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Life Story of the Dalai Lama
1. Early Life
It was 1933 in Tibet, the country known as 'the roof of the world', high up in the Himalaya mountains. Across the whole of the country, everyone was very sad. The thirteenth Dalai Lama, their leader and most important holy teacher had died.
They believed that he would quickly be reborn in a new body to carry on his work, and so the hunt was soon on to find his reincarnation – the baby who would grow up to be the fourteenth Dalai Lama. For three years the holy teachers, or Lamas, studied all the signs, and sent out search parties throughout the country, looking for their beloved leader.
Meanwhile far away in the east of Tibet, a young boy was busy playing. His name was Lhamo Dhondup, and he was two years old, born on 6th July, 1935. He lived with his family on their farm in the little village of Takster, growing barley, and looking after yaks.
That day had started just like any other – he and his brothers and sisters had thrown back their yak-skin rugs and followed their mother on to the flat roof of their house. There she lit a small fire and made offerings to the Buddha. All her neighbours were doing the same, and it was lovely to smell the sweet smell of incense and hear the singing of prayers all across the valley. Then the children went off to help their mother, and to play – hide-and-seek, kite flying and wrestling.
But that day, a small group of travelling lamas, or teachers, visited the house. While they were enjoying a cup of hot butter tea, little Lhamo climbed up on to the lap of one man in the group. This man was the Abbot of Sera Monastery, a very important teacher, but he was pretending to be a servant. He was wearing a rosary around his neck which had belonged to the thirteenth Dalai Lama. Lhamo asked for the rosary.
'Of course you can have it,' said the abbot, 'if you know who I am.'
'You are the Lama from Sera', said Lhamo, who had never met him before.
The Abbot tried to persuade Lhamo to have a different rosary, but the child insisted on having the one that had belonged to his predecessor, the thirteenth Dalai Lama. The lamas then offered Lhamo two different religious drums and two different walking sticks. Each time he picked the one that had belonged to the thirteenth Dalai Lama.
The members of the search party were delighted. Little Lhamo had passed all the tests. They had found the fourteenth Dalai Lama!
For the first year, the little Dalai Lama was kept safe at Kumbum monastery nearby. But when he was just four years old, he set off on the long journey on horseback across the mountains to Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet. The journey took many months, but everywhere he went, all the people came out to greet the little boy who would be their leader and their teacher. Little did they know that in less than twenty years, the Dalai Lama and many of his people would be forced to flee their country and live as refugees.
2. Growing Up
When he was growing up, the Dalai Lama's favourite toy was his telescope. Perched on the high roof of the Potala Palace, he would spend hours watching the bustling life of his people below. Because he was so special, he was not allowed to mix very much with his people, but he cared for them deeply.
He had to devote most of his time to his Buddhist studies, but he was an excellent student, and a very good debater. But he was also interested in life outside Tibet. Luckily he met a good friend – Heinrich Harrer.
Heinrich was a young Austrian explorer who had escaped from India into Tibet during the Second World War, and spent two years getting to know the mysterious country. He taught the young Dalai Lama English and geography, and answered all his questions about life in other countries.
And together they developed a life-long interest in mechanical things. One summer they took apart a Rolls Royce car and put it back together again. It was a gift from the British government, and had taken six months to cross the Himalayas. The young Dalai Lama, now called Tenzin Gyatso, drove it around the grounds of the palace with great delight.
Then suddenly everything changed. In 1950, the new Chinese Red Army invaded Tibet, saying that it belonged to China. The Tibetan advisers pleaded with the young Dalai Lama to take control of his government in this difficult time. He was only fifteen years old. The first thing he did was ask the United Nations for help – but they said no. The Tibetan army was very small and only had ancient weapons so they had no chance to fight off the invaders.
The only thing the Dalai Lama could do was to try to talk to the Chinese leaders. In 1954, when he was nineteen, the Dalai Lama travelled to Beijing to meet with Mao Tse-tung, the Chinese leader. Mao promised to respect the Tibetans' way of life, but later on he broke his promises. Life became very hard for the Tibetans. The young Dalai Lama tried everything he could to stop the invaders harming his country and his people, but it was no good.
3. Flight
Then, as evening fell on 9th March 1959, Lhasa, the holy city of Tibet, was gripped by anger and fear. The people believed that the Chinese army was planning to kidnap their precious Dalai Lama and take him to China as a prisoner.
The people of the city armed themselves with any weapons they could find – bricks, cooking knives – anything! Nobody was going to allow the Dalai Lama to be taken without a struggle.
Before dawn, thousands of Tibetans streamed out of Lhasa to the nearby Summer Palace, where the Dalai Lama was staying. He pleaded with them to go home, fearing fighting and great bloodshed, but the people refused. They would defend him to the death if necessary. The Chinese army gathered in great numbers, and trained their guns on the Tibetan people.
That night, after talking to his advisers and praying, the Dalai Lama made probably the hardest decision of his life. He took off the robes of the Buddhist monk, and disguised himself as a simple Tibetan soldier. Then, under cover of darkness, and with just a few companions, he set off on the long and lonely journey into exile.
The journey was dangerous and difficult – they had to hide from the soldiers of the Red Army by day, and cross the snowy Himalayan Mountains on horseback.
Finally they reached the safety of India, where they were welcomed and given refuge. But back in Tibet, the Palace had been bombarded and thousands of Tibetan people had been killed.
Still today Tibet is suffering under Chinese control. The Dalai Lama has never been able to return to his beloved country, but his patient and peaceful struggle to regain justice and freedom for his country and his people has inspired people all over the world. In 1989 he was honoured with the Nobel Prize for Peace.
(Life story based on the book: 'The Dalai Lama, Peacemaker from Tibet', by Chris Gibb. The book also has very useful photos.)