Biography
His Holiness the Dalai Lama: Biography
“My religion is simple. My religion is kindness”
His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan people. At the age of two, he was recognized as the incarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso, and began his monastic education when he was six. Following China’s invasion of Tibet in 1949, the young Dalai Lama was called upon to assume full political power.
Finally, in 1959, with the brutal suppression by Chinese troops of the Tibetan national uprising in Lhasa, the Dalai Lama was forced to escape into exile in India. Since then, he has been living in Dharamsala in the north of India which is now the seat of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile.
From there, he has continued to work tirelessly to find a lasting solution for Tibet through appeals to the United Nations, Heads of State and governments around the world. Many of these have urged the Chinese leadership to enter into a dialogue with the Dalai Lama, as leader of the Tibetan people. In 1987, His Holiness proposed the Five-Point Peace Plan for Tibet as the first step towards a peaceful solution to the worsening human rights situation in Tibet. This plan envisaged Tibet as a sanctuary and zone of peace in the heart of Asia.
Since 2002, eight rounds of talks have taken place between representatives of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese authorities. The Dalai Lama advocates a Middle Way approach aimed at achieving genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people within China.
His Holiness has consistently advocated policies of non-violence throughout the struggle for the liberation of Tibet. In recognition of his work for peace and for his concern for global environmental problems, His Holiness the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. More recently, in September 2006, he received the highest civilian honour in the United States, the Congressional Gold Medal, in recognition of his advocacy of human rights. In 2008, he was chosen ‘most respected statesman’ in the European Union and United SStates by a Herald Tribune poll.
Now in his seventies, His Holiness continues to accept invitations to teach and speak around the world and is respected as a true spiritual teacher whose warmth, compassion and wisdom touches the hearts of all he meets and as a spokesman for the compassionate and peaceful resolution of human conflict.
His Holiness is a great advocate of inter-religious dialogue and understanding. He has worked tirelessly to create harmony between the different Tibetan Buddhist schools (Gelugpa, Nyingma, Kagyu and Sakya) as well the traditional Bön religion of Tibet.
Less well known is His Holiness’ intense personal interest in science; he has said that if he were not a monk, he would like to be an engineer. He has a strong interest in learning about the newest developments in science and regularly attends conferences at the Mind Life Institute. This body brings together leading figures from the behavioural sciences and the Buddhist contemplative traditions, and aims to promote the creation of a contemplative, compassionate, and rigorous experimental and experiential science of the mind that could guide and inform medicine, neuroscience, psychology, education and human development.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama has visited the Netherlands regularly over the last twenty years. He was in the Netherlands in 1986, 1990, 1994 and 1999. In 1994, He was awarded the Four Freedom’s Award by the Roosevelt Institute in Middelburg.