Lhasa Thondup was born in Taster village, in Amdo, Tibet, on this day in 1935.
Leter he would be given the names Jetson Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, often shortened to Tenzin Gyatso, but more commonly he is known by his title as the 14th Dalai Lama. Some of us prefer to call him His Holiness.
A more singular person to stride the world stage in our times is hard to conceive. The winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize and hated by the Communist tyranny in China, the author as well as “author” of many, many books, a treasured public speaker, facilitator of the deep study of the human mind, as well as advocate for human rights across the globe, the Dalai Lama has become the most famous Buddhist and among the most admired people in the world.
Not a bad run for a kid born in an obscure Tibetan village some eighty-one years go.
May he live for many more years, may his presence be a continuing thorn in the side of tyrants of all sorts, and may his message of compassion and presence open people around the globe to the many varieties of the great Buddha way…
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