The 14th Dalai Lama- Tenzin Gyatso

  “If little Tibet can overcome the terrible force of Communist China solely through nonviolent means, people will be able to see the power of nonviolence.  It could serve as a model for others, and encourage them to also adopt nonviolent methods.

 -His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

                  

●In July 6, 1935 Tenzin Gyatso was born into a peasant family in the town of Takster in Northeastern Tibet and was recognized at the age of 2 as the incarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama.  At the age of 4 he was taken to Lhasa and officially named as the 14th Dalai Lama.

●Following the Chinese invasion and occupation of Tibet in 1950, Prime Minister Nehru of India told the Dalai Lama if war erupted that he would be welcome in India as a refugee.  On March 17, 1959 the Dalai Lama successfully escaped to India, followed by a hundred thousand other Tibetans.

  ●Once in India he set up the Central Government-in Exile Program and set up schools, hospitals, orphanages, monasteries, and institutions to preserve Tibetan culture.  Today the Tibetans are one of the best settled refugee groups, while their culture is preserved better outside Tibet than inside.

  ●After settling in India the Dalai Lama began traveling around the world addressing governments and people about the situation in Tibet.

  ●He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 1989 for utilizing nonviolent means to resolve the Tibet/China conflict and for urging others to do the same.

 

Links to 14th Dalai Lama Websites:

http://www.dalailama.com/html/young_dl.html

http://www.tibet.com/DL/biography.html

Book Sources:

Goodman, Michael.  The Last Dalai Lama.  Boston,  Ma:  Shambhala Publications, 1986.

Levenson, Claude.  The Dalai Lama:  A Biography.  India:  Oxford University Press, 1999.

Mullin, Glen.  The Fourteen Dalai Lamas.  Santa Fe, New Mexico:  Clear Light Publishers, 2001.

Piburn, Sidney.  The Dalai Lama:  A Policy Of Kindness.  Ithaca, New York:  Snow Lion Publications, 1993.

                                                                                                                                                Written by:  Laura Dolan & Ann Corbett

                                                                                                                                                Web page by:  Laura Dolan

"I have neither given nor received any unauthorized aid, nor have I witnessed a violation of the Honor Code." Laura Dolan