![]() ![]() He inaugurated several cultural institutes to preserve Tibet’s arts and sciences and helped re-establish more than 200 monasteries to keep alive the vast corpus of Buddhist teachings, the essence of the Tibetan spirit. The Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts was established in 1959 while the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies became a university for Tibetans in India. As an economic base developed, he oversaw the creation of an autonomous Tibetan school system (there are over 80 Tibetan schools in India and Nepal today) to raise refugee children with full knowledge of their language, history, religion and culture. He founded 53 large-scale agricultural settlements for the refugees to live on. With the re-establishment of the Tibetan Government in India, His Holiness saw that his immediate and urgent task was to preserve Tibetan culture. In the early years of exile, His Holiness appealed to the United Nations on the question of Tibet, resulting in three resolutions adopted by the General Assembly in 1959, 1961, and 1965, calling on China to respect the human rights of Tibetans and their right to self-determination. Since 1960, His Holiness has resided in Dharamsala, a small town in Northern India, aptly known as “Little Lhasa,” the seat of the Tibetan Government-in-exile. Today there are more than 120,000 Tibetan refugees in India, Nepal, Bhutan, and in the West. Some 80,000 Tibetan refugees at the time managed to follow His Holiness into exile. His Holiness escaped to India where he was given political asylum. The demonstrating Tibetans called on China to leave Tibet and reaffirmed Tibet’s independence. This resistance movement spread to other parts of the country, and onMarch 10, 1959, the capital of Tibet, Lhasa exploded with a massive demonstration. His efforts to bring about a peaceful solution to the Sino-Tibetan problem were thwarted by Beijing’s ruthless policy in eastern Tibet, which ignited a popular uprising. ![]() ![]() In 1956, while visiting India to attend the 2500th birth anniversary of the Buddha, he had a series of meetings with Indian Prime Minister Nehru and Premier Chou about the deteriorating situation in Tibet. In 1954, he went to Beijing to hold peace talks with Mao Tsetung and other Chinese leaders including Chou En-Lai and Deng Xiaoping. In 1950, at 15, His Holiness was called upon to assume full political responsibility (head of the state and Government) when Tibet was threatened by the might of China. In addition to Buddhist subjects, he studied English, Sciences, Geography and Mathematics. His Holiness passed the examination with honors, conducted before the 20, 000 monk scholars. In the afternoon, he debated with 15 scholars on the subject of the Middle Path, and in the evening 35 scholars tested his knowledge or the canon of monastic discipline and the study of metaphysics. In the morning, he was examined by 30 scholars on logic. The final examination was conducted in the Jokhang Temple in Lhasaduring the annual Monlam Chenmo or the great Prayer festival, held in the first month of the Tibetan calendar year. ![]() (At 24, he took the preliminary examinations at each of the three monastic universities: Drepung, Sera, and Ganden, outside Lhasa, the Tibetan capital city). The Dalai Lama began his education at the age of six and completed the Geshe Lharampa Degree (Doctorate in Buddhist Philosophy) when he was 25 in 1959. In accordance with Tibetan tradition, as the reincarnation of his predecessor the 13th Dalai Lama, His Holiness is an incarnation of Avalokiteshvar, the Buddha of Compassion. Born to a peasant family, His Holiness was recognized at the age of two. He was born Lhamo Dhondup on July 6, 1935, in a small village called Taktser in northeastern Tibet. Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, is the spiritual and temporal leader of the six million Tibetan people. His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Mexico City (2011) His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Mexico City (2011)īiography of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso ![]()
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