The world’s most photographed monk Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th and perhaps the best-known in a celebrated succession of the Dalai Lamas, turns 75 today, including the six tumultuous decades as head of state and spiritual leader of Tibet.
Born on July 6, 1935, in the house of a barley and potato farmer of Taktser — a nondescript village in the Amdo Province bordering Sikkim — Lhamo Thondup (the name given by his parents) was like any adorable infant growing up in a poor but happy home. He most fondly recalls his mother as “undoubtedly one of the kindest people I have ever known,” who had a total of 16 children but only seven lived.
“No one had any idea that I might be anything other than an ordinary baby. It was almost unthinkable that more than one tulku (reincarnation; his oldest brother Thupten Jigme Norbu was already recognised as the reincarnation of a high lama) could be born into the same family and certainly my parents had no idea that I would be the proclaimed Dalai Lama,” he writes.
His own earliest memories were self-admittedly “very ordinary” and included innocent scenes, like running to join the underdogs in a squabble between groups of children on the street. “One thing that I remember enjoying particularly as a very young boy was going into the chicken coop to collect the eggs with my mother and then staying behind. I liked to sit in the hens’ nest and make clucking noises,” he says.
His penchant for constantly packing things in a bag and making the grand announcement to the household that he was off on the long journey to Lhasa and his insistence that he be allowed to sit at the head of the dinner table, was later talked about as an early indication that little Lhamo Thondup was a born leader and destined for much greater things.
Lhamo was barely three-years-old when a search party, designated by the then Tibetan government at Lhasa, was led to Taktser by a series of signs, including that the embalmed body of his successor, the 13th Dalai Lama Thupten Gyatso — during its period of sitting in state — turned from facing south to the Northeast.
Even though disguised as a servant, the child immediately recognised Kewtsang Rinpoche, the leader of the search party. Lhamo is also said to have claimed several personal possessions of the 13th Dalai Lama each time exclaiming: “That’s mine!”
Once established as the 14th reincarnation, the three-year-old boy was taken away from his loving mother and siblings to what he recalls as “a somewhat unhappy period” of his life.
Both the separation from his family as well as the completely unfamiliar surroundings of his new home at the Kumbum monastery contributed to this. But there was also consolation in that older brother Thupten Jigme Norbu (now Lobsang Samten) was already there as a novice monk and the fact that his own teacher happened to be a most kindly old monk who would often hide the young child “inside his gown”.
Later, in accordance with custom, Lhamo Thondup forfeited his given name and assumed Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso as Dalai Lama held by his flock to be the reincarnation of each of his 13 predecessors and in turn a manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, or Chenrezig, Bodhisattva of Compassion, holder of the White Lotus. Bodhisattvas, as per Buddhist belief, are enlightened beings who postpone nirvana to be reborn as serve humanity.
In 1950, in the face of communist China’s increasing aggression and expansionism — over 80,000 Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) troops had crossed over the Drichu River and only weeks away from Lhasa — Tenzin Gyatso was given his full temporal power. He was officially enthroned as the leader at a special ceremony in Lhasa’s exquisite Norbulinka Palace on November 17, 1950.
By the winter of 1959, China’s designs on Tibet had become only too obvious amidst at least one attempt (on March 10) to trap and incarcerate the Dalai Lama himself. Only a week later, close to midnight on March 17, 1959, disguised as a common soldier, the Dalai Lama managed to slip through the massive throng of followers outside his Lhasa palace accompanied only by a small escort.
Three weeks after leaving Lhasa, the Dalai Lama and his entourage (now including his immediate family members) arrived at the Indian Border where a detachment of the Indian Army soldiers safely escorted them to Bomdila.
First setting up residence in Mussoorie, that June he addressed a historic news conference publicly rejecting the 17-Point Agreement the Chinese had earlier thrust upon representatives of his administration, who were in Beijing to talk peace.
Eventually setting up the Tibetan Government-in-Exile at McLeodganj (Himachal Pradesh) in March the following year, the Dalai Lama and his followers have for the past 50 years conducted an untiring and completely peaceful campaign worldwide to rightfully regain the land of their ancestors.
An inherent commitment to non-violence and democracy won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. Just two years earlier, the Dalai Lama had won global acclaim and support for his Five Point Peace Plan which called for “transforming Tibet into a zone of peace”. More recently in 2007, he was conferred with the US Congressional Gold Medal in the face of continuing protests from China.
While he continues to live his life at an amazing pace amidst travels across the world, the 75-year-old monk is evidently becoming a trifle impatient with the continual failure of the Tibet-China dialogue process, even accusing governments, including India, of “an overcautious approach on Tibet”.
It is perhaps this disenchantment that has led him to question the very relevance of continuing the very institution of the Dalai Lama. Though he has ruled out any plan to relinquish his responsibilities as spiritual head and mentor until all Tibetans are free to return to their homeland or his own demise, he has said, “The point is whether to continue with the institution of the Dalai Lama or not. After my death, religious leaders can debate whether to have a Dalai Lama or not.”
Under considerable pressure from Tibetan exiles who fear that in the absence of a successor named by the Dalai Lama himself, the Chinese could well foist an impostor upon the community, he appears to favour the introduction of a fully democratic set-up. He points out that political responsibilities were already well looked after by the Tibet’s Prime Minister-in-exile, Samdhong Rinpoche. He said: “The majority of decisions are taken by the Prime Minister. I act as his senior adviser.”
Keeping the lowest of profiles around celebrations to mark his own birthdays, the Dalai Lama is slated to make an exception for his 75th when he will address followers at a special prayer meeting at the main Tibetan temple in McLeodganj on Tuesday morning.
The celebrations will nonetheless continue with many Tibetans praying for no less than “another 75 years” of his leadership. “I cannot imagine life without his Holiness there to guide us,” a follower said.