in Ithaca NY USA Retrieved Aug 3, 2007.
- The 13 Previous Dalai Lamas Retrieved Aug 3, 2007.
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