His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the head of state and spiritual leader of the tibetan people. he was born on 6th July 1935 to a farming family in the small village of Takster in Amdo, north-eastern Tibet (Chinese: Qinghai Province). At the age of two, he was recognised as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso. Considered the manifestation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion or Chenrezig in Tibetan, Dalai Lama is a Mongolian title meaning Ocean of Wisdom.
In 1950, His Holiness the Dalai Lama was called upon to assume full political power following China’s invasion of Tibet which began in October 1949. In 1954, he went to Beijing for peace talks with Mao Zedong and other Chinese leaders. However, in March 1959, he was forced to escape into exile followed by some 80,000 Tibetans, after the Chinese army’s suppression of the Tibetan National Uprising in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. Since then, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has lived in exile in Dharamsala, northern India, seat of the Central Tibetan Administration (also known as the Tibetan Government-in-exile) and heart of the Tibetan exile community.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama has three main commitments in life. The first, on the level of a human being, is the promotion of human values such as compassion, forgiveness, tolerance and contentment. His second commitment, on the level of a religious practitioner, is the promotion of harmony and understanding among the world’s major religious traditions. His Holiness the Dalai Lama will carry out these first two commitments until his final breath. As a Tibetan and because of the Tibetan people’s faith and trust in him, his third commitment is to the Tibet issue. His Holiness the Dalai Lama wishes to pursue this third commitment until the day of return to Tibet, following a resolution to the problem.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama has always maintained that the issue of Tibet is not about his personal future but concerns the welfare of the Tibetan people as a whole. The Tibetan people are neither anti-Chinese nor anti-China and, as such, His Holiness’ Middle Way Approach to resolve the issue of Tibet takes into consideration the long-term interests of both the Tibetan and Chinese peoples. Since the Chinese Government has so far not responded positively to His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s long standing moderate initiatives to resolve the Tibet issue, he has recently said that his faith and trust in the Chinese Government is diminishing, although he has not lost his faith and trust in the Chinese people.
For his work for Tibet, and his tireless efforts to promote global peace, inter-religious harmony and the environment, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been presented with numerous awards internationally, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.