His holiness the 14th dalai lama quotes full#

Yet as old age makes travel more difficult, and as ChinaвЂ™s political clout has grown, the Dalai LamaвЂ™s influence has waned. The cause of Tibetan self-rule remains alive in Western minds thanks to admirers ranging from Richard Gere to the Beastie Boys to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who calls him a вЂњmessenger of hope for millions of people around the world.вЂќ He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 and was heralded in Martin ScorceseвЂ™s 1997 biopic. WhatвЂ™s more, the lowly farmerвЂ™s son named as a вЂњGod-KingвЂќ in his childhood has been embraced by the West since his exile. But his prominence extends beyond the borders of his own faith, with many practices endorsed by Buddhists, like mindfulness and meditation, permeating the lives of millions more around the world. In the six decades since, the leader of the worldвЂ™s most secluded people has become the most recognizable face of a religion practiced by nearly 500 million people worldwide. On March 17, 1959, he was forced to escape to India. That changed with Mao ZedongвЂ™s conquest of Tibet, which brought the rule of the current Dalai Lama to an end.

His holiness the 14th dalai lama quotes full#

But starting in the 17th century, the Dalai Lama also wielded full political authority over the secretive kingdom. The title originally only signified the preeminent Buddhist monk in Tibet, a remote land about twice the size of Texas that sits veiled behind the Himalayas. The Dalai Lama is considered a living Buddha of compassion, a reincarnation of the bodhisattva Chenrezig, who renounced Nirvana in order to help mankind. вЂњWe 7 billion human beings - emotionally, mentally, physically - are the same,вЂќ he tells TIME in a 90-minute interview. Every conversation is peppered with giggles and guffaws.

The Dalai Lama engages each visitor like a big kid: slapping bald pates, grabbing onto one devoteeвЂ™s single braid, waggling anotherвЂ™s nose. Two women lose all control as they approach the Dalai LamaвЂ™s throne and are carried away shaking in rapture, clutching prayer beads and muttering incantations. scarf, seeking divine benediction for the U.K. A man from Thailand has brought his Liverpool F.C. ThereвЂ™s a group from Bhutan in traditional checkered dress.

Rousing slowly, he unfolds his legs with remarkable agility for a man of 83, finds the red felt slippers placed neatly beneath his seat and heads outside to where a crowd has already gathered.ДЄround 300 people brave the February chill to offer white khata scarves and receive the Dalai LamaвЂ™s blessing. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama sits in meditation in his private chapel in Dharamsala, a ramshackle town perched on the upper reaches of North IndiaвЂ™s Kangra Valley. Morning has broken on the cedar-strewn foothills of the Himalayas.