China News
SUPERPOWERS
'Simple monk': the Dalai Lama, in his translator's words; How the Dalai Lama is identified
'Simple monk': the Dalai Lama, in his translator's words; How the Dalai Lama is identified
by AFP Staff Writers
New Delhi (AFP) June 27, 2025

With his flowing red monk's robes, beaming smile and contagious laugh, the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, has been the charismatic global face of his people's cause for decades.

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning monk, Tenzin Gyatso, is expected to celebrate his 90th birthday on July 6 with huge crowds in northern India, his base since leaving his homeland fleeing Chinese troops in 1959.

While China condemns him as a rebel and separatist, the internationally recognised Dalai Lama describes himself as a "simple Buddhist monk".

Thupten Jinpa, his translator of nearly four decades, described a man who uses humour to calm, fierce intellect to debate, and combines self-discipline with tolerance of others.

"He's never deluded by being extraordinary," said Jinpa, an eminent Buddhist scholar born in Tibet.

The Dalai Lama treats those he meets in the same manner whether they are a president or a peasant, world leader or Hollywood star.

"When he's getting ready to go and see a president or a prime minister, everybody around him is all getting nervous he's just completely relaxed," said Jinpa, who is now a professor at Montreal's McGill University.

"Once I asked him how is it that he's not nervous, and he said, basically, 'the person I'm meeting is just another human being, just like me!'"

- 'Self-confidence and humility' -

Despite being revered as the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, a role stretching back more than 600 years, he does not act with a sense of superiority.

"He is one of the most self-confident people I've ever met in my life," Jinpa said.

"Self-confidence and humility generally don't go together that well, but in him, they sit beautifully."

Jinpa highlighted the Dalai Lama's ability to bring people together through his "contagious" sense of humour and famous giggling "individual laugh".

"He uses humour immediately, so he has this ability to make you feel at ease."

But the translator also described a man who applied the rigorous education and skills of philosophical debate learned as a monk to address the challenges of a complex world.

"He's gone through a formal academic training," said Jinpa, who himself studied as a monk and holds a doctorate from the University of Cambridge.

"So when he's sitting down with scientists and philosophers and thinkers in deep conversation, his ability to get to the gist, and ask the question that points towards the next challenge, is an amazing display of his focus."

Jinpa described a man who pursues an austere monastic life with "very high discipline".

"He gets up at 3:30 am and has meditation. He doesn't eat after lunch, which is one of the precepts of monastic ethics," he said. "He has always maintained this strictly."

While he was born to a farming family, the Dalai Lama grew up in Lhasa's Potala Palace, a vast building reputed to have 1,000 rooms.

Since then he has spent much of his life in a hilltop monastic complex in India's town of McLeod Ganj.

"His bedroom is actually a small corridor between two large rooms, doors on the two sides, and a three-by-six single bed attached to the wall, and next to it is a shower cubicle -- and that's it," Jinpa said.

"He has got his photographs of his gurus, teachers, above his bed -- very simple."

- 'Non-judgement' -

But the Dalai Lama balances that toughness towards himself with softness for those he meets.

"Generally when people are more pious, more disciplined, more pure, they also tend to be less tolerant," Jinpa said.

"A lot of the intolerance really comes from puritanism in the world, whether it's religious or ideology," he added.

"But again, in him, this understanding and non-judgement towards others -- and expectation of a high standard for himself -- it sits beautifully."

Jinpa added that as the holder of a centuries-old institution, the Dalai Lama places his people before himself.

"In all the negotiations that he has had with China, he has constantly made the point that the issue is not about his return, or his status," he said.

"The issue is about the Tibetan people -- there are over six million of us," said Jinpa.

"Their ability to be self-governing on the Tibetan plateau, which is their historical home, and their ability to exist with dignity as a distinct people within the People's Republic of China."

Auspicious signs: how the Dalai Lama is identified
Mcleod Ganj, India (AFP) June 27, 2025 - Fourteen Dalai Lamas have guided Tibet's Buddhists for the past six centuries, which believers say are reincarnations of each other, identified in opaque processes ranging from auspicious signs to divination.

China says Tibet is an integral part of the country, and many exiled Tibetans fear Beijing will name a rival successor, bolstering control over a land it poured troops into in 1950.

The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was born to a farming family in 1935 and has spent most of his life in exile in India.

He has said that if there is a successor, they will come from the "free world" outside China's control.

Here is how previous reincarnations were identified -- and what the current Dalai Lama says will happen.

- Oracles -

With the Dalai Lama turning 90 on July 6, he has said he will consult Tibetan religious traditions and the Tibetan public to see "if there is a consensus that the Dalai Lama institution should continue".

He has said he will "leave clear written instructions" for the future.

But he has alternatively suggested his successor could be a girl, or an insect, or that his spirit could transfer or "emanate" to an adult.

Responsibility for the recognition lies with the India-based Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

The search and recognition of another leader must be "in accordance with past Tibetan Buddhist tradition", he said.

That includes consulting a protector deity, Palden Lhamo, and the oracle of Dorje Drakden, also known as Nechung, who communicates through a medium in a trance.

- Reincarnation recognition -

Tibetan Buddhists believe in all reincarnations of the "Bodhisattva of Compassion", an enlightened being who serves humanity by delaying salvation through another rebirth.

All so far have been men or boys, often identified as toddlers and taking up the role only as teenagers.

The last identification process was held in 1937.

The current Dalai Lama, then aged two, was identified when he passed a test posed by monks by correctly pointing to objects that had belonged to his predecessor.

- Auspicious signs -

Others were revealed by special signs.

The year the eighth Dalai Lama was born, in 1758, was marked by bumper harvests and a rainbow that seemingly touched his mother.

He was finally identified after trying to sit in a lotus meditation position as a toddler.

"Most ordinary beings forget their past lives," the Dalai Lama wrote in 2011.

"We need to use evidence-based logic to prove past and future rebirths to them."

- Golden urn and dough balls -

Divination, including picking names written on paper, has also been used to confirm a candidate is correct.

One method conceals the paper inside balls of dough. Another time, the name was plucked from a golden urn.

That urn is now held by Beijing, and the current Dalai Lama has warned that, when used dishonestly, it lacks "any spiritual quality".

- Tibet and abroad -

Dalai Lamas have come from noble families and nomadic herders.

Most were born in central Tibetan regions, one came from Mongolia, and another was born in India.

The Sixth Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, was born in 1682 in Tawang, in India's northeastern Arunachal Pradesh region.

- Secrecy and disguise -

Past decisions have also been kept secret for years.

The Fifth Dalai Lama, Lobsang Gyatso, was born in 1617 and recognised as a toddler.

But his discovery was kept hidden for more than two decades due to a "turbulent political situation", the Dalai Lama's office says.

And, when he died, he told monks to say he was simply on a "long retreat".

When visitors came, an old monk would pose in his place, wearing a "hat and eyeshadow to conceal the fact that he lacked the Dalai Lama's piercing eyes".

It would take 15 years before his successor was announced.

Related Links
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com
Learn about nuclear weapons doctrine and defense at SpaceWar.com

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters
Tweet

RELATED CONTENT
The following news reports may link to other Space Media Network websites.
SUPERPOWERS
'Highly undesirable': Dutch host NATO during political crisis
The Hague (AFP) June 23, 2025
For a small country like the Netherlands, organising a NATO summit is a big endeavour at the best of times. The government collapsing three weeks beforehand has not exactly made life easier. With whole districts and key roads blocked for weeks, and schools and businesses closed, the usually serene seaside city of The Hague has certainly felt the force of the impending summit. To much grumbling, even some cycle lanes have been shut down, usually unthinkable in the land of bikes. Dozens of tre ... read more

SUPERPOWERS
Chinese rocket delivers e-commerce packages in sea recovery test

China Establishes UN-SPIDER Regional Support Office at Wuhan University

Tiangong returns largest sample set yet for biological and materials science research

Space is a place to found a community not a colony

SUPERPOWERS
Stocks mixed with eyes on Mideast, dollar hit by Trump Fed comment

Monsters and memes: Labubu dolls ride China soft-power wave

Chinese exports of rare-earth magnets plummet in May

EU bars Chinese firms from major state medical equipment contracts

SUPERPOWERS
SUPERPOWERS
'Highly undesirable': Dutch host NATO during political crisis

Putin, Xi 'strongly condemn' Israeli strikes on Iran, urge diplomatic solution

Iran strikes Israel as Trump weighs US involvement

Dalai Lama to issue July 2 message, expected to address succession

SUPERPOWERS
Nuclearn Deploys Gamma2 AI to Revolutionize Nuclear Plant Operations

Advancing fission dynamics understanding in mercury isotopes with 5D Langevin model

U.S. company to provide $6B loan for British nuclear power project

Czechs sign record nuclear deal but questions remain

SUPERPOWERS
Iran appoints new Revolutionary Guards intelligence chief

WhatsApp 'concerned' services to be blocked after Iran calls to delete app

Musk's X sues to block New York social media transparency law

Israel's strikes on Iran were years in the making: analysts

SUPERPOWERS
Nuclearn Deploys Gamma2 AI to Revolutionize Nuclear Plant Operations

Advancing fission dynamics understanding in mercury isotopes with 5D Langevin model

U.S. company to provide $6B loan for British nuclear power project

Czechs sign record nuclear deal but questions remain

SUPERPOWERS
Trump admin ends halt on New York offshore wind project

Trump shift boosts offshore wind project: New York governor

Norway's Equinor slams 'unlawful' halt to US wind farm

US halts Equinor's huge New York offshore wind project

Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.