The Dalai Lama’s Ocean of Wisdom There are many reasons why the current and former Dalai Lamas have been important to Buddhists, the people of Tibet, and to the entire world community. To further explore these reasons, we will need some knowledge of who the Dalai Lama is and what he represents. A brief history along with some important facts about the beliefs of Tibetan Buddhists will help in explaining the impact the Dalai Lamas have had over their own followers as well as others outside their faith. The Dalai Lama is a name that refers to the spiritual leader of a certain branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The Tibetan Buddhist tradition that the Dalai Lama is the leader of is called Gelugpa which means “yellow hat.” The term “Dalai Lama,” meaning …show more content…
First of all, the candidates must have been born around the same time the previous Dalai Lama passed on. In order to narrow down the search area, the High Lamas will look for signs as to the physical place where the next Dalai Lama will be found. One sign they use is the direction the smoke travels when the recently deceased Dalai Lama is cremated. In addition, they are sometimes given a distinguishing mark or general location in a dream. Yet another way to gain a sign of where to look is to go to a holy lake called Oracle Lake where visions can be seen pointing out a very specific feature of a particular location. An example of this is that when searching for the fourteenth Dalai Lama, the High Lamas received a vision of a house with strange looking gutters and that is where they found Tenzin Gyatso. Finally, to ensure that the person they found is the real reincarnation, they bring some objects that belonged to the previous Dalai Lama and some objects that did not. They present these objects to the candidate, and if he or she chooses the objects that belonged to the former Dalai Lama, he or she must be the reincarnation. These are the methods by which the Tibetan Buddhist use to determine who has become the reincarnation of Avalokitesvara and who is therefore the next Dalai …show more content…
One way the Dalai Lamas have been important is the unifying of the Tibetan people. With the help of the Mongols, the fifth Dalai Lama took over Tibet as its outright temporal ruler by conquering the rival Tibetan Buddhist traditions. This brought Tibet together under a single leader. It was not until 1950 that the current Dalai Lama’s temporal rule was ended when the Chinese government seized control of Tibet. The communist government claimed that Tibet had always been a part of China, so they were just taking back what originally belonged to them. In 1959, after a failed attempt to push out the communist forces, the Dalai Lama had little choice but to flee from Tibet. He now lives in India in exile where he continues to be seen as the spiritual leader of the Tibetan