No blog on Dharamshala can go without mentioning the Dalai Lama, but who is he?
Maybe you know of him as that rather jolly old monk interviewed by Michael Palin, or maybe you saw him in the Simpsons but either way, here's a quick overview:
The Dalai Lama as figurehead.
As His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso is loved and worshipped by the Tibetan people. There is no direct comparison in British culture (or western culture in general) as to what he repesents.
He is spiritual, political, and national figurehead for Tibet its people and beliefs.
(Imagine if you can someone who could encapsulate the Queen, the Archbishop of Canterbury or the Pope, the Prime Minister and the mythical figurehead Britannia all in one and maybe you get close.)
The Dalai Lama as a man.
Imagine being born in 1935 in one of the more emptier parts of Tibet.
Your father is a horse trader and your mother bore 15 other children apart from yourself - and only 6 survived.
At the age of 2 you meet a party of monks and dignitaries who decide that you are the reincarnation of the leader of your country.
At the age of 4 you have to leave your home and travel for weeks across wilderness to Lhasa the capitol of Tibet to live away from your family in the Potala Palace - one of the largest buildings in the world at the time.
At the age of 7 you become a monk.
At the age of 15 you become the leader of your nation. Then your country is invaded by China. You dont have an army to speak of so you write to the leaders of the western world for help - including America and Great Britain. You are ignored.
China then 'liberates' Tibet, over 100,000 Tibetans die and over 6000 monasteries and nunneries are destroyed. Thousands of your people are imprisoned and tortured as part of their 'liberation'.
What do you do next?
For more information go here:
http://www.freetibet.org/about/10-facts-about-tibet
http://www.dalailama.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalai_Lama
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