He’s the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, a worldwide icon for peace, and the incarnation of the bodhisattva of compassion.
But Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, prefers to think of himself as a “simple Buddhist monk.”
The Dalai Lama was born 83 years ago today to a farming family in Amdo, a northeastern Tibetan province. He was recognized as an incarnation of the former Dalai Lama when he was 2 years old, and started his monastic schooling four years later. He was awarded his geshe degree—the equivalent of a PhD—in 1959, and later that year was forced to flee to India to escape the Chinese invasion.
This year the Dalai Lama, who recently said he expects to live another 15–20 years, will celebrate his birthday in Ladakh. After that, it's back to his typical schedule: up at 3 a.m. for meditation, listening to the BBC while he eats breakfast, and studying Buddhist texts and commentaries.
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