14th Dalai Lama#Interest in science, and Mind and Life Institute

Lhamo Thondup{{cite book |title = The Noodle Maker of Kalimpong: The Untold Story of My Struggle for Tibet |last1 = Thondup |first1 = Gyalo |last2 = Thurston |first2= Anne F. |publisher = Random House Publishers India Private Limited |year = 2015 |isbn = 978-81-8400-387-1 |location = Gurgaon |page = 20 |quote =Lama Thubten named my new brother Lhamo Thondup.}} was born on 6 July 1935 to a farming and horse trading family in the small hamlet of Taktser,{{Efn|At the time of Tenzin Gyatso's birth, Taktser was a town located in the Chinese province of Qinghai and was controlled by Ma Lin, a warlord allied with Chiang Kai-shek and appointed as governor of Qinghai Province by the Kuomintang.Li, T.T. Historical Status of Tibet, Columbia University Press, p. 179.Bell, Charles, "Portrait of the Dalai Lama", p. 399.Goldstein, Melvyn C. Goldstein, A history of modern Tibet, pp. 315–317.}} or Chija Tagtser,A 60-Point Commentary on the Chinese Government Publication: A Collection of Historical Archives of Tibet, DIIR Publications, Dharamsala, November 2008: "Chija Tagtser born holy precious child Lhamo Dhondup ... the holy reincarnate child in Chija Tagtser."{{efn|{{zh |s = 红崖村 |p = Hóngyá Cūn |l = Redcliff Village }}}} at the edge of the traditional Tibetan region of Amdo in what is today Qinghai Province.Thomas Laird, [https://books.google.com/books?id=As_4aQjGaUEC The Story of Tibet. Conversations with the Dalai Lama] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240328121334/https://books.google.com/books?id=As_4aQjGaUEC |date=28 March 2024 }}, Grove Press: New York, 2006.

He was one of seven siblings to survive childhood and one of the three supposed reincarnated Rinpoches in the same family. His eldest sister Tsering Dolma, was 16 years his senior and was midwife to his mother at his birth.{{Cite book|title=The 14th Dalai Lama|last=Stewart|first=Whitney|date=2000|publisher=Lerner Publications Co|isbn=0-8225-9691-1|location=Minneapolis|oclc=44627126}} She would accompany him into exile and found Tibetan Children's Villages.{{Cite book|title=Kundun : une biographie du Dalaï-Lama et de sa famille|last=Craig|first=Mary|date=1998|publisher=Presses du Châtelet|others=Bstan-ʼdzin-rgya-mtsho, Dalai Lama XIV, 1935–, Vidonne, François|isbn=2-911217-33-0|location=[S.l.]|oclc=40821251}} His eldest brother, Thupten Jigme Norbu, had been recognised at the age of three by the 13th Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the high Lama, the 6th Taktser Rinpoche.{{cite web|last=Gittings|first=John|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/sep/08/tibet|title=Obituary:Thubten Jigme Norbu|work=The Guardian|date=7 September 2008|access-date=13 October 2021|archive-date=10 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810130435/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/sep/08/tibet|url-status=live}} His fifth brother, Tendzin Choegyal, had been recognised as the 16th Ngari Rinpoche.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} His sister, Jetsun Pema, spent most of her adult life on the Tibetan Children's Villages project.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} The Dalai Lama has said that his first language was "a broken Xining language which was (a dialect of) the Chinese language," a form of Central Plains Mandarin, and his family speaks neither Amdo Tibetan nor Lhasa Tibetan.Thomas Laird, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NH5vuMA7LYcC The Story of Tibet: Conversations With the Dalai Lama] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301214917/https://books.google.com/books?id=NH5vuMA7LYcC |date=1 March 2020 }}, p. 262 (2007) "At that time in my village", he said, "we spoke a broken Chinese. As a child, I spoke Chinese first, but it was a broken Xining language which was (a dialect of) the Chinese language." "So your first language", I responded, "was a broken Chinese regional dialect, which we might call Xining Chinese. It was not Tibetan. You learned Tibetan when you came to Lhasa." "Yes", he answered, "that is correct{{nbsp}}..."{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ub8aAQAAMAAJ |title = The economist, Volume 390, Issues 8618–8624 |year = 2009 |publisher = Economist Newspaper Ltd. |page = 144 |access-date = 14 August 2015 |archive-date = 3 January 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200103010505/https://books.google.com/books?id=ub8aAQAAMAAJ |url-status = live }}[http://www.economist.com/node/13184937 Politically incorrect tourism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160306053755/http://www.economist.com/node/13184937 |date=6 March 2016 }}, The Economist, 26 February 2009: "When the Dalai Lama was born, the region, regarded by Tibetans as part of Amdo, a province of their historic homeland, was under the control of a Muslim warlord, Ma Bufang. The Dalai Lama and his family didn't learn Tibetan until they moved to Lhasa in 1939."

File:The 14th Dalal Lama as a child, 1940s.jpg

After the demise of the 13th Dalai Lama, in 1935, the Ordinance of Lama Temple Management{{efn|{{lang-zh|管理喇嘛寺廟條例}}}}{{cite wikisource |title=管理喇嘛寺廟條例 |trans-title=Regulations on the Management of Lama Temples |wslink=管理喇嘛寺廟條例 |date= 1935 |language=zh |wslanguage=zh}}{{cite web |url=https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=D0100005 |script-title=zh:廢 管理喇嘛寺廟條例 |date=11 June 1992 |website=Laws & Regulations Database of The Republic of China |trans-title=Abolish the Regulations on Management of Lama Temples |access-date=10 August 2021 |archive-date=10 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210810070222/https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=D0100005 |url-status=live }} was published by the Central Government. In 1936, the Method of Reincarnation of Lamas{{efn|{{lang-zh|喇嘛轉世辦法}}}}{{cite wikisource |title=喇嘛轉世辦法 |trans-title=Lama reincarnation method |wslink=喇嘛轉世辦法 |date= 1936|language=zh |wslanguage=zh}}{{cite web |url=https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=D0100011 |script-title=zh:廢 喇嘛轉世辦法 |trans-title=Abolish the method of reincarnation |date=20 February 1993 |website=Laws & Regulations Database of The Republic of China |access-date=10 August 2021 |archive-date=10 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210810070220/https://law.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=D0100011 |url-status=live }} was published by the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission of the Central Government. Article 3 states that death of lamas, including the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama, should be reported to the commission, soul boys should be located and checked by the commission, and a lot-drawing ceremony with the Golden Urn system should be held. Article 6 states that local governments should invite officials from the Central Government to take care of the sitting-in-the-bed ceremony. Article 7 states that soul boys should not be sought from current lama families. This article echoes what the Qianlong Emperor described in The Discourse of Lama to eliminate greedy families with multiple reincarnated rinpoches, lamas.去转生一族之私 Based on custom and regulation, the regent was actively involved in the search for the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.

Following reported signs and visions, three search teams were sent out to the north-east, the east, and the south-east to locate the new incarnation when the boy who was to become the 14th Dalai Lama was about two years old.Bell 1946, p. 397. Sir Basil Gould, British delegate to Lhasa in 1936, related his account of the north-eastern team to Sir Charles Alfred Bell, former British resident in Lhasa and friend of the 13th Dalai Lama. Among other omens, the head of the embalmed body of the 13th Dalai Lama, at first facing south-east, had turned to face the north-east, indicating, it was interpreted, the direction in which his successor would be found. The Regent, Reting Rinpoche, shortly afterwards had a vision at the sacred lake of Lhamo La-tso which he interpreted as Amdo being the region to search. This vision was also interpreted to refer to a large monastery with a gilded roof and turquoise tiles, and a twisting path from there to a hill to the east, opposite which stood a small house with distinctive eaves. The team, led by Kewtsang Rinpoche, went first to meet the Panchen Lama, who had been stuck in Jyekundo, in northern Kham.

The Panchen Lama had been investigating births of unusual children in the area ever since the death of the 13th Dalai Lama.Laird 2006, p. 265. He gave Kewtsang the names of three boys whom he had discovered and identified as candidates. Within a year the Panchen Lama had died. Two of his three candidates were crossed off the list but the third, a "fearless" child, the most promising, was from Taktser village, which, as in the vision, was on a hill, at the end of a trail leading to Taktser from the great Kumbum Monastery with its gilded, turquoise roof. There they found a house, as interpreted from the vision—the house where Lhamo Dhondup lived.

The 14th Dalai Lama claims that at the time, the village of Taktser stood right on the "real border" between the region of Amdo and China.Laird 2006, pp. 262–263. According to the search lore, when the team visited, posing as pilgrims, its leader, a Sera Lama, pretended to be the servant and sat separately in the kitchen. He held an old mala that had belonged to the 13th Dalai Lama, and the boy Lhamo Dhondup, aged two, approached and asked for it. The monk said "if you know who I am, you can have it." The child said "Sera Lama, Sera Lama" and spoke with him in a Lhasa accent, in a dialect the boy's mother could not understand. The next time the party returned to the house, they revealed their real purpose and asked permission to subject the boy to certain tests. One test consisted of showing him various pairs of objects, one of which had belonged to the 13th Dalai Lama and one which had not. In every case, he chose the Dalai Lama's own objects and rejected the others.Laird 2006, pp. 265–266.

File:DLHaus.jpg, Amdo]]

From 1936 the Hui "Ma clique" Muslim warlord Ma Bufang ruled Qinghai as its governor under the nominal authority of the Republic of China central government.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=drGGEsi1fFEC&q=ma+bufang+paintings&pg=PA36|title=Beyond the Great Wall: urban form and transformation on the Chinese frontiers|author=Piper Rae Gaubatz|year=1996|publisher=Stanford University Press|page=36|isbn=0-8047-2399-0|access-date=28 June 2010|archive-date=8 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201208213215/https://books.google.com/books?id=drGGEsi1fFEC&q=ma+bufang+paintings&pg=PA36|url-status=live}} According to an interview with the 14th Dalai Lama, in the 1930s, Ma Bufang had seized this north-east corner of Amdo in the name of Chiang Kai-shek's weak government and incorporated it into the Chinese province of Qinghai.Laird 2006, p. 262. Before going to Taktser, Kewtsang had gone to Ma Bufang to pay his respects. When Ma Bufang heard a candidate had been found in Taktser, he had the family brought to him in Xining.Mullin 2001, p. 459. He first demanded proof that the boy was the Dalai Lama, but the Lhasa government, though informed by Kewtsang that this was the one, told Kewtsang to say he had to go to Lhasa for further tests with other candidates. They knew that if he was declared to be the Dalai Lama, the Chinese government would insist on sending a large army escort with him, which would then stay in Lhasa and refuse to budge.Bell 1946, p. 398.

Ma Bufang, together with Kumbum Monastery, then refused to allow him to depart unless he was declared to be the Dalai Lama, but withdrew this demand in return for 100,000 Chinese dollars ransom in silver to be shared among them, to let them go to Lhasa.Richardson 1984, p. 152. Kewtsang managed to raise this, but the family was only allowed to move from Xining to Kumbum when a further demand was made for another 330,000 dollars ransom: 100,000 each for government officials, the commander-in-chief, and the Kumbum Monastery; 20,000 for the escort; and only 10,000 for Ma Bufang himself, he said.Bell 1946, pp. 398–399.

Two years of diplomatic wrangling followed before it was accepted by Lhasa that the ransom had to be paid to avoid the Chinese getting involved and escorting him to Lhasa with a large army.Richardson 1984, pp. 152–153. Meanwhile, the boy was kept at Kumbum where two of his brothers were already studying as monks and recognised incarnate lamas.Laird 2006, p. 267. The payment of 300,000 silver dollars was then advanced by Muslim traders en route to Mecca in a large caravan via Lhasa. They paid Ma Bufang on behalf of the Tibetan government against promissory notes to be redeemed, with interest, in Lhasa.Richardson 1984, p. 153. The 20,000-dollar fee for an escort was dropped, since the Muslim merchants invited them to join their caravan for protection; Ma Bufang sent 20 of his soldiers with them and was paid from both sides since the Chinese government granted him another 50,000 dollars for the expenses of the journey. Furthermore, the Indian government helped the Tibetans raise the ransom funds by affording them import concessions.

On 22 September 1938, representatives of Tibet Office in Beijing informed Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission that 3 candidates were found and ceremony of Golden Urn would be held in Tibet.[https://www.taoshumi.com/subject/D5/1995/524718.html]{{Dead link|date=June 2023|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} 1938年9月22日，西藏驻京办事处代表阿旺桑丹、格登恪典、图丹桑结等电告蒙藏委员会报告寻获灵儿，并将其送西藏掣签认定，电称："达赖佛转世事，经民众代表寻访结果，西藏内部寻得灵异幼童2名，西宁塔尔寺方面寻得灵异幼童1名。依照西藏宗教仪式，所寻选之幼童应聚集西藏，降驾掣签，认定真正达赖之转世，既多灵异后，复经庄严之金本巴瓶内典礼拈之。现典礼期将近，关于西宁塔尔寺地方所寻选者，请中央政府俯允该主持人员，迅将寻选幼童送至西藏，参加典礼并恳发给执照，以利行程。" On 22 September 1938, representatives of Tibet Office in Beijing informed Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission via telegraph which says "as for the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, as a result of a search by representatives of the people, two supernatural children were found in Tibet, and one supernatural child was found in Xining. According to Tibetan religious ceremonies, the selected young children should gather in Tibet, Golden Urn ceremony should be held, and determine that the true reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. The ceremony is approaching. Regarding the candidates for the Taer Monastery in Xining, the central government is requested to host, and promptly send the selected children to Tibet, participate in the ceremony and issue approval to facilitate the itinerary."

In October 1938, the Method of Using Golden Urn for the 14th Dalai Lama was drafted by Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission.{{cite web |title=【边疆时空】喜饶尼玛 李双｜国民政府管理藏传佛教活佛措施评析 |url=https://www.sohu.com/a/461098896_523177 |website=Sohu |access-date=20 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221001024741/https://www.sohu.com/a/461098896_523177 |archive-date=1 October 2022 |language=zh |date=16 April 2021 |quote=蒙藏委员会于1938年10月拟定了《十四世达赖喇嘛转世掣签征认办法》 |trans-quote=The Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission drafted the "Method of Using Golden Urn for the 14th Dalai Lama" in October 1938. |url-status=live}}

On 12 December 1938, regent Jamphel Yeshe Gyaltsen, the serving Reting Rinpoche, informed the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission that three candidates were found and ceremony of Golden Urn would be held.{{citation |script-title=zh:1938年12月12日热振摄政致蒙藏委员会电报称“达赖大师转世之化身三灵儿，已蒙转电青海省政府督促纪仓佛速将西宁所选灵儿送来拉萨，良深感慰。所有中央派员参加办法一则，业经与司伦、噶厦商议，三灵儿迎到后，举行掣签典礼之际，为昭大信，悦遐迩计，中央当派员参加。” |trans-title=For the three candidates of reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, request has been sent to the Qinghai Provincial Government to urge to send candidate of Xining to Lhasa, which is deeply gratified. All members of the Central Committee, along with Kashag, when three candidates arrived, lottery ceremony would be held, the Central (Government) should dispatch officials to participate. }}

Released from Kumbum, on 21 July 1939 the party travelled across Tibet on a journey to Lhasa in the large Muslim caravan with Lhamo Dhondup, now four years old, riding with his brother Lobsang in a special palanquin carried by two mules, two years after being discovered. As soon as they were out of Ma Bufang's area, he was officially declared to be the 14th Dalai Lama by the Kashag, and after ten weeks of travel he arrived in Lhasa on 8 October 1939.Laird 2006, pp. 268–269. The ordination (pabbajja) and giving of the monastic name of Tenzin Gyatso were arranged by Reting Rinpoche and according to the Dalai Lama "I received my ordination from Kyabjé Ling Rinpoché in the Jokhang in Lhasa."{{cite news |title=Avalokiteshvara Empowerment - Second Day |url=https://www.dalailama.com/news/2022/avalokiteshvara-empowerment-second-day |access-date=9 June 2022 |publisher=Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama |date=2 June 2022 |archive-date=2 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602162848/https://www.dalailama.com/news/2022/avalokiteshvara-empowerment-second-day |url-status=live }} There was very limited Chinese involvement at this time.{{cite news |date=19 March 2015 |title=The Golden Urn: Even China Accepts That Only the Dalai Lama Can Legitimise Its Rule in Tibet |url=https://www.economist.com/news/china/21646795-even-china-accepts-only-dalai-lama-can-legitimise-its-rule-tibet-golden-urn |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170930035821/https://www.economist.com/news/china/21646795-even-china-accepts-only-dalai-lama-can-legitimise-its-rule-tibet-golden-urn |archive-date=30 September 2017 |access-date=29 September 2017 |newspaper=The Economist}} The family of the 14th Dalai Lama was elevated to the highest stratum of the Tibetan aristocracy and acquired land and serf holdings, as with the families of previous Dalai Lamas.{{cite book |author1=Melvyn C. Goldstein |editor1-last=Tuttle |editor1-first=Gray |editor2-last=Schaeffer |editor2-first=Kurtis R. |title=The Tibetan History Reader |date=2013 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-231-14468-1 |page=482 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=REweJ02Xel8C |access-date=17 February 2022 |chapter=The Circulation of Estates in Tibet: Reincarnation, Land, and Politics |quote=The corporations of the regents were not the only ones to acquire numerous estates and serfs. So too did the families of the Dalai Lamas. The (natal) family of the Dalai Lama was "ennobled" and became a part of the highest stratum of the Tibetan aristocracy. Each such family received estates sufficient to match, on an economic scale, their newly found social status...Certainly [the family of the fourteenth Dalai Lama] acquired huge land and serf holdings. |archive-date=23 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221023050422/https://books.google.com/books?id=REweJ02Xel8C |url-status=live }}

In 1959, at the age of 23, he took his final examination at Lhasa's Jokhang Temple during the annual Monlam Prayer Festival.{{Efn|It has been noted that two of the examining debate partners of the 14th Dalai Lama were Kyabje Choden Rinpoche of Sera monastery (Jey College), who debated with him on the topic of the two truths doctrine ({{bo |w = bden pa gnyis, }}) and Khyongla Rato Rinpoche.{{cite web |url = http://www.kurukulla.org/program/choden_articles/debating.html |title = Debating with the Dalai Lama |access-date = 24 January 2019 |archive-date = 12 October 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201012090001/http://www.kurukulla.org/program/choden_articles/debating.html |url-status = live }}}}{{cite web |last1=Vreeland |first1=Khen Rinpoche Nicholas |title=Rinpoche has Departed, A prayer for a Swift Return composed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama |url=https://nicholasvreeland.com/blog/2022/6/1/rinpoche-has-departed |website=nicholasvreeland.com |date=June 2022 |publisher=Office of His Holiness the Dalia Lama |access-date=9 June 2022 |archive-date=1 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601150803/https://nicholasvreeland.com/blog/2022/6/1/rinpoche-has-departed |url-status=live }} He passed with honours and was awarded the Lharampa degree, the highest-level geshe degree, roughly equivalent to a doctorate in Buddhist philosophy.{{cite news |url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1347735.stm |title = Profile: The Dalai Lama |work = BBC News |date = 25 February 2009 |access-date = 31 December 2009 |archive-date = 23 April 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090423190123/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/1347735.stm |url-status = live }}{{cite book |last = Cronin Marcello |first = Patricia |title = The Dalai Lama: A Biography |publisher = Greenwood Press |year = 2003 |url = https://archive.org/details/dalailamabiograp00patr |url-access = registration |isbn = 978-0-313-32207-5 |access-date = 5 December 2010 }}

According to the Dalai Lama, he had a succession of tutors in Tibet including Reting Rinpoche, Tathag Rinpoche, Ling Rinpoche and lastly Trijang Rinpoche, who became junior tutor when he was 19.{{cite book |last1=Lama|first1=Dalai |title = Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama. |url=https://archive.org/details/freedominexileau00bsta|url-access=registration|date = 1990 |publisher = HarperCollins|location=New York, NY |isbn = 0-06-039116-2 |page = [https://archive.org/details/freedominexileau00bsta/page/18 18]|edition=1st}} At the age of 11 he met the Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer, who became his videographer and tutor about the world outside Lhasa. The two remained friends until Harrer's death in 2006.{{cite video |people = Peter Graves (host) |date = 26 April 2005 |title = Dalai Lama: Soul of Tibet |publisher = A&E Television Networks|time=08:00}}

File:Potala Palace, Tibet.jpg, today a UNESCO World Heritage Site, 2019]]

Historically the Dalai Lamas or their regents held political and religious leadership over Tibet from Lhasa with varying degrees of influence depending on the regions of Tibet and periods of history. This began with the 5th Dalai Lama's rule in 1642 and lasted until the 1950s (except for 1705–1750), during which period the Dalai Lamas headed the Tibetan government or Ganden Phodrang. Until 1912 however, when the 13th Dalai Lama declared the complete independence of Tibet, their rule was generally subject to patronage and protection of firstly Mongol kings (1642–1720) and then the Manchu-led Qing dynasty (1720–1912).{{cite book|author1=Smith, Warren W. Jr.|title=Tibetan Nation: A History of Tibetan Nationalism and Sino-Tibetan Relations|date=1997|publisher=HarperCollins|location=New Delhi|isbn=0-8133-3155-2|pages=107–149}}

During the Dalai Lama's recognition process, the cultural anthropologist Melvyn Goldstein writes that "everything the Tibetans did during the selection process was designed to prevent China from playing any role.”{{cite book |last=Goldstein |first=Melvyn C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Upwq0I-wm7YC&pg=PA328 |title=A History of Modern Tibet, 1913–1951: The Demise of the Lamaist State |date=18 June 1991 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-91176-5 |pages=328ff |access-date=12 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190723165025/https://books.google.com/books?id=Upwq0I-wm7YC |archive-date=23 July 2019 |url-status=live}}{{cite book |last1=Powers |first1=John |title=The Buddha Party: How the People's Republic of China Works to Define and Control Tibetan Buddhism}}

Afterwards in 1939, at the age of four, the Dalai Lama was taken in a procession of lamas to Lhasa. Former British officials stationed in India and Tibet recalled that envoys from Britain and China were present at the Dalai Lama's enthronement in February 1940. According to Basil Gould, the Chinese representative Wu Chunghsin was reportedly unhappy about the position he had during the ceremony. Afterward an article appeared in the Chinese press falsely claiming that Wu personally announced the installation of the Dalai Lama, who supposedly prostrated himself to Wu in gratitude.Gould, B.J., The Jewel In The Lotus London: Chatto and Windus, 1957Bell 1946, p. 400.File:Map of Tibet- "TIBET CONFIDENTIAL" "Ethnographic Boundary of Tibet" "Approximate Line of Communist Advance" and "Reportedly occupied by Communists" "11518, CIA, 2-50" February 1950 map- 305945 11518 01.jpg advance in 1950]]After his enthronement, the Dalai Lama's childhood was then spent between the Potala Palace and Norbulingka, his summer residence, both of which are now UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Chiang Kai Shek ordered Ma Bufang to put his Muslim soldiers on alert for an invasion of Tibet in 1942.{{cite journal |title = War or Stratagem? Reassessing China's Military Advance towards Tibet, 1942–1943 |journal = The China Quarterly |volume = 186 |pages = 446–462 |last=Lin|first=Hsiao-ting |doi = 10.1017/S0305741006000233 |year = 2006 |s2cid = 154376402 | issn=0305-7410}} Ma Bufang complied, and moved several thousand troops to the border with Tibet.{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4_BxAAAAMAAJ&q=ma+bufang+ |title = China in the anti-Japanese War, 1937–1945: politics, culture and society |author1 = David P. Barrett |author2 = Lawrence N. Shyu |year = 2001 |publisher = Peter Lang |isbn = 978-0-8204-4556-4 |page = 240 |access-date = 28 June 2010 |archive-date = 24 June 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210624211228/https://books.google.com/books?id=4_BxAAAAMAAJ&q=ma+bufang+ |url-status = live }} Chiang also threatened the Tibetans with aerial bombardment if they worked with the Japanese. Ma Bufang attacked the Tibetan Buddhist Tsang monastery in 1941.{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=m1RuAAAAMAAJ|title = Inner Asia, Volume 4, Issues 1–2|author = University of Cambridge. Mongolia & Inner Asia Studies Unit|year = 2002|publisher = The White Horse Press for the Mongolia and Inner Asia Studies Unit at the University of Cambridge|page = 204|access-date = 28 June 2010|archive-date = 27 April 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160427132150/https://books.google.com/books?id=m1RuAAAAMAAJ|url-status = live}} He also constantly attacked the Labrang monastery.{{cite book |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xGvECiS-uEgC&pg=PA35 |title = Labrang: a Tibetan Buddhist monastery at the crossroads of four civilizations |author = Paul Kocot Nietupski |year = 1999 |publisher = Snow Lion Publications |page = 35 |isbn = 978-1-55939-090-3 |access-date = 14 August 2015 |archive-date = 5 February 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170205084013/https://books.google.com/books?id=xGvECiS-uEgC&pg=PA35 |url-status = live }}

In October 1950 the army of the People's Republic of China marched to the edge of the Dalai Lama's territory and sent a delegation after defeating a legion of the Tibetan army in warlord-controlled Kham. On 17 November 1950, at the age of 15, the 14th Dalai Lama assumed full temporal (political) power as ruler of Tibet.

File:Dalai lama, panchen lama and Mao in Beijing, 1954.jpg (left), Mao and Dalai Lama (right) at Qinzheng Hall on 11 September 1954, four days before they attended the 1st National People's Congress]]

File:Mao Zedong, Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama.jpg and Zhou Enlai meeting with Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama to celebrate Tibetan New Year, 1955]]

File:Dalai and Panchen.jpg (left). 1954–1955.]]

The Dalai Lama's formal rule as head of the government in Tibet was brief although he was enthroned as spiritual leader on 22 February 1940. When Chinese cadres entered Tibet in 1950, with a crisis looming, the Dalai Lama was asked to assume the role of head of state at the age of 15, which he did on 17 November 1950. Customarily the Dalai Lama would typically assume control at about the age of 20.{{cite web |last1=Lopez |first1=Donald S. |title=14th Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhist monk |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dalai-Lama-14th |website=britannica.com |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica |access-date=10 June 2022 |archive-date=11 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191011004521/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dalai-Lama-14th |url-status=live }}

He sent a delegation to Beijing, which ratified the Seventeen Point Agreement without his authorisation in 1951.Goldstein, Melvyn C., A History of Modern Tibet, 1913–1951, University of California Press, 1989, pp. 812–813. The Dalai Lama believes the draft agreement was written by China. Tibetan representatives were not allowed to suggest any alterations and China did not allow the Tibetan representatives to communicate with the Tibetan government in Lhasa. The Tibetan delegation was not authorised by Lhasa to sign, but ultimately submitted to pressure from the Chinese to sign anyway, using seals specifically made for the purpose.{{cite book |last1=Powers |first1=John |title=History as Propaganda: Tibetan Exiles versus the People's Republic of China |date=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-517426-7 |page=113 |doi=10.1093/0195174267.001.0001 |url=https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/0195174267.001.0001/acprof-9780195174267 |access-date=10 June 2022 |archive-date=10 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220610025745/https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/0195174267.001.0001/acprof-9780195174267 |url-status=live }} The Seventeen Point Agreement recognised Chinese sovereignty over Tibet, but China allowed the Dalai Lama to continue to rule Tibet internally, and it allowed the system of feudal peasantry to persist.{{cite book |author1=Melvyn Goldstein |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RmZhAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA194 |title=Governing China's Multiethnic Frontiers |date=2004 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=0-295-98390-6 |editor1-last=Rossabi |editor1-first=Morris |location=Seattle |pages=193–194 |language=en |chapter=Tibet and China in the Twentieth Century |quote=Tibet, it said, had the right to exercise regional autonomy under leadership of the central PRC government. This meant that the CCP allowed the feudal system, with its serflike peasantry, to persist, and it allowed the Dalai Lama's government to continue to rule Tibet internally in accordance with its own language and traditional laws. |access-date=17 February 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240512063244/https://books.google.ca/books?id=RmZhAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA193&redir_esc=y%23v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=12 May 2024 |url-status=live}}

Scholar Robert Barnett wrote of the serfdom controversy: "So even if it were agreed that serfdom and feudalism existed in Tibet, this would be little different other than in technicalities from conditions in any other 'premodern' peasant society, including most of China at that time. The power of the Chinese argument therefore lies in its implication that serfdom, and with it feudalism, is inseparable from extreme abuse. Evidence to support this linkage has not been found by scholars other than those close to Chinese governmental circles. Goldstein, for example, notes that although the system was based on serfdom, it was not necessarily feudal, and he refutes any automatic link with extreme abuse."{{cite book |last1=Barnett |first1=Robert |author-link=Robert Barnett (scholar) |url=https://info-buddhism.com/Human-Rights-in-Tibet-before-1959_Robert_Barnett.html |title=Authenticating Tibet: Answers to China's 100 Questions |date=2008 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520249288 |location=Berkeley, CA |pages=81–84 |language=en |access-date=10 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210708014121/https://info-buddhism.com/Human-Rights-in-Tibet-before-1959_Robert_Barnett.html |archive-date=8 July 2021 |url-status=live}}

The 19-year-old Dalai Lama toured China for almost a year from 1954 to 1955, meeting many of the revolutionary leaders and the top echelon of the Chinese communist leadership who created modern China. He learned Chinese and socialist ideals, as explained by his Chinese hosts, on a tour of China showcasing the benefits of socialism and the effective governance provided to turn the large, impoverished nation into a modern and egalitarian society, which impressed him.{{cite news |last1=Samphel |first1=Thubten |title=The Dalai Lama's China Experience and Its Impact |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-dalai-lamas-china-experience-and-its-impact_b_7068928 |access-date=10 June 2022 |publisher=Huffington Post |date=15 April 2015 |archive-date=31 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131131319/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-dalai-lamas-china-experience-and-its-impact_b_7068928 |url-status=live }} In September 1954, he went to the Chinese capital to meet Chairman Mao Zedong with the 10th Panchen Lama and attend the first session of the National People's Congress as a delegate, primarily discussing China's constitution.Goldstein, M.C., A History of Modern Tibet, Volume 2 – The Calm before the Storm: 1951–1955, p. 493.[http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/30/content_3422747.htm Ngapoi recalls the founding of the TAR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013180003/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-08/30/content_3422747.htm|date=13 October 2007}}, Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme, China View, 30 August 2005. On 27 September 1954, the Dalai Lama was selected as a Vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress,Goldstein, M.C., A History of Modern Tibet, Volume 2 – The Calm before the Storm: 1951–1955, p. 496.{{cite web |url = http://voyage.typepad.com/china/2007/01/chairman_mao_lo.html |title=Chairman Mao: Long Live Dalai Lama! |publisher=Voyage.typepad.com |date=21 January 2007 |access-date=2 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100505143746/http://voyage.typepad.com/china/2007/01/chairman_mao_lo.html |archive-date=5 May 2010 }} a post he officially held until 1964.《国务院关于撤销达赖喇嘛·丹增嘉措职务的决定》（一九六四年十二月十七日国务院全体会议第一五一次会议通过）: "西藏自治区筹备委员会主任委员达赖喇嘛·丹增嘉措，一九五九年发动叛国的反革命武装叛乱。在逃往国外以后，组织流亡伪政府，公布伪宪法，支持印度反动派对我国的侵略，并积极组织和训练逃亡国外的残匪骚扰祖国边境。这一切都证明他早已自绝于祖国和人民，是一个死心塌地为帝国主义和外国反动派作走狗的叛国分子。国务院根据西藏地方人民的要求，决定撤销达赖喇嘛·丹增嘉措的西藏自治区筹备委员会主任委员和委员的职务。"

On 17 December 1964, the 151st meeting of the plenary session of the State Council approved: The Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region Preparatory Committee, launched a treasonous counter-revolutionary armed rebellion in 1959. After fleeing abroad, he organized a pseudo-government in exile, promulgated a pseudo-constitution, supported the Indian reactionaries' aggression against our country, and actively organized and trained bandits who fled abroad to harass the motherland's borders. All this proves that he has terminated himself from the motherland and the people, and he is a traitor who is desperately running for the imperialism and foreign reactionaries. The State Council decided to remove the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso's duties as chairman and member of the Tibet Autonomous Region Preparatory Committee in accordance with the request of the local people in Tibet.{{Cite news |url = http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/6284184.html |title = Official: Dalai Lama's U.S. award not to affect Tibet's stability |date = 16 October 2007 |access-date = 28 August 2010 |publisher = People's Daily |work = 17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party |archive-date = 30 November 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111130105921/http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/6284184.html |url-status = live }}

{{blockquote|Mao Zedong who, "according to the Tibetan leader, treated him as a 'father would treat a son,'" "also showed Tibet’s political leader and its foremost spiritual master its ambivalence to Tibetan Buddhism. The Dalai Lama recounts this episode in his autobiography, My Land and My People,

'A few days later I had a message from Mao Tse-tung to say that he was coming to see me in an hour’s time. When he arrived he said he had merely come to call. Then something made him say that Buddhism was quite a good religion, and Lord Buddha, although he was a prince, had given a good deal of thought to the question of improving the conditions of the people. He also observed that the Goddess Tara was a kind-hearted woman. After a very few minutes, he left. I was quite bewildered by these remarks and did not know what to make of them.'

The comments Mao made during their last meeting shocked the Dalai Lama beyond belief. 'My final interview with this remarkable man was toward the end of my visit to China. I was at a meeting of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly when I received a message asking me to go to see him at this house. By then, I had been able to complete a tour of the Chinese provinces, and I was able to tell him truthfully that I had been greatly impressed and interested by all the development projects I had seen. Then he started to give me a long lecture about the true form of democracy, and advised me how to become a leader of the people and how to take heed of their suggestions. And then he edged closer to me on his chair and whispered:

'I understand you very well. But of course, religion is poison. It has two great defects: It undermines the race, and secondly it retards the progress of the country. Tibet and Mongolia have both been poisoned by it.'"{{cite web |last1=Samphel |first1=Thubten |title=The Dalai Lama's China Experience and Its Impact |url=https://tibet.net/the-dalai-lamas-china-experience-and-its-impact/ |website=tibet.net |date=16 April 2015 |publisher=Huffington Post |access-date=17 August 2022 |archive-date=6 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230306151637/https://tibet.net/the-dalai-lamas-china-experience-and-its-impact/ |url-status=live }} In his autobiography, Freedom In Exile, the Dalai Lama recalls: "How could he have thought I was not religious to the core of my being?'"{{cite news |last1=Douglas |first1=Ed |title=The Dalai Lama: The lost horizons |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/may/08/books.guardianreview9 |access-date=10 June 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=7 May 1999 |archive-date=10 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220610025745/https://www.theguardian.com/books/1999/may/08/books.guardianreview9 |url-status=live }}}}

File:Dalai Lama in 1956 in New Delhi.jpg

In 1956, on a trip to India to celebrate the Buddha's Birthday, the Dalai Lama asked the Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, if he would allow him political asylum should he choose to stay. Nehru discouraged this as a provocation against peace, and reminded him of the Indian Government's non-interventionist stance agreed upon with its 1954 treaty with China.

Long called a "splittist" and "traitor" by China,{{cite news |last1=Burns |first1=John F. |title=Dalai Lama Finds China's Threats A Subject for Humor and Anxiety |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/06/world/dalai-lama-finds-china-s-threats-a-subject-for-humor-and-anxiety.html |access-date=22 October 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=6 March 1996 |archive-date=22 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022173733/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/06/world/dalai-lama-finds-china-s-threats-a-subject-for-humor-and-anxiety.html |url-status=live }} the Dalai Lama has attempted formal talks over Tibet's status in China.{{cite news |last1=Baker |first1=Peter |last2=Pomfret |first2=John |title=Dalai Lama Delays Plan for Formal Talks With China |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/china/stories/dalai111198.htm |access-date=22 October 2019 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=11 November 1998 |archive-date=22 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022221801/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/inatl/longterm/china/stories/dalai111198.htm |url-status=live }} In 2019, after the United States passed a law requiring the US to deny visas to Chinese officials in charge of implementing policies that restrict foreign access to Tibet, the US Ambassador to China "encouraged the Chinese government to engage in substantive dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives, without preconditions, to seek a settlement that resolves differences".{{cite news |last1=Martina |first1=Michael |title=U.S. ambassador urges China to talk to the Dalai Lama |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-usa-tibet/us-ambassador-urges-china-to-talk-to-the-dalai-lama-idUSKCN1SW01C |access-date=28 January 2020 |publisher=Reuters |date=25 May 2019 |archive-date=28 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200128150753/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-usa-tibet/us-ambassador-urges-china-to-talk-to-the-dalai-lama-idUSKCN1SW01C |url-status=live }}

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has warned the US and other countries to "shun" the Dalai Lama during visits and often uses trade negotiations and human rights talks as an incentive to do so.{{cite news |last1=Blanchard |first1=Ben |title=China says no excuses for foreign officials meeting Dalai Lama |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-congress-tibet/china-says-no-excuses-for-foreign-officials-meeting-dalai-lama-idUSKBN1CQ057 |access-date=22 October 2019 |work=Reuters |date=21 October 2017 |archive-date=22 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022173732/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-congress-tibet/china-says-no-excuses-for-foreign-officials-meeting-dalai-lama-idUSKBN1CQ057 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Miglani |first1=Sanjeev |title=Dalai Lama faces cold shoulder as India looks to improve China ties |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-china/dalai-lama-faces-cold-shoulder-as-india-looks-to-improve-china-ties-idUSKBN1H51O7 |access-date=22 October 2019 |publisher=Reuters |date=29 March 2018 |archive-date=22 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022173733/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-china/dalai-lama-faces-cold-shoulder-as-india-looks-to-improve-china-ties-idUSKBN1H51O7 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Stobdan |first1=Phunchok |title=Dalai Lama is at the centre of a new great game in Himalayas between India, China & Tibet |url=https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/dalai-lama-at-centre-of-new-great-game-himalaya-india-china-tibet/308985/ |access-date=22 October 2019 |agency=Printline Media |publisher=The Print |date=22 October 2019 |archive-date=22 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022140428/https://theprint.in/pageturner/excerpt/dalai-lama-at-centre-of-new-great-game-himalaya-india-china-tibet/308985/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Ramzy |first1=Austin |title=Obama and Dalai Lama Meet Over China's Objection |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/16/world/asia/obama-dalai-lama-meeting.html |access-date=22 October 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=15 June 2016 |archive-date=22 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022233610/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/16/world/asia/obama-dalai-lama-meeting.html |url-status=live }} China sporadically bans images of the Dalai Lama and arrests citizens for owning photos of him in Tibet.{{cite news |last1=Wee |first1=Sui-Lee |title=China's ban on displaying Dalai Lama pictures is lifted |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/chinas-ban-on-displaying-dalai-lama-pictures-is-lifted-8677489.html |access-date=22 October 2019 |publisher=Reuters |date=27 June 2013 |archive-date=22 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022175235/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/chinas-ban-on-displaying-dalai-lama-pictures-is-lifted-8677489.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Tenzin |first1=Kunsang |date=29 July 2019 |title=Tibetans Beaten, Detained in Kardze Over Dalai Lama Photos |url=https://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/photos-07292019165028.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191017200451/https://www.rfa.org/english/news/tibet/photos-07292019165028.html |archive-date=17 October 2019 |access-date=22 October 2019 |work=Radio Free Asia}}{{cite news |date=3 February 2016 |title="Severe punishments" for Dalai Lama photos |url=https://freetibet.org/news-media/na/severe-punishments-dalai-lama-photos |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022173744/https://freetibet.org/news-media/na/severe-punishments-dalai-lama-photos |archive-date=22 October 2019 |access-date=22 October 2019 |work=Free Tibet |location=United Kingdom}} Tibet Autonomous Region government job candidates must strongly denounce the Dalai Lama, as announced on the Tibet Autonomous Region government's online education platform,

"Support the (Communist) Party's leadership, resolutely implement the [Chinese Communist] Party's line, line of approach, policies, and the guiding ideology of Tibet work in the new era; align ideologically, politically, and in action with the Party Central Committee; oppose any splittist tendencies; expose and criticize the Dalai Lama; safeguard the unity of the motherland and ethnic unity and take a firm stand on political issues, taking a clear and distinct stand".{{cite news |last1=Patranobis |first1=Sutirtho |date=19 October 2019 |title=Tibetan graduates need to 'expose and criticise Dalai Lama' for Chinese government jobs |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/tibetan-graduates-need-to-expose-and-criticise-dalai-lama-for-chinese-govt-jobs/story-3DiVaJxfScyPUyibtvIcrK.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191020235102/https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/tibetan-graduates-need-to-expose-and-criticise-dalai-lama-for-chinese-govt-jobs/story-3DiVaJxfScyPUyibtvIcrK.html |archive-date=20 October 2019 |access-date=22 October 2019 |work=Hindustan Times}}

In April 2018, the Dalai Lama confirmed Chinese government claims about Gedhun Choekyi Nyima by saying that he knew from "reliable sources" that the Panchen Lama he had recognised was alive and receiving normal education. He said he hoped that the Chinese-recognised Panchen Lama (Gyaincain Norbu) studied well under the guidance of a good teacher, adding that there were instances in Tibetan Buddhist tradition, of a reincarnated lama taking more than one manifestation.[https://www.thestatesman.com/india/11th-panchen-lama-alive-receiving-education-dalai-lama-1502627372.html 11th Panchen Lama alive, receiving education: Dalai Lama] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190513203531/https://www.thestatesman.com/india/11th-panchen-lama-alive-receiving-education-dalai-lama-1502627372.html |date=13 May 2019 }}, The Statesman, 25 April 2018: "Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama on Wednesday said 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima "according to reliable source is alive and receiving normal education". Talking to the media at Gaggal Airport in Kangra district after returning from four-day Delhi visit, Lama hoped that the official Panchen Lama studies well under the guidance of a good teacher. "Then the Panchen Lama, which I recognised sometime back, there was no news, but then according to reliable information, he is still alive and receiving normal education. So we will see," he said. He said there are instances in Tibetan Buddhist tradition, "where a reincarnated lama took more than one manifestation"."Dr. Andrea Galli, [https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2018/05/09/dalai-lama-and-the-panchen-lama-quarrel-the-way-for-rapprochement-with-china/ Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama quarrel: The way for rapprochement with China] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508210435/https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2018/05/09/dalai-lama-and-the-panchen-lama-quarrel-the-way-for-rapprochement-with-china/ |date=8 May 2019 }}, Modern Diplomacy, 9 May 2018.

The Dalai Lama is a target of Chinese state sponsored hacking. Security experts claim "targeting Tibetan activists is a strong indicator of official Chinese government involvement" since economic information is the primary goal of private Chinese hackers.{{cite news |last1=Perlroth |first1=Nicole |title=Case Based in China Puts a Face on Persistent Hacking |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/technology/hacking-in-asia-is-linked-to-chinese-ex-graduate-student.html |access-date=23 October 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=29 March 2012 |archive-date=23 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191023055645/https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/30/technology/hacking-in-asia-is-linked-to-chinese-ex-graduate-student.html |url-status=live }} In 2009 the personal office of the Dalai Lama asked researchers at the Munk Center for International Studies at the University of Toronto to check its computers for malicious software. This led to uncovering GhostNet, a large-scale cyber spying operation which infiltrated at least 1,295 computers in 103 countries, including embassies, foreign ministries, other government offices, and organisations affiliated with the Dalai Lama in India, Brussels, London and New York, and believed to be focusing on the governments of South and Southeast Asia.{{cite news |last1=Markoff |first1=John |title=Vast Spy System Loots Computers in 103 Countries |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/technology/29spy.html |access-date=22 October 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=28 March 2009 |archive-date=1 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090401224950/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/technology/29spy.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Markoff |first1=John |title=Tracking Cyberspies Through the Web Wilderness |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/science/12cyber.html |access-date=22 October 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=11 May 2009 |archive-date=22 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022234433/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/science/12cyber.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7970471.stm|title=Major cyber spy network uncovered|work=BBC News|date=29 March 2009|access-date=22 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120315213515/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7970471.stm|archive-date=15 March 2012|url-status=live}}

A second cyberspy network, Shadow Network, was discovered by the same researchers in 2010. Stolen documents included a year's worth of the Dalai Lama's personal email, and classified government material relating to India, West Africa, the Russian Federation, the Middle East, and NATO. "Sophisticated" hackers were linked to universities in China, Beijing again denied involvement.{{cite news |last1=Branigan |first1=Tania |title=Cyber-spies based in China target Indian government and Dalai Lama |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/apr/06/cyber-spies-china-target-india |access-date=23 October 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=6 April 2010 |archive-date=23 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191023055646/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/apr/06/cyber-spies-china-target-india |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Markoff |first1=John |last2=Barboza |first2=David |title=Researchers Trace Data Theft to Intruders in China |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/science/06cyber.html?pagewanted=all |access-date=23 October 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=5 April 2010 |archive-date=23 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191023055654/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/science/06cyber.html?pagewanted=all |url-status=live }} Chinese hackers posing as The New York Times, Amnesty International and other organisation's reporters targeted the private office of the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Parliament members, and Tibetan nongovernmental organisations, among others, in 2019.{{cite news |last1=Perlroth |first1=Nicole |last2=Conger |first2=Kate |last3=Mozur |first3=Paul |title=China Sharpens Hacking to Hound Its Minorities, Far and Wide |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/22/technology/china-hackers-ethnic-minorities.html |access-date=22 October 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=25 October 2019 |archive-date=22 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022091003/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/22/technology/china-hackers-ethnic-minorities.html |url-status=live }}

File:IMG 1206 Lhasa Potala.jpg. The empty vestment placed on the throne symbolises his absence.]]

File:The 14th Dalai Lama with Lillard Hill in 1959.jpg journalist Lillard Hill in 1959]]

File:The Dalai Lama opens art exhibit in Tokyo, 1967.jpg granted him a visa on the condition he would not attack PRC while in Japan.{{cite news|title=Dalai Lama opens exhibit of Tibetan art at Ueno|url=https://www.stripes.com/news/dalai-lama-opens-exhibit-of-tibetan-art-at-ueno-1.18977|work=Stars and Stripes|date=28 September 1967|access-date=11 May 2021|archive-date=11 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511134035/https://www.stripes.com/news/dalai-lama-opens-exhibit-of-tibetan-art-at-ueno-1.18977|url-status=live}}

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At the outset of the 1959 Tibetan uprising, fearing for his life, the Dalai Lama and his retinue fled Tibet with the help of the CIA's Special Activities Division,The CIA's Secret War in Tibet, Kenneth Conboy, James Morrison, The University Press of Kansas, 2002. crossing into India on 30 March 1959, reaching Tezpur in Assam on 18 April.Richardson (1984), p. 210. Some time later he set up the Government of Tibet in Exile in Dharamshala, India,"Witness: Reporting on the Dalai Lama's escape to India." Peter Jackson. Reuters. 27 February 2009.[https://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSTRE51Q4OB20090227 Witness: Reporting on the Dalai Lama's escape to India| Reuters] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090720072727/http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSTRE51Q4OB20090227 |date=20 July 2009 }} which is often referred to as "Little Lhasa". After the founding of the government in exile he re-established the approximately 80,000 Tibetan refugees who followed him into exile in agricultural settlements.

He created a Tibetan educational system in order to teach the Tibetan children the language, history, religion, and culture. The Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts was established in 1959 and the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies became the primary university for Tibetans in India in 1967. He supported the refounding of 200 monasteries and nunneries in an attempt to preserve Tibetan Buddhist teachings and the Tibetan way of life.

The Dalai Lama appealed to the United Nations on the rights of Tibetans. This appeal resulted in three resolutions adopted by the General Assembly in 1959, 1961, and 1965, all before the People's Republic was allowed representation at the United Nations.{{Cite news|url=http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1971/12295509436546-1/ |title=Events of 1971 |work=Year in Review |year=1971 |publisher=United Press International |access-date=28 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503142809/http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1971/12295509436546-1/ |archive-date=3 May 2009 |url-status=dead}} The resolutions called on China to respect the human rights of Tibetans. In 1963, he promulgated a democratic constitution which is based upon the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, creating an elected parliament and an administration to champion his cause. In 1970, he opened the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamshala which houses over 80,000 manuscripts and important knowledge resources related to Tibetan history, politics and culture. It is considered one of the most important institutions for Tibetology in the world.{{cite web |url = http://www.tibet.com/ltwa.html |title = Library of Tibetan Works and Archives|year=1997 |publisher = Government of Tibet in Exile |access-date = 23 September 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080421150024/http://www.tibet.com/ltwa.html |archive-date=21 April 2008 |url-status=dead }}

In 2016, there were demands from Indian citizens and politicians of different political parties to confer the Dalai Lama the prestigious Bharat Ratna, the highest civilian honour of India, which has only been awarded to a non-Indian citizen twice in its history.{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Bharat-Ratna-demanded-for-Dalai-Lama/articleshow/55877372.cms|title=Bharat Ratna demanded for Dalai Lama|work=The Times of India|date=8 December 2016 |access-date=4 January 2017|archive-date=9 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170109083901/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/bharat-ratna-demanded-for-dalai-lama/articleshow/55877372.cms|url-status=live}}

In 2021, it was revealed that the Dalai Lama's inner circle were listed in the Pegasus project data as having been targeted with spyware on their phones. Analysis strongly indicates potential targets were selected by the Indian government.{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/jul/22/dalai-lama-inner-circle-listed-pegasus-project-data|title=Dalai Lama's inner circle listed in Pegasus project data|website=TheGuardian.com|date=22 July 2021|access-date=3 September 2021|archive-date=4 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210904190127/https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/jul/22/dalai-lama-inner-circle-listed-pegasus-project-data|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/dalai-lamas-inner-circle-listed-in-pegasus-project-data/|title=Dalai Lama's inner circle listed in Pegasus project data|access-date=25 November 2021|archive-date=25 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211125174233/https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/dalai-lamas-inner-circle-listed-in-pegasus-project-data/|url-status=live}}

File:Die Schweiz für Tibet - Tibet für die Welt - GSTF Solidaritätskundgebung am 10 April 2010 in Zürich IMG 5703.JPG (designed by the 13th Dalai Lama) shares the stage with Gyatso in April 2010 in Zurich, Switzerland.|alt=]]

At the Congressional Human Rights Caucus in 1987 in Washington, D.C., the Dalai Lama gave a speech outlining his ideas for the future status of Tibet. The plan called for Tibet to become a democratic "zone of peace" without nuclear weapons, and with support for human rights.{{Citation needed|date=March 2017}} The plan would come to be known as the "Strasbourg proposal," because the Dalai Lama expanded on the plan at Strasbourg on 15 June 1988. There, he proposed the creation of a self-governing Tibet "in association with the People's Republic of China." This would have been pursued by negotiations with the PRC government, but the plan was rejected by the Tibetan Government-in-Exile in 1991.From Article 31 of Charter of the Tibetans-in-exile 1991: "The Council of Regency shall exercise executive powers and authority in the following circumstances: (1)(a) of His Holiness the Dalai Lama has not assumed or retained the powers of the head of the Tibetan Administration and the executive functions therein;" The Dalai Lama has indicated that he wishes to return to Tibet only if the People's Republic of China agrees not to make any precondition for his return.[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/sep/05/china.lukeharding Interview] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211081911/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/sep/05/china.lukeharding |date=11 February 2021 }} with The Guardian, 5 September 2003 In the 1970s, the Paramount leader Deng Xiaoping set China's sole return requirement to the Dalai Lama as that he "must [come back] as a Chinese citizen ... that is, patriotism".{{Cite news |url = http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/01/content_10921943_3.htm |title = Origin of the title of "Dalai Lama" and its related background |date = 1 March 2009 |access-date = 28 August 2010 |first = Jiang |last = Yuxia |publisher = Xinhua |archive-date = 27 September 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110927193359/http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/01/content_10921943_3.htm |url-status = dead }}

The Dalai Lama celebrated his 70th birthday on 6 July 2005. About 10,000 Tibetan refugees, monks and foreign tourists gathered outside his home. Patriarch Alexius II of the Russian Orthodox Church alleged positive relations with Buddhists. However, later that year, the Russian state prevented the Dalai Lama from fulfilling an invitation to the traditionally Buddhist republic of Kalmykia.Fagan, Geraldine. "Russia: How Many Missionaries Now Denied Visas'." Forum 18 News Service. Vol. 7. 2005. The President of the Republic of China (Taiwan), Chen Shui-bian, attended an evening celebrating the Dalai Lama's birthday at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei.{{cite news|title=China keeps up attacks on Dalai Lama |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/east/04/01/taiwan.dalailama.05/ |work=CNN |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061218161849/http://archives.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/east/04/01/taiwan.dalailama.05/ |archive-date=18 December 2006 }} In October 2008 in Japan, the Dalai Lama addressed the 2008 Tibetan violence that had erupted and that the Chinese government accused him of fomenting. He responded that he had "lost faith" in efforts to negotiate with the Chinese government, and that it was "up to the Tibetan people" to decide what to do.{{Cite news |url = http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2008/11/200811382944579283.html |title = Dalai Lama admits Tibet failure |publisher = Al Jazeera |date = 3 November 2008 |access-date = 28 August 2010 |archive-date = 11 March 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090311172035/http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2008/11/200811382944579283.html |url-status = live }}

During his visit to Taiwan after Typhoon Morakot 30 Taiwanese indigenous peoples protested against the Dalai Lama and denounced it as politically motivated.{{cite news |author= AFP |date= 31 August 2009 |title= Protesters accuse Dalai Lama of staging 'political show' in Taiwan |url= http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Asia/Story/A1Story20090831-164580.html |newspaper= asiaone news |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304200902/http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest+News/Asia/Story/A1Story20090831-164580.html |archive-date= 4 March 2016 |url-status= dead }}{{cite news |last= Wang |first= Amber |date= 31 August 2009 |title= Dalai Lama visits Taiwan typhoon victims |url= https://www.smh.com.au//breaking-news-world/dalai-lama-visits-taiwan-typhoon-victims-20090831-f4p7.html |newspaper= The Sydney Morning Herald |access-date= 20 February 2020 |archive-date= 19 October 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171019214943/http://www.smh.com.au//breaking-news-world/dalai-lama-visits-taiwan-typhoon-victims-20090831-f4p7.html |url-status= live }}{{cite news |author= Staff Writers |date= 31 August 2009 |title= Dalai Lama visits Taiwan typhoon victims amid Chinese anger |url= http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Dalai_Lama_visits_Taiwan_typhoon_victims_amid_Chinese_anger_999.html |newspaper= Terra Daily |location= Kaohsiung, Taiwan (AFP) |access-date= 8 November 2015 |archive-date= 11 February 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210211195725/https://www.terradaily.com/reports/Dalai_Lama_visits_Taiwan_typhoon_victims_amid_Chinese_anger_999.html |url-status= live }}{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB125168355194471405|title=Dalai Lama Visits Taiwan|date=2 September 2009|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=4 August 2017|archive-date=8 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308194922/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB125168355194471405|url-status=live}}

The Dalai Lama is an advocate for a world free of nuclear weapons, and serves on the Advisory Council of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

The Dalai Lama has voiced his support for the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation which campaigns for democratic reformation of the United Nations, and the creation of a more accountable international political system.{{Cite news|url=http://en.unpacampaign.org/supporters/overview/?mapcountry=allnob&mapgroup=nob|title=Overview|work=Campaign for a UN Parliamentary Assembly|access-date=21 September 2017|language=en-US|archive-date=19 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019195947/http://en.unpacampaign.org/supporters/overview/?mapcountry=allnob&mapgroup=nob|url-status=live}}

File:Dalai Lama 1997.jpg in 1997]]

File:His Holiness giving teachings at Sissu, Lahaul.jpg, Lahaul]]

Until reaching his mid-80s, the Dalai Lama maintained a busy international lecture and teaching schedule. Since 2018, he has continued to teach, but has limited his travel to within India only.{{cite web |title = Schedule |url = http://www.dalailama.com/teachings/schedule |publisher = Office of the Dalai Lama |access-date = 19 May 2015 |archive-date = 22 May 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150522055813/http://www.dalailama.com/teachings/schedule |url-status = live }} His public talks and teachings are usually webcast live in multiple languages, via an inviting organisation's website, or on the Dalai Lama's own website. Scores of his past teaching videos can be viewed there, as well as public talks, conferences, interviews, dialogues and panel discussions.{{cite web |title = Browse webcasts – Teachings |url = http://dalailama.com/webcasts/category/1 |publisher = Office of the Dalai Lama |access-date = 19 May 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131209033538/http://www.dalailama.com/webcasts/category/1 |archive-date = 9 December 2013 |url-status = dead }}

The Dalai Lama's best known teaching subject is the Kalachakra tantra which, as of 2014, he had conferred a total of 33 times,{{cite web |author1=Kshipra Simon |title=His Holiness Dalai Lama leading the 33rd Kalachakra World Peace Prayer in Ladakh. |url=http://www.demotix.com/news/5330591/33rd-kalachakra-ladakh#media-5330334 |publisher=Demotix |location=New Delhi, India |format=Photojournalism |date=21 July 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150703140659/http://www.demotix.com/news/5330591/33rd-kalachakra-ladakh#media-5330334 |archive-date=3 July 2015 }} most often in India's upper Himalayan regions but also in the Western world.{{cite web |title = Kalachakra Initiations by His Holiness the Dalai Lama |url = http://dalailama.com/teachings/kalachakra-initiations |publisher = Office of Dalai Lama |access-date = 19 May 2015 |quote = List of |archive-date = 14 December 2009 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091214213557/http://www.dalailama.com/teachings/kalachakra-initiations |url-status = live }} The Kalachakra (Wheel of Time) is one of the most complex teachings of Buddhism, sometimes taking two weeks to confer, and he often confers it on very large audiences, up to 200,000 students and disciples at a time.{{cite web |author1 = Antonia Blumberg |title = Dalai Lama Delivers Kalachakra Buddhist Teaching To Thousands of Devotees |url = https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/07/dalai-lama-kalachakra_n_5564616.html |work = HuffPost |date = 7 July 2014 |quote = Roughly 150,000 devotees reportedly converged for the event |access-date = 20 February 2020 |archive-date = 19 October 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171019215242/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/07/dalai-lama-kalachakra_n_5564616.html |url-status = live }}

The Dalai Lama is the author of numerous books on Buddhism,{{cite web |author1 = The Dalai Lama |title = Books (on Buddhism) by the Dalai Lama |url = http://www.dalailama.com/biography/books/ |publisher = Various |access-date = 3 May 2015 |archive-date = 12 May 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150512011836/http://www.dalailama.com/biography/books |url-status = live }} many of them on general Buddhist subjects but also including books on particular topics like Dzogchen,{{cite web |title=Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great Perfection |url=http://www.shambhala.com/snowlion_articles/dzogchen-the-heart-essence-of-the-great-perfection/ |publisher=Shambala Publications |access-date=3 May 2015 |archive-date=19 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019220405/https://www.shambhala.com/snowlion_articles/dzogchen-the-heart-essence-of-the-great-perfection/ |url-status=live }} a Nyingma practice.

In his essay "The Ethic of Compassion" (1999), the Dalai Lama expresses his belief that if we only reserve compassion for those that we love, we are ignoring the responsibility of sharing these characteristics of respect and empathy with those we do not have relationships with, which cannot allow us to "cultivate love." He elaborates upon this idea by writing that although it takes time to develop a higher level of compassion, eventually we will recognise that the quality of empathy will become a part of life and promote our quality as humans and inner strength.{{cite book|author=Dalai Lama XIV|title=The Ethic of Compassion|date=1999|publisher=Riverhead Books|pages=123–31}}

For decades, he frequently accepted requests from students to visit various countries worldwide in order to give teachings to large Buddhist audiences, teachings that were usually based on classical Buddhist texts and commentaries,{{cite web |title = Schedule |url = http://www.dalailama.com/teachings/schedule |publisher = Office of Dalai Lama |access-date = 3 May 2015 |location = World-wide |archive-date = 22 May 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150522055813/http://www.dalailama.com/teachings/schedule |url-status = live }} and most often those written by the 17 pandits or great masters of the Nalanda tradition, such as Nagarjuna,{{cite web|title=His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Brisbane |url=http://www.karuna.org.au/announcements/his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-in-brisbane |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150110134531/http://www.karuna.org.au/announcements/his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-in-brisbane |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 January 2015 |date=5 January 2015 |quote=The Dalai Lama's Brisbane teaching will be based on the classic text, Nagarjuna's 'Precious Garland' }}{{cite web |author1 = Donald S Lopez Jr. |title = Nagarjuna |url = http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/401601/Nagarjuna |publisher = Encyclopædia Britannica |date = 24 April 2014 |access-date = 3 May 2015 |archive-date = 16 March 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140316140605/http://global.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/401601/Nagarjuna |url-status = live }} Kamalashila,{{cite web|author1=Jamyang Dorjee Chakrishar |title=When Indian Pandit Kamalashila defeated China's Hashang in Tibet |url=http://www.sherpaworld.com/show.php?at=1&sn=6805 |publisher=Sherpa World |access-date=3 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150521052014/http://www.sherpaworld.com/show.php?at=1&sn=6805 |archive-date=21 May 2015 }}{{cite web |title = Dalai Lama teaching Kamalashila text in Australia, 2008 |url = http://www.dalailamainaustralia.org/pages/?PageID=210 |publisher = Dalai Lama in Australia |date = 11 June 2008 |quote = by reference to Kamalashila's text, His Holiness the Dalai Lama will demonstrate how the nature of awareness, developed through meditative practices can be transformed into the direct perceptual wisdom necessary to achieve enlightenment itself |access-date = 3 May 2015 |archive-date = 4 April 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160404054502/http://dalailamainaustralia.org/pages/?pageid=210 |url-status = dead }} Shantideva,{{cite web |title = Compassion in Emptiness: Dalai Lama Teaches Shantideva |url = http://www.oscilloscope.net/films/film/51/Compassion-in-Emptiness |publisher = Oscilloscope |format = DVD set |date = 7 May 2011 |quote = In 2010, His Holiness traveled to New York City to teach A Commentary on Bodhicitta by Nagarjuna and A Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life by Shantideva. |access-date = 3 May 2015 |archive-date = 26 February 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210226044123/http://www.oscilloscope.net/films/film/51/Compassion-in-Emptiness |url-status = live }} Atisha,{{cite web |author1 = Phuntsok Yangchen |title = Disciples from over 60 countries attend the Dalai Lama's teachings |url = http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=32210 |publisher = Phayul.com |date = 1 October 2012 |quote = The Dalai Lama today began his four-day teachings on Atisha's [text] 'Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment' |access-date = 3 May 2015 |archive-date = 20 May 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150520175445/http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=32210 |url-status = live }} Aryadeva{{cite web |title = The Dalai Lama's Boston teachings |url = http://www.shambhala.com/blog/shambhala/the-dalai-lamas-teaching-on-stages-of-meditation |publisher = Shambala Publications |date = 17 October 2012 |quote = Texts mentioned by His Holiness in his talk ... Aryadeva's 400 Stanzas of the Middle Way |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150521130539/http://www.shambhala.com/blog/shambhala/the-dalai-lamas-teaching-on-stages-of-meditation |archive-date = 21 May 2015 }} and so on. Since 2018, his schedule has contained fewer engagements, with most occurring in India along with a handful webcasts to international audiences.

File:Dalai lama teaching room.jpg]]

File:14th Dalai Lama at Bodh Gaya Kalachakra in December 1985.jpg

File:Bodh Gaya Kalachakra crowd overview December 1985.jpg

The Dalai Lama refers to himself as a follower of these Nalanda masters,{{cite web |author1 = James Blumenthal, PhD |title = The Seventeen Pandits of Nalanda Monastery |url = http://fpmt.org/mandala/archives/mandala-for-2012/july/the-seventeen-pandits-of-nalanda-monastery/ |publisher = FPMT |access-date = 19 May 2015 |ref = Mandala Magazine |format = Online Magazine |date = July 2012 |quote = he Dalai Lama frequently refers to himself as a follower of the lineage of the seventeen Nalanda masters today |archive-date = 7 April 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150407073629/http://fpmt.org/mandala/archives/mandala-for-2012/july/the-seventeen-pandits-of-nalanda-monastery/ |url-status = live }} in fact he often asserts that 'Tibetan Buddhism' is based on the Buddhist tradition of Nalanda monastery in ancient India,{{cite web|title=About the Seventeen Paṇḍitas of Nālandā |url=http://www.bodhimarga.org/meditation-teachings/the-nalanda-tradition/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20160424082907/http://www.bodhimarga.org/meditation-teachings/the-nalanda-tradition/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=24 April 2016 |publisher=Bodhimarga |access-date=19 May 2015 |quote=they came to shape the very meaning of Buddhist philosophy and religious practice, both in India and Tibet }} since the texts written by those 17 Nalanda pandits or masters, to whom he has composed a poem of invocation,{{cite web |author1=Dalai Lama |title=An invocation of the seventeen great sagely adepts of glorious Nalanda |url=http://thubtenchodron.org/2001/12/nalanda-prayer/ |publisher=Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron |format=Poetry |date=15 December 2001 |access-date=19 May 2015 |archive-date=8 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108112008/https://thubtenchodron.org/2001/12/nalanda-prayer/ |url-status=live }} were brought to Tibet and translated into Tibetan when Buddhism was first established there and have remained central to the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism ever since.{{cite news |author1= |date=7 March 2015 |title=Tibetan language must to keep Nalanda tradition alive: Dalai Lama |url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/punjab/tibetan-language-must-to-keep-nalanda-tradition-alive-dalai-lama/article1-1323860.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150421012015/http://www.hindustantimes.com/himachalpradesh/tibetan-language-must-to-keep-nalanda-tradition-alive-dalai-lama/article1-1323860.aspx |archive-date=21 April 2015 |access-date=19 May 2015 |work=Hindustan Times |location=Dharamsala |quote=The unique quality of Tibetan Buddhism is that it is based on ancient India's Nalanda Buddhist tradition}}

As examples of other teachings, in London in 1984 he was invited to give teachings on the Twelve Links of Dependent Arising, and on Dzogchen, which he gave at Camden Town Hall; in 1988 he was in London once more to give a series of lectures on Tibetan Buddhism in general, called 'A Survey of the Paths of Tibetan Buddhism'.{{cite web |title = A Survey of the Paths of Tibetan Buddhism |date = 2 April 2015 |url = http://www.lamayeshe.com/index.php?sect=article&id=421 |publisher = Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive |access-date = 18 May 2015 |archive-date = 29 March 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150329181659/http://lamayeshe.com/index.php?sect=article&id=421 |url-status = live }} Again in London in 1996 he taught the Four Noble Truths, the basis and foundation of Buddhism accepted by all Buddhists, at the combined invitation of 27 different Buddhist organisations of all schools and traditions belonging to the Network of Buddhist Organisations UK.{{cite web |author1 = Tseten Samdup |title = His Holiness the Dalai Lama will visit the UK from July 15–22 1996 |url = http://www.tibet.ca/en/library/wtn/archive/old?y=1996&m=7&p=7_2 |publisher = World Tibet Network News |date = 7 July 1996 |quote = For the first time in the West, His Holiness the Dalai Lama will give two exclusive days of teaching on 17 and 18 July 1996 on the Four Noble Truths—the heart of the Buddha's teachings. This has been requested by The Network of Buddhist Organisations—a forum for dialogue and co-operation between Buddhist organisations in the UK. |access-date = 18 May 2015 |archive-date = 6 October 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151006015128/http://www.tibet.ca/en/library/wtn/archive/old?y=1996&m=7&p=7_2 |url-status = live }}

In India, the Dalai Lama gives religious teachings and talks in Dharamsala and numerous other locations including the monasteries in the Tibetan refugee settlements, in response to specific requests from Tibetan monastic institutions, Indian academic, religious and business associations, groups of students and individual/private/lay devotees.{{cite web |title = Teachings |url = http://www.dalailama.com/teachings |publisher = Office of Dalai Lama |access-date = 3 May 2015 |quote = His Holiness has also been giving teachings in India at the request of various Buddhist devotees from Taiwan and Korea |archive-date = 21 April 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150421232032/http://www.dalailama.com/teachings |url-status = live }} In India, no fees are charged to attend these teachings since costs are covered by requesting sponsors. When he travels abroad to give teachings there is usually a ticket fee calculated by the inviting organisation to cover the costs involved and any surplus is normally to be donated to recognised charities.{{cite web |title = ONLINE DONATION FACILITY IS AVAILABLE |url = http://www.dalailamainaustralia.org/schedule/detail.aspx?ArtistID=19 |publisher = Dalai Lama in Australia |access-date = 3 May 2015 |quote = Should there be any surplus funds from His Holiness' events, that surplus will be disbursed to charitable organizations under the advisement of His Holiness the Dalai Lama |archive-date = 20 May 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150520040742/http://www.dalailamainaustralia.org/schedule/detail.aspx?ArtistID=19 |url-status = live }}

He has frequently visited and lectured at colleges and universities,{{cite web |author1 = Michael Caddell |title = His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama to give public talk at Princeton University |url = https://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S41/02/76E28/index.xml?section=topstories |publisher = Princeton University |date = 9 September 2014 |access-date = 3 May 2015 |archive-date = 18 May 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150518071333/https://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S41/02/76E28/index.xml?section=topstories |url-status = live }}{{cite web |title = Dalai Lama Visits Colgate |url = http://dalailama.com/news.242.htm |publisher = The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama |access-date = 23 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506015358/http://www.dalailama.com/news.242.htm |archive-date=6 May 2008}}{{cite web |url = http://www3.lehigh.edu/dalaiLama/index.html |title = Lehigh University: His Holiness the Dalai Lama |publisher = .lehigh.edu |access-date = 2 May 2010 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100528021841/http://www3.lehigh.edu/dalailama/index.html |archive-date = 28 May 2010 }} some of which have conferred honorary degrees upon him.{{cite web |url = http://www.dalailama.umn.edu/ |title = The Dalai Lama |publisher = umn.edu |access-date = 9 May 2012 |archive-date = 14 December 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111214020110/http://dalailama.umn.edu/ |url-status = live }}{{cite web |url = http://themacweekly.com/2014/03/his-holiness-the-14th-dalai-lama-visits-macalester-speaks-to-over-3500/ |title = His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama visits Macalester, speaks to over 3,500 |date = 7 March 2014 |publisher = The Mac Weekly |access-date = 9 March 2014 |archive-date = 14 July 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190714065914/https://themacweekly.com/2014/03/his-holiness-the-14th-dalai-lama-visits-macalester-speaks-to-over-3500/ |url-status = live }}

Dozens of videos of recorded webcasts of the Dalai Lama's public talks on general subjects for non-Buddhists like peace, happiness and compassion, modern ethics, the environment, economic and social issues, gender, the empowerment of women and so forth can be viewed in his office's archive.{{cite web |title = Public talks |url = http://dalailama.com/webcasts/category/4 |publisher = Office of the Dalai Lama |access-date = 19 May 2015 |format = Video |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131009074232/http://www.dalailama.com/webcasts/category/4 |archive-date = 9 October 2013 |url-status = dead }}

The Dalai Lama met Pope Paul VI at the Vatican in 1973. He met Pope John Paul II in 1980, 1982, 1986, 1988, 1990, and 2003. In 1990, he met a delegation of Jewish teachers in Dharamshala for an extensive interfaith dialogue.Kamenetz, Rodger (1994)[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060645741 The Jew in the Lotus] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211213185339/https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060645741 |date=13 December 2021 }} HarperCollins: 1994. He has since visited Israel three times, and in 2006 met the Chief Rabbi of Israel. In 2006, he met Pope Benedict XVI privately. He has met the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Robert Runcie, and other leaders of the Anglican Church in London, Gordon B. Hinckley, who at the time was the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as senior Eastern Orthodox Church, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, and Sikh officials.

In 1996 and 2002, he participated in the first two Gethsemani Encounters hosted by the Monastic Interreligious Dialogue at the Abbey of Our Lady of Getshemani, where Thomas Merton, whom the Dalai Lama had met in the late 1960s, had lived.{{cite journal |last1=Borelli |first1=John |title=In Memoriam: Bishop Joseph John Gerry, O.S.B. (1928-2023) |journal=Dilatato Corde |date=2023 |volume=XIII |issue=2 July - December |url=https://dimmid.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7b7F171057-4EB9-487F-9E54-5DC835955930%7d |access-date=6 February 2024 |publisher=DIMMID |archive-date=3 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240203141910/https://dimmid.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B7F171057-4EB9-487F-9E54-5DC835955930%7D |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Fischer |first1=Norman |title=On Conferences: The Second Gethsemani Encounter |url=https://tricycle.org/magazine/conferences-second-gethsemani-encounter/ |website=Tricycle: The Buddhist Review |publisher=Tricycle |access-date=6 February 2024 |language=en |date=Fall 2002 |archive-date=6 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240206165448/https://tricycle.org/magazine/conferences-second-gethsemani-encounter/ |url-status=live }} He is also a member of the Board of World Religious Leaders as part of The Elijah Interfaith Institute{{cite web |url = http://www.elijah-interfaith.org/?id=729 |title = The Elijah Interfaith Institute – Buddhist Members of the Board of World Religious Leaders |publisher = Elijah-interfaith.org |date = 24 December 2006 |access-date = 17 July 2013 |archive-date = 19 October 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171019215252/http://www.elijah-interfaith.org/?id=729 |url-status = live }} and participated in the Third Meeting of the Board of World Religious Leaders in Amritsar, India, on 26 November 2007 to discuss the topic of Love and Forgiveness.{{cite web|url=http://www.elijah-interfaith.org/programs/board-of-world-religious-leaders/third-meeting-of-the-bwrl.html |title=Third Meeting of the Board of World Religious Leaders |publisher=Elijah-interfaith.org |date=7 April 2013 |access-date=17 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227160915/https://www.elijah-interfaith.org/programs/board-of-world-religious-leaders/third-meeting-of-the-bwrl.html |archive-date=27 December 2013 }} In 2009, the Dalai Lama inaugurated an interfaith "World Religions-Dialogue and Symphony" conference at Gujarat's Mahuva religions, according to Morari Bapu.{{cite news |url = http://www.indianexpress.com/news/dalai-Lama-inaugurates-6day-world-religions-.../407503 |title = Dalai Lama inaugurates 6-day world religions meet at Mahua |work =The Indian Express|date = 7 January 2009 |access-date = 2 May 2010}}{{cite web |author = Canada Tibet Committee |url = http://www.tibet.ca/en/newsroom/wtn/5137 |title = Dalai Lama to inaugurate inter-faith conference |publisher = Tibet.ca |access-date = 2 May 2010 |archive-date = 10 June 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110610102745/http://www.tibet.ca/en/newsroom/wtn/5137 |url-status = live }}

In 2010, the Dalai Lama, joined by a panel of scholars, launched the Common Ground Project,{{cite web |url = http://islambuddhism.com/ |title = Islam and Buddhism |publisher = Islambuddhism.com |date = 12 May 2010 |access-date = 17 July 2013 |archive-date = 12 April 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180412172131/http://www.islambuddhism.com/ |url-status = live }} in Bloomington, Indiana (USA),{{cite web |url = http://islambuddhism.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22:dalai-lama-muslim-leaders-seek-peace-in-bloomington&catid=6:in-the-news&Itemid=4 |title = Dalai Lama, Muslim Leaders Seek Peace in Bloomington |publisher = Islambuddhism.com |date = 31 May 2010 |access-date = 17 July 2013 |archive-date = 12 December 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131212214713/http://islambuddhism.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=22:dalai-lama-muslim-leaders-seek-peace-in-bloomington&catid=6:in-the-news&Itemid=4 |url-status = live }} which was planned by himself and Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan during several years of personal conversations. The project is based on the book Common Ground between Islam and Buddhism.{{cite book |title = Common Ground Between Islam and Buddhism |date = 2010 |publisher = Fons Vitae|location=Louisville, KY. |isbn =978-1-891785-62-7}}

In 2019, the Dalai Lama fully sponsored the first-ever 'Celebrating Diversity in the Muslim World' conference in New Delhi on behalf of the Muslims of Ladakh.{{Cite web|title=His Holiness the Dalai Lama ushers religious harmony amongst Muslim communities at 'Celebrating Diversity in the Muslim World' Conference|url=https://tibet.net/to-practise-one-religion-explicitly-is-to-practise-them-all-implicitly-at-the-internal-level-his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-at-celebrating-diversity-in-the-muslim-world-conference/|access-date=25 June 2021|work=Central Tibetan Administration|date=15 June 2019|archive-date=25 June 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210625081009/https://tibet.net/to-practise-one-religion-explicitly-is-to-practise-them-all-implicitly-at-the-internal-level-his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-at-celebrating-diversity-in-the-muslim-world-conference/|language=en-US}}

File:Dalai Lama's Baby Austin car.jpg car. Lhasa, 1993]]

File:Remains of Dalai Lama's Dodge car. Lhasa, 1993.jpg car. Lhasa, 1993]]

The Dalai Lama's lifelong interest in science{{cite news |author1 = Tenzin Gyatso |title = Our Faith in Science |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/12/opinion/12dalai.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1& |work = The New York Times |date = 12 November 2005 |quote = Science has always fascinated me |access-date = 5 February 2017 |archive-date = 31 March 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140331071556/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/12/opinion/12dalai.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1& |url-status = live }}{{cite web |author1 = Melissa Rice |title = Carl Sagan and the Dalai Lama found deep connections in 1991–92 meetings, says Sagan's widow |url = http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2007/10/meeting-two-minds-carl-sagan-and-dalai-lama |publisher = Cormell University, Cornell Chronicle |date = 3 October 2007 |quote = The Dalai Lama, who has had a lifelong interest in science |access-date = 6 May 2015 |archive-date = 16 May 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150516064128/http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2007/10/meeting-two-minds-carl-sagan-and-dalai-lama |url-status = live }} and technology{{cite web |author1 = James Kingsland |title = Dalai Lama enlightens and enraptures contemplative scientists in Boston |url = https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/nov/03/dalai-lama-scientists-boston-international-symposium-contemplative-studies |work = The Guardian |location = Boston, USA |date = 3 November 2014 |quote = Asked how his interest in science originally developed he said he'd been fascinated by technology since childhood, recalling a clockwork toy British soldier with a gun that he played with for a few days before taking apart to see how it worked. He described how as a young man visiting China he was excited to be shown around hydroelectric dams and metal smelting works |access-date = 10 December 2016 |archive-date = 5 January 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210105142140/https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/nov/03/dalai-lama-scientists-boston-international-symposium-contemplative-studies |url-status = live }} dates from his childhood in Lhasa, Tibet, when he was fascinated by mechanical objects like clocks, watches, telescopes, film projectors, clockwork soldiers and motor cars,{{cite web |title=The Dalai Lama and Western Science |url = http://www.investigatingthemind.org/hhdl.science.html |publisher=Mind and Life Institute |access-date=6 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150219190156/http://investigatingthemind.org/hhdl.science.html |archive-date=19 February 2015 }} and loved to repair, disassemble and reassemble them. Once, observing the Moon through a telescope as a child, he realised it was a crater-pocked lump of rock and not a heavenly body emitting its own light as Tibetan cosmologists had taught him. He has also said that had he not been brought up as a monk he would probably have been an engineer.{{cite web |first = Bobbie L. |last = Kyle |title = 10 Things You Didn't Know About the Dalai Lama |url = https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2008/03/28/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-dalai-lama |publisher = The U.S. News & World Report |date = 28 March 2008 |quote = The Dalai Lama has an interest in machines, which he developed as a young boy. As a teenager he repaired a movie projector by himself, without its guide or any instructions. He has been known to say that he would have become an engineer if he hadn't been a monk |access-date = 22 August 2017 |archive-date = 6 January 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210106024738/https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2008/03/28/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-dalai-lama |url-status = live }} On his first trip to the west in 1973 he asked to visit Cambridge University's astrophysics department in the UK and he sought out renowned scientists such as Sir Karl Popper, David Bohm and Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, who taught him the basics of science.

The Dalai Lama sees important common ground between science and Buddhism in having the same approach to challenge dogma on the basis of empirical evidence that comes from observation and analysis of phenomena.{{cite web |author1 = Curt Newton |title = Meditation and the Brain |url = http://www.technologyreview.com/news/402450/meditation-and-the-brain/ |website = technologyreview.com |publisher = MIT Technology Review |date = 1 February 2004 |quote = The Dalai Lama notes that both traditions encourage challenging dogma based on observation and analysis, and a willingness to revise views based on empirical evidence. |access-date = 16 May 2015 |archive-date = 12 April 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150412070955/http://www.technologyreview.com/news/402450/meditation-and-the-brain/ |url-status = live }}

His growing wish to develop meaningful scientific dialogue to explore the Buddhism and science interface led to invitations for him to attend relevant conferences on his visits to the west, including the Alpbach Symposia on Consciousness in 1983 where he met and had discussions with the late Chilean neuroscientist Francisco J. Varela. Also in 1983, the American social entrepreneur and innovator R. Adam Engle,{{cite web |author1 = Vincent Horn |title = The Evolution of the Mind and Life Dialogues |url = http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2009/05/bg-122-the-evolution-of-the-mind-and-life-dialogues/ |publisher = Buddhist Geeks |access-date = 9 May 2015 |ref = BD 122 |format = Podcast Interview, transcription |quote = This week, Adam Engle, the business mastermind behind the Mind and Life Institute, joins us to discuss both the evolution of the project as well as its larger impact |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150504061533/http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2009/05/bg-122-the-evolution-of-the-mind-and-life-dialogues/ |archive-date = 4 May 2015 }} who had become aware of the Dalai Lama's deep interest in science, was already considering the idea of facilitating for him a serious dialogue with a selection of appropriate scientists.{{cite book|author1=Begley, Sharon |title = Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain |date = 2007 |publisher = Random House|location=New York |isbn =978-0-345-47989-1 |page = 19|edition=2008 Paperback|chapter=1}} In 1984 Engle formally offered to the Dalai Lama's office to organise a week-long, formal dialogue for him with a suitable team of scientists, provided that the Dalai Lama would wish to fully participate in such a dialogue. Within 48 hours the Dalai Lama confirmed to Engle that he was "truly interested in participating in something substantial about science" so Engle proceeded with launching the project. Francisco Varela, having heard about Engle's proposal, then called him to tell him of his earlier discussions with the Dalai Lama and to offer his scientific collaboration to the project.{{cite book|author1=Begley, Sharon |title = Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain |date = 2007 |publisher = Random House|location=New York |isbn =978-0-345-47989-1|pages=20–22|edition=2008 Paperback|chapter=1}} Engle accepted, and Varela assisted him to assemble his team of six specialist scientists for the first 'Mind and Life' dialogue on the cognitive sciences,{{cite web |url = https://www.mindandlife.org/mission/ |title = Mission |publisher = Mind and Life Institute |access-date = 6 May 2015 |quote = Mind and Life emerged in 1987 from a meeting of three visionaries: Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama – the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people and a global advocate for compassion; Adam Engle, a lawyer and entrepreneur; and Francisco Varela, a neuroscientist |archive-date = 21 August 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200821123151/https://www.mindandlife.org/mission/ |url-status = live }} which was eventually held with the Dalai Lama at his residence in Dharamsala in 1987. This five-day event was so successful that at the end the Dalai Lama told Engle he would very much like to repeat it again in the future.{{cite web |author1 = Vincent Horn |title = The Evolution of the Mind and Life Dialogues |url = http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2009/05/bg-122-the-evolution-of-the-mind-and-life-dialogues/ |publisher = Buddhist Geeks |access-date = 9 May 2015 |ref = BD 122 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150504061533/http://www.buddhistgeeks.com/2009/05/bg-122-the-evolution-of-the-mind-and-life-dialogues/ |archive-date = 4 May 2015 }} Engle then started work on arranging a second dialogue, this time with neuroscientists in California, and the discussions from the first event were edited and published as Mind and Life's first book, "Gentle Bridges: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on the Sciences of Mind".{{cite web |title = Gentle Bridges: Conversations with the Dalai Lama on the Sciences of Mind |url = https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/104960.Gentle_Bridges |publisher = Shambala |access-date = 6 May 2015 |quote = a historic meeting that took place between several prominent Western scientists and the Dalai Lama |archive-date = 5 December 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151205213514/https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/104960.Gentle_Bridges |url-status = live }}

As Mind and Life Institute's remit expanded, Engle formalised the organisation as a non-profit foundation after the third dialogue, held in 1990, which initiated the undertaking of neurobiological research programmes in the United States under scientific conditions. Over the following decades, as of 2014 at least 28 dialogues between the Dalai Lama and panels of various world-renowned scientists have followed, held in various countries and covering diverse themes, from the nature of consciousness to cosmology and from quantum mechanics to the neuroplasticity of the brain.{{cite web |title = Past Dialogues |url = https://www.mindandlife.org/dialogues-dalai-lama/ |publisher = Mind and Life Institute |access-date = 6 May 2015 |archive-date = 18 May 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150518072135/https://www.mindandlife.org/dialogues-dalai-lama/ |url-status = dead }} Sponsors and partners in these dialogues have included the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,{{cite web |title = The Dalai Lama Centre for Ethics and Transformative Values |url = http://thecenter.mit.edu/about/mission/ |publisher = Massachusetts Institute of Technology |access-date = 7 May 2015 |quote = The Center focuses on the development of interdisciplinary research and programs in varied fields of knowledge, from science and technology to education and international relations |archive-date = 18 May 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150518095704/http://thecenter.mit.edu/about/mission/ |url-status = live }} Johns Hopkins University,{{cite web|title=The Science and Clinical Applications of Meditation |url=http://www.investigatingthemind.org/about.sponsors.html |publisher=Mind and Life XIII |date=2005 |quote=Johns Hopkins is one of the world's premier centers for scholarship, research and patient care |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150220020049/http://investigatingthemind.org/about.sponsors.html |archive-date=20 February 2015 }} the Mayo Clinic,{{cite web |title = His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Give Special Presentation at Mayo Clinic |url = http://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-to-give-special-presentation-at-mayo-clinic/?_ga=1.228989404.1318053370.1426080660 |publisher = Mayo Clinic |date = 20 April 2012 |access-date = 7 May 2015 |archive-date = 4 March 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304024909/http://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-to-give-special-presentation-at-mayo-clinic/?_ga=1.228989404.1318053370.1426080660 |url-status = live }} and Zurich University.{{cite web |author1 = Tenzin Gyatso |title = Science at the Crossroads |url = http://www.dalailama.com/messages/buddhism/science-at-the-crossroads |publisher = Office of Dalai Lama |location = Washington DC |date = 12 November 2005 |quote = I am also grateful to the numerous eminent scientists with whom I have had the privilege of engaging in conversations through the auspices of the Mind and Life Institute which initiated the Mind and Life conferences that began in 1987 at my residence in Dharamsala, India. These dialogues have continued over the years and in fact the latest Mind and Life dialogue concluded here in Washington just this week. |access-date = 7 May 2015 |archive-date = 29 April 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150429161612/http://www.dalailama.com/messages/buddhism/science-at-the-crossroads |url-status = live }}

Apart from time spent teaching Buddhism and fulfilling responsibilities to his Tibetan followers, the Dalai Lama has probably spent, and continues to spend, more of his time and resources investigating the interface between Buddhism and science through the ongoing series of Mind and Life dialogues and its spin-offs than on any other single activity. As the institute's Cofounder and the Honorary chairman he has personally presided over and participated in all its dialogues, which continue to expand worldwide.{{cite web |title = Dialogues with the Dalai Lama |url = https://www.mindandlife.org/dialogues-dalai-lama/ |publisher = Mind and Life Institute |access-date = 6 May 2015 |quote = These Dialogues will expand as Mind and Life grows to include Europe, Asia, and beyond |archive-date = 18 May 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150518072135/https://www.mindandlife.org/dialogues-dalai-lama/ |url-status = dead }}

These activities have given rise to dozens of DVD sets of the dialogues and books he has authored on them such as Ethics for the New Millennium and The Universe in a Single Atom, as well as scientific papers and university research programmes.{{cite web |title = A 25 Years History of Accomplishment |url = https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gns1ff0ziu9ikx3/AAAH3rqan1jP_RyksNVOYl0Da/MLI%2025%20years%20of%20Accomplishment.pdf?dl=0 |publisher = Mind and Life Institute |access-date = 6 May 2015 |date = 2012 |archive-date = 13 December 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211213185342/https://www.dropbox.com/sh/gns1ff0ziu9ikx3/AAAH3rqan1jP_RyksNVOYl0Da/MLI%2025%20years%20of%20Accomplishment.pdf?dl=0 |url-status = live }} On the Tibetan and Buddhist side, science subjects have been added to the curriculum for Tibetan monastic educational institutions and scholarship.{{cite web|title=The Dalai Lama and Western Science |url=http://www.investigatingthemind.org/hhdl.science.html |publisher=Mind and Life Institute |access-date=6 May 2015 |quote=he has led a campaign to introduce basic science education in Tibetan Buddhist monastic colleges and academic centers, and has encouraged Tibetan scholars to engage with science as a way of revitalizing the Tibetan philosophical tradition |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219190156/http://investigatingthemind.org/hhdl.science.html |archive-date=19 February 2015 }} On the Western side, university and research programmes initiated by these dialogues and funded with millions of dollars in grants from the Dalai Lama Trust include the Emory-Tibet Partnership,{{cite web|title=Emory-Tibet Science Initiative receives $1 million grant from Dalai Lama Trust |url=https://tibet.emory.edu/news-and-media/news/2014/emory-tibet-science-initiative-receives-1-million-grant-from-dalai-lama-trust/index.html |publisher=Emory University |location=Georgia, USA |date=2014 |quote=For more than 30 years I have been engaged in an ongoing exchange with scientists, exploring what modern scientific knowledge and time-honored science of mind embodied by the Tibetan tradition can bring to each other's understanding of reality |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518083919/https://tibet.emory.edu/news-and-media/news/2014/emory-tibet-science-initiative-receives-1-million-grant-from-dalai-lama-trust/index.html |archive-date=18 May 2015 }} Stanford School of Medicine's Centre for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARES){{cite web |title = His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso Founding Patron, CCARE |url = http://ccare.stanford.edu/about/people/patron-committee/#150 |publisher = Stanford University School of Medicine |access-date = 7 May 2015 |location = Palo Alto, California |quote = He has been a strong supporter of the neurosciences for over two decades. His Holiness is a benefactor of CCARE having personally provided the largest sum he has ever given to scientific research |archive-date = 18 May 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150518064949/http://ccare.stanford.edu/about/people/patron-committee/#150 |url-status = live }} and the Centre for Investigating Healthy Minds,{{cite web|title=Our History |url=http://www.investigatinghealthyminds.org/ |publisher=University of Wisconsin-Madison |access-date=7 May 2015 |location=Madison, Wisconsin, USA |quote=In 1992, the Dalai Lama personally challenged Dr. Davidson to investigate how well-being could be nurtured through the insights from neuroscience. His Holiness believes that "All humans have an innate desire to overcome suffering and find happiness." This launched a robust series of research studies and new discoveries have emerged about how the mind works and how well-being can be cultivated. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150507230519/http://www.investigatinghealthyminds.org/ |archive-date=7 May 2015 }} amongst others.

In 2019, Emory University's Center for Contemplative Sciences and Compassion-Based Ethics, in partnership with The Dalai Lama Trust and the Vana Foundation of India, launched an international SEE Learning (Social, Emotional and Ethical Learning) program in New Delhi, India, a school curriculum for all classes from kindergarten to Std XII that builds on psychologist Daniel Goleman's work on emotional intelligence in the early 1990s. SEE learning focuses on developing critical thinking, ethical reasoning and compassion and stresses on commonalities rather than on the differences.{{Cite web|url=https://news.emory.edu/stories/2019/04/upress_see_learning/campus.html|title=Emory University launches global Social, Emotional and Ethical Learning program|date=2 April 2019|website=news.emory.edu|language=en|access-date=12 June 2019|archive-date=8 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190608221026/http://news.emory.edu/stories/2019/04/upress_see_learning/campus.html|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/know/emory-university-and-the-dalai-lama-trusts-see-learning-launch-is-curriculum-for-the-education-of-the-heart-and-mind/article26808514.ece|title=SEE learning and why we need compassionate classrooms|last=Mohan|first=Shriya|website=@businessline|date=12 April 2019 |language=en|access-date=12 June 2019|archive-date=18 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200218112830/https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/know/emory-university-and-the-dalai-lama-trusts-see-learning-launch-is-curriculum-for-the-education-of-the-heart-and-mind/article26808514.ece|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://seelearning.emory.edu/|title=Home – SEE Learning|website=seelearning.emory.edu|access-date=12 June 2019|archive-date=30 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191030202827/https://seelearning.emory.edu/|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url=https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/education/dalai-lama-to-launch-emory-universitys-see-learning-program-in-new-delhi/articleshow/68727865.cms|title=Dalai Lama to launch Emory University's SEE Learning program in New Delhi|last=Khando|first=Tenzin|date=4 April 2019|work=The Economic Times|access-date=12 June 2019|archive-date=27 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190527115723/https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/education/dalai-lama-to-launch-emory-universitys-see-learning-program-in-new-delhi/articleshow/68727865.cms|url-status=live}}

In particular, the Mind and Life Education Humanities & Social Sciences initiatives have been instrumental in developing the emerging field of Contemplative Science, by researching, for example, the effects of contemplative practice on the human brain, behaviour and biology.

In his 2005 book The Universe in a Single Atom and elsewhere, and to mark his commitment to scientific truth and its ultimate ascendancy over religious belief, unusually for a major religious leader the Dalai Lama advises his Buddhist followers: "If scientific analysis were conclusively to demonstrate certain claims in Buddhism to be false, then we must accept the findings of science and abandon those claims."{{cite book|author=Dalai Lama |title = The Universe in a Single Atom |date = 2005 |publisher = Random House|location=New York |isbn =978-0-375-72845-7 |page = 3|edition=First Large Print}} He has also cited examples of archaic Buddhist ideas he has abandoned himself on this basis.{{cite web |author1 = James Kingsland |title = Dalai Lama enlightens and enraptures contemplative scientists in Boston |url = https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/nov/03/dalai-lama-scientists-boston-international-symposium-contemplative-studies |work = The Guardian |location = Boston, USA |date = 3 November 2014 |quote = He ... had long since abandoned Buddhist ideas about cosmology after reading about the findings of modern astronomers |access-date = 10 December 2016 |archive-date = 5 January 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210105142140/https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/nov/03/dalai-lama-scientists-boston-international-symposium-contemplative-studies |url-status = live }}

These activities have even had an impact in the Chinese capital. In 2013 an 'academic dialogue' with a Chinese scientist, a Tibetan 'living Buddha' and a professor of Religion took place in Beijing. Entitled "High-end dialogue: ancient Buddhism and modern science" it addressed the same considerations that interest the Dalai Lama, described as 'discussing about the similarities between Buddhism and modern science'.{{cite web|author1=Lethe Guo |title=High-end dialogue: ancient Buddhism and modern science |url=http://eng.tibet.cn/2010zj/zjhd/201312/t20131219_1960457.html |publisher=China Tibet Online |date=18 December 2013 |quote=crossover between Buddhism and science has become a hot topic in the academic and cultural circles over the recent decades |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151005160313/http://eng.tibet.cn/2010zj/zjhd/201312/t20131219_1960457.html |archive-date=5 October 2015 }}

The Dalai Lama uses various meditation techniques, including analytic meditation and emptiness meditation.{{cite web|url=https://tibet.net/dalai-lama-on-analytic-meditation-and-how-it-helps-cultivate-positivity/|title=Dalai Lama on Analytic Meditation And How It Helps Cultivate Positivity|date=February 2017|access-date=28 March 2020|archive-date=28 March 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200328161317/https://tibet.net/dalai-lama-on-analytic-meditation-and-how-it-helps-cultivate-positivity/|url-status=live}} He has said that the aim of meditation is {{blockquote|"to maintain a very full state of alertness and mindfulness, and then try to see the natural state of your consciousness."{{cite web |url = https://hackspirit.com/dalai-lama-reveals-practice-meditation-properly/ |title = The Dalai Lama Reveals How to Practice Meditation Properly – Hack Spirit |date = 3 May 2017 |access-date = 8 May 2018 |archive-date = 15 April 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210415013407/https://hackspirit.com/dalai-lama-reveals-practice-meditation-properly/ |url-status = live }} "All human beings have an innate desire to overcome suffering, to find happiness. Training the mind to think differently, through meditation, is one important way to avoid suffering and be happy."{{cite web |title=The Dalai Lama and Scientists Unite to Study Meditation |url=https://centerhealthyminds.org/news/the-dalai-lama-and-scientists-unite-to-study-meditation |website=centerhealthyminds.org |publisher=Center for Healthy Minds University of Wisconsin–Madison |access-date=17 October 2022 |archive-date=17 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221017013232/https://centerhealthyminds.org/news/the-dalai-lama-and-scientists-unite-to-study-meditation |url-status=live }}}}

{{Main|Succession of the 14th Dalai Lama}}

In 2007 the 14th Dalai Lama said his reincarnation could be a woman. This was mentioned again in 2015{{Cite web |date=17 May 2015 |title=Blondes have more fun, Dalai Lama apparently thinks as he mulls next reincarnation |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/2015/05/17/blondes-have-more-fun-dalai-lama-apparently-thinks-as-he-mulls-next-reincarnation/ |access-date=7 November 2023 |website=New York Daily News |language=en-US}} and 2019.{{Cite web |date=2 July 2019 |title=Dalai Lama sorry for saying female successor would have to be 'attractive' |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/dalai-lama-sorry-saying-female-successor-would-have-be-attractive-n1025756 |access-date=7 November 2023 |website=NBC News |language=en}}

In May 2011, the Dalai Lama retired from the Central Tibetan Administration.{{cite news |title = His Holiness the Dalai Lama's Remarks on Retirement – March 19th, 2011 |url = http://dalailama.com/messages/retirement/retirement-remarks |access-date = 14 September 2014 |date = 19 March 2011 |archive-date = 4 June 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130604150744/http://www.dalailama.com/messages/retirement/retirement-remarks |url-status = live }}

In September 2011, the Dalai Lama issued the following statement concerning his succession and reincarnation:

When I am about ninety I will consult the high Lamas of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions, the Tibetan public, and other concerned people who follow Tibetan Buddhism, and re-evaluate whether the institution of the Dalai Lama should continue or not. On that basis we will take a decision. If it is decided that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama should continue and there is a need for the Fifteenth Dalai Lama to be recognized, responsibility for doing so will primarily rest on the concerned officers of the Dalai Lama's Gaden Phodrang Trust. They should consult the various heads of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions and the reliable oath-bound Dharma Protectors who are linked inseparably to the lineage of the Dalai Lamas. They should seek advice and direction from these concerned beings and carry out the procedures of search and recognition in accordance with past tradition. I shall leave clear written instructions about this. Bear in mind that, apart from the reincarnation recognized through such legitimate methods, no recognition or acceptance should be given to a candidate chosen for political ends by anyone, including those in the People's Republic of China.[http://www.dalailama.com/news/post/753-statement-of-his-holiness-the-fourteenth-dalai-lama-tenzin-gyatso-on-the-issue-of-his-reincarnation Statement of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, on the Issue of His Reincarnation] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130204002812/http://www.dalailama.com/news/post/753-statement-of-his-holiness-the-fourteenth-dalai-lama-tenzin-gyatso-on-the-issue-of-his-reincarnation |date=4 February 2013 }} [http://www.dalailama.com/ Website of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127191904/http://www.dalailama.com/ |date=27 January 2012 }} 24 September 2011.{{cite news |last1=Tatlow |first1=Didi Kirsten |title=Dalai Lama Keeps Firm Grip on Reins of Succession |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/world/asia/06iht-letter06.html |access-date=29 March 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=October 15, 2011 |archive-date=24 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624214719/https://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/world/asia/06iht-letter06.html |url-status=live }}

In October 2011, the Dalai Lama repeated his statement in an interview with Canadian CTV News. He added that Chinese laws banning the selection of successors based on reincarnation will not impact his decisions. "Naturally my next life is entirely up to me. No one else. And also this is not a political matter," he said in the interview. The Dalai Lama also added that he has not decided on whether he would reincarnate or be the last Dalai Lama.{{cite web |publisher = CTV |title = CTV Exclusive: Dalai Lama will choose successor |date = 3 October 2011 |url = http://www.ctvnews.ca/old-ctv-national-news/ctv-exclusive-dalai-lama-will-choose-successor-1.706189 |access-date = 27 June 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141006101945/http://www.ctvnews.ca/old-ctv-national-news/ctv-exclusive-dalai-lama-will-choose-successor-1.706189 |archive-date = 6 October 2014 |url-status = dead }}

In an interview with the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag published on 7 September 2014 the Dalai Lama stated "the institution of the Dalai Lama has served its purpose," and that "We had a Dalai Lama for almost five centuries. The 14th Dalai Lama now is very popular. Let us then finish with a popular Dalai Lama."{{cite web |publisher = Aljazeera |title = Dalai Lama says successor not required |date = 7 September 2014 |url = http://www.aljazeera.com/news/southasia/2014/09/dalai-lama-says-successor-not-required-20149861149282451.html |access-date = 9 September 2014 |archive-date = 10 September 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140910004818/http://www.aljazeera.com/news/southasia/2014/09/dalai-lama-says-successor-not-required-20149861149282451.html |url-status = live }} In response, the Chinese government said the title of Dalai Lama has been conferred by the central government for hundreds of years and the 14th Dalai Lama has ulterior motives. This was taken by Tibetan activists and The Wire to mean that China will make the Dalai Lama reincarnate no matter what.{{cite web |date=10 September 2014 |title=China Will Make the Dalai Lama Reincarnate Whether He Likes It or Not |url=http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/09/china-will-make-the-dalai-lama-reincarnate-whether-he-likes-it-or-not/380003/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140911104623/http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/09/china-will-make-the-dalai-lama-reincarnate-whether-he-likes-it-or-not/380003/ |archive-date=11 September 2014 |access-date=12 September 2014 |publisher=The Wire}}

Gyatso has also expressed fear that the Chinese government would manipulate any reincarnation selection in order to choose a successor that would go along with their political goals.{{cite book |title=Religions in the modern world: traditions and transformations |last1=Woodhead |first1=Linda |last2=Partridge |first2=Christopher H. |last3=Kawanami |first3=Hiroko |isbn=978-0-415-85880-9 |edition=3rd |location=Abingdon, Oxon|oclc=916409066|year=2016 }}

In 2015, the 14th Dalai Lama has claimed he may be reincarnated as a mischievous blonde woman. In 2019, the 14th Dalai Lama said that if a female Dalai Lama comes, she should be more attractive. Chinese politician Padma Choling accused the 14th Dalai Lama of flip-flopping with his various statements on the issue, and of hypocrisy as he himself was reincarnated. He also accused the 14th Dalai Lama of profaning Tibetan Buddhism "by doubting his reincarnation".{{Cite news |date=9 March 2015 |title=China says Dalai Lama 'profanes' Buddhism by doubting his reincarnation |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-parliament-tibet-idUSKBN0M50R920150309 |access-date=7 November 2023}}

In October 2019, the 14th Dalai Lama stated that because of the feudal origin of the Dalai Lama reincarnation system, the reincarnation system should end.{{Cite web|url=https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/dalai-lama-feudal/|title = The Dalai Lama Calls the Dalai Lama Feudal – Buddha Buzz Weekly|date = 2 November 2019}}{{cite web |title=Addressing Students from North Indian universities |url=https://www.dalailama.com/news/2019/addressing-students-from-north-indian-universities |website=His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet |access-date=19 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191106034121/https://www.dalailama.com/news/2019/addressing-students-from-north-indian-universities |archive-date=6 November 2019 |language=English |date=25 October 2019 |quote=In seeking to balance preserving tradition and modern development, His Holiness suggested that the custom of recognising reincarnate lamas may have had its day. He remarked that no such custom existed in India. There is no reincarnation of the Buddha or Nagarjuna. He wondered what place this institution has in a democratic society. |url-status=live}}{{cite news |author1=Shri Puri |title=Reincarnation feudal, should end now: Dalai Lama amid successor row with China |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/reincarnation-feudal-should-end-now-dalai-lama-amid-successor-row-with-china/articleshow/71769825.cms |website=Times of India |date=26 October 2019 |access-date=19 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026114939/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/reincarnation-feudal-should-end-now-dalai-lama-amid-successor-row-with-china/articleshow/71769825.cms |archive-date=26 October 2019 |quote=“The tradition should end now as reincarnation has some connection with the feudal system,” the Dalai Lama, the 14th to hold this position, said in Dharamshala on Friday. The Dalai Lama was addressing a gathering of college students from Bhutan and India at his residence in McLeodganj when he was asked about keeping alive traditional values in modern times and passing them on to future generations. “Any culture needs to evolve over a period of time. Like the Buddhist community in India has no tradition of reincarnation or lama institution. It developed in Tibet. I think there is some feudal connection to it and it needs to change now,” he told the students. “Institutions need to be owned by the people, not by an individual. Like my own institution, the Dalai Lama’s office, I feel it is linked to a feudal system. In 1969, in one of my official statements, I had mentioned that it should continue... But now I feel, not necessarily. It should go. I feel it should not be concentrated in a few people only (Tibetans),” he said. Elaborating, he added, “The system should end, or at least change with the changing times. There have been cases of individual lamas who use reincarnation (to get their way) but never pay attention to study and wisdom,” he said, adding that he feels there should be no institutions of lamas and no reincarnations now. |url-status=live}}

Despite initially advocating for Tibetan independence from 1961 to 1974, the Dalai Lama no longer supports it. Instead he advocates for more meaningful autonomy for Tibetans within the People's Republic of China.{{cite web|title=The Dalai Lama Has Been the Face of Buddhism for 60 Years. China Wants to Change That|first=Charlie|last=Campbell|date=7 March 2019|url=https://time.com/longform/dalai-lama-60-year-exile/|access-date=17 September 2021|archive-date=17 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917223508/https://time.com/longform/dalai-lama-60-year-exile/|url-status=live}} This approach is known as the "Middle Way". In 2005, the 14th Dalai Lama emphasized that Tibet is a part of China, and Tibetan culture and Buddhism are part of Chinese culture.

{{cite web |title=Dalai Lama: "Tibet is a Part of the People's Republic of China" |url=https://www.cecc.gov/publications/commission-analysis/dalai-lama-tibet-is-a-part-of-the-peoples-republic-of-china |website=CECC |access-date=5 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240119134644/https://www.cecc.gov/publications/commission-analysis/dalai-lama-tibet-is-a-part-of-the-peoples-republic-of-china |archive-date=19 January 2024 |date=15 March 2005 |quote=This is the message I wish to deliver to China. I am not in favor of separation. Tibet is a part of the People's Republic of China. It is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Tibetan culture and Buddhism are part of Chinese culture. Many young Chinese like Tibetan culture as a tradition of China.}} In a speech at Kolkata in 2017, the Dalai Lama stated that Tibetans wanted to stay with China and they did not desire independence. He said that he believed that China after opening up, had changed 40 to 50 per cent of what it was earlier, and that Tibetans wanted to get more development from China.{{Cite web|last=PTI|date=23 November 2017|title=Tibet Wants to Stay With China, Seeks Development: Dalai Lama|url=https://www.thequint.com/news/politics/dalai-lama-tibet-china-development|access-date=5 December 2021|website=TheQuint|language=en|archive-date=5 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205021015/https://www.thequint.com/news/politics/dalai-lama-tibet-china-development|url-status=live}} In October 2020, the Dalai Lama stated that he did not support Tibetan independence and hoped to visit China as a Nobel Prize winner. He said "I prefer the concept of a 'republic' in the People's Republic of China. In the concept of republic, ethnic minorities are like Tibetans, The Mongols, Manchus, and Xinjiang Uyghurs, we can live in harmony".{{cite web |last1=Xia |first1=Xiaohua | title= The Dalai Lama emphasizes that he does not support Tibetan independence and hopes to visit China as a Nobel Prize winner |url= https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/hx1-10022020091411.html |access-date=2 October 2020|website= RFA |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201002230324/https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shaoshuminzu/hx1-10022020091411.html | archive-date=2 October 2020}}

The Tibetan people do not accept the present status of Tibet under the People's Republic of China. At the same time, they do not seek independence for Tibet, which is a historical fact. Treading a middle path in between these two lies the policy and means to achieve a genuine autonomy for all Tibetans living in the three traditional provinces of Tibet within the framework of the People's Republic of China. This is called the Middle-Way Approach, a non-partisan and moderate position that safeguards the vital interests of all concerned parties-for Tibetans: the protection and preservation of their culture, religion and national identity; for the Chinese: the security and territorial integrity of the motherland; and for neighbours and other third parties: peaceful borders and international relations.{{cite web |title=His Holiness's Middle Way Approach For Resolving the Issue of Tibet |url=https://www.dalailama.com/messages/tibet/middle-way-approach |website=dalailama.com |publisher=His Holiness the Dalai Lama of Tibet |access-date=11 June 2022 |archive-date=16 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416172752/https://www.dalailama.com/messages/tibet/middle-way-approach |url-status=live }}

The Dalai Lama maintains close ties with India.{{Cite web |last=Dhundup |date=5 February 2010 |title=Analysing Chinese obsession over "son of India" |url=https://tibet.net/analysing-chinese-obsession-over/ |access-date=12 May 2024 |website=Central Tibetan Administration |language=en-US}} In 2008, the Dalai Lama said that Arunachal Pradesh, partially claimed by China, is part of India, citing the disputed 1914 Simla Accord.{{cite news |date=4 June 2008 |title=Tawang is part of India: Dalai Lama |url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Tawang_is_part_of_India_Dalai_Lama_/articleshow/3097568.cms |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110125122218/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Tawang_is_part_of_India_Dalai_Lama_/articleshow/3097568.cms |archive-date=25 January 2011 |access-date=4 June 2008 |publisher=TNN}} In 2010 at the International Buddhist Conference in Gujarat, he described himself as a "son of India" and "Tibetan in appearance, but an Indian in spirituality." The newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, People's Daily, questioned if the Dalai Lama, by considering himself Indian rather than Chinese, is still entitled to represent Tibetans, alluding to the links between Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism and the Dalai Lama siding with India on southern Tibet.{{Cite news |date=22 January 2010 |title=A look at the Dalai Lama's ridiculous Indian heart |url=http://chinatibet.people.com.cn/6876597.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111009010035/http://chinatibet.people.com.cn/6876597.html |archive-date=9 October 2011 |access-date=17 August 2010 |publisher=China Tibet Information Center}} Dhundup Gyalpo, the Dalai Lama's eventual secretary in New Delhi, argued that Tibetan and Chinese peoples have no connections apart from a few culinary dishes and that Chinese Buddhists could also be deemed "Indian in spirituality", because both Tibetan and Chinese Buddhism originated from India.{{Cite web |date=19 November 2013 |title=Mr. Tsewang Gyalpo Arya appointed Bureau Secretary {{!}} Bureau of His Holiness the Dalai Lama |url=https://tibetbureau.in/mr-tsewang-gyalpo-arya-appointed-bureau-secretary/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413175854/https://tibetbureau.in/mr-tsewang-gyalpo-arya-appointed-bureau-secretary/ |archive-date=13 April 2023 |access-date=13 April 2023 |website=tibetbureau.in}}{{cite news |last=Gyalpo |first=Dhundup |date=9 February 2010 |title=Why is the Dalai Lama 'son of India'? |url=http://www.tibetsun.com/opinions/2010/02/09/why-is-the-dalai-lama-son-of-india |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717053610/http://www.tibetsun.com/opinions/2010/02/09/why-is-the-dalai-lama-son-of-india |archive-date=17 July 2011 |access-date=18 August 2010 |publisher=Tibet Sun |location=Dharamshala}}

The Dalai Lama has said that, from the perspective of the Buddhist precepts, abortion is an act of killing.Gary Stivers [https://web.archive.org/web/20081025010504/http://www.sunvalleyonline.com/news/article.asp?ID_Article=1146 Dalai Lama meets Idaho's religious leaders], sunvalleyonline.com, 15 September 2005 In 1993, he clarified a more nuanced position, stating, "... it depends on the circumstances. If the unborn child will be retarded or if the birth will create serious problems for the parent, these are cases where there can be an exception. I think abortion should be approved or disapproved according to each circumstance."{{cite news|author=Claudia Dreifus |work=The New York Times |date=28 November 1993 |url=http://www.tibet.ca/en/newsroom/wtn/archive/old?y=1993&m=12&p=5_1 |title=The New York Times Interview with the Dalai Lama |access-date=31 March 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100525061331/http://www.tibet.ca/en/newsroom/wtn/archive/old?y=1993&m=12&p=5_1 |archive-date=25 May 2010 |url-status=live |author-link=Claudia Dreifus }}

The Dalai Lama has repeatedly expressed his opposition to the death penalty, saying that it contradicts the Buddhist philosophy of non-violence and that it expresses anger, not compassion.{{cite web|title= Dalai Lama Says Delhi Gang Rapists Should Not Be Executed, Death Penalty Not The Answer|date= 24 January 2013|url= https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dalai-lama-delhi-gang-rapists-should-not-be-executed_n_2544785|access-date= 14 December 2021|archive-date= 14 December 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211214073836/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dalai-lama-delhi-gang-rapists-should-not-be-executed_n_2544785|url-status= live}} During a 2005 visit to Japan, a country which has the death penalty, the Dalai Lama called for the abolition of the death penalty and said in his address, "Criminals, people who commit crimes, usually society rejects these people. They are also part of society. Give them some form of punishment to say they were wrong, but show them they are part of society and can change. Show them compassion."{{Cite web|url=https://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=44,1023,0,0,1,0|title=Buddhist Channel | Japan|website=www.buddhistchannel.tv|access-date=14 December 2021|archive-date=14 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214073836/https://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=44,1023,0,0,1,0|url-status=live}} The Dalai Lama has also praised U.S. states that have abolished the death penalty.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/dalai-lama-praises-illinois-ban-on-death-penalty-talks-in-chicago/1888354/|title=Dalai Lama Praises Ban on Death Penalty|date=17 July 2011|access-date=14 December 2021|archive-date=14 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214073835/https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/dalai-lama-praises-illinois-ban-on-death-penalty-talks-in-chicago/1888354/|url-status=live}}

File:Vienna 2012-05-26 - Europe for Tibet Solidarity Rally 194 HH sequence s.jpg

The Dalai Lama says that he is active in spreading India's message of nonviolence and religious harmony throughout the world.{{Cite web |date=21 November 2019 |title=World Needs India's Ancient Traditions of Non-violence and Compassion, Says Dalai Lama |url=https://www.news18.com/news/india/world-needs-indias-ancient-traditions-of-non-violence-and-compassion-says-dalai-lama-2394929.html |website=CNN-News18 |language=en |access-date=21 June 2022 |archive-date=21 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621022451/https://www.news18.com/news/india/world-needs-indias-ancient-traditions-of-non-violence-and-compassion-says-dalai-lama-2394929.html |url-status=live }} "I am the messenger of India's ancient thoughts the world over." He has said that democracy has deep roots in India. He says he considers India the master and Tibet its disciple, as great scholars went from India to Tibet to teach Buddhism. He has noted that millions of people lost their lives in violence and the economies of many countries were ruined due to conflicts in the 20th century. "Let the 21st century be a century of tolerance and dialogue."[http://www.indianexpress.com/news/im-messenger-of-indias-ancient-thoughts-dalai-lama/541448 I'm messenger of India's ancient thoughts: Dalai Lama] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091118082440/http://www.indianexpress.com/news/im-messenger-of-indias-ancient-thoughts-dalai-lama/541448 |date=18 November 2009 }}, [https://archive.today/20120903155544/http://www.hindustantimes.com/rssfeed/arunachalpradesh/I-m-messenger-of-India-s-ancient-thoughts-the-Dalai-Lama/Article1-476436.aspx I'm messenger of India's ancient thoughts: The Dalai Lama – Hindustan Times], [http://content.usatoday.com/topics/quote/Religion+and+beliefs/Leaders,+Experts/Dalai+Lama/07vj4sKh2wbTR/06zWaNQ1qJ3u0/1 Dalai Lama Story Page – USATODAY.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121003140427/http://content.usatoday.com/topics/quote/Religion+and+beliefs/Leaders,+Experts/Dalai+Lama/07vj4sKh2wbTR/06zWaNQ1qJ3u0/1 |date=3 October 2012 }}, [http://tibet.ca/en/newsroom/wtn/7998 Canada Tibet Committee|Newsroom|WTN] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120302160117/http://tibet.ca/en/newsroom/wtn/7998 |date=2 March 2012 }} "I'm messenger of India's ancient thoughts": Dalai Lama; 14 November 2009; Itanagar. Indian Express Newspaper; Hindustan Times Newspaper; PTI News; Dalai Lama Quotes Page – USATODAY.com; Official website; [http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article439859.ece Signs of change emanating within China: Dalai Lama] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328231256/http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article439859.ece |date=28 March 2014 }}; By Shoumojit Banerjee; 27 May 2010; The Hindu newspaper

The Dalai Lama has also critiqued proselytisation and certain types of conversion, believing the practices to be contrary to the fundamental ideas of religious harmony and spiritual practice.{{Cite web|author=The 14th Dalai Lama|date=30 June 2021|title=Teaching Requested by Asian Buddhists – Day…|url=https://www.dalailama.com/news/2020/teaching-requested-by-asian-buddhists-day-two|access-date=30 June 2021|website=The 14th Dalai Lama|language=en|archive-date=9 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709183024/https://www.dalailama.com/news/2020/teaching-requested-by-asian-buddhists-day-two|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|author=The 14th Dalai Lama|date=30 June 2021|title=The Office of His Holiness The Dalai Lama|url=https://www.dalailama.com/news/2019/first-day-of-teachings-for-asians/amp|access-date=30 June 2021|website=The 14th Dalai Lama|language=en|archive-date=9 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709181344/https://www.dalailama.com/news/2019/first-day-of-teachings-for-asians/amp|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|title=The Dalai Lama Speaks Out Against Fashionable Buddhism in Europe|url=https://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Reln260/DalaiLama/DL01-1.htm|access-date=30 June 2021|website=www2.kenyon.edu|archive-date=9 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709181403/https://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Reln260/DalaiLama/DL01-1.htm|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|title=Dalai Lama Criticizes Proselytizing|url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=81617&page=1|access-date=30 June 2021|website=ABC News|language=en|archive-date=9 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709182812/https://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=81617&page=1|url-status=live}} He has stated that "It's very important that our religious traditions live in harmony with one another and I don't think proselytizing contributes to this. Just as fighting and killing in the name of religion are very sad, it's not appropriate to use religion as a ground or a means for defeating others."{{Cite web|author=The 14th Dalai Lama|date=30 June 2021|title=Teaching Requested by Asian Buddhists – Day Two|url=https://www.dalailama.com/news/2020/teaching-requested-by-asian-buddhists-day-two|access-date=30 June 2021|website=The 14th Dalai Lama|language=en|archive-date=9 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709183024/https://www.dalailama.com/news/2020/teaching-requested-by-asian-buddhists-day-two|url-status=live}} In particular, he has critiqued Christian approaches to conversion in Asia, stating that he has "come across situations where serving the people is a cover for proselytization."{{Cite web|author=The 14th Dalai Lama|date=30 June 2021|title=First Day of Teaching for Asians|url=https://www.dalailama.com/news/2019/first-day-of-teachings-for-asians/amp|access-date=30 June 2021|website=The 14th Dalai Lama|language=en|archive-date=9 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709181344/https://www.dalailama.com/news/2019/first-day-of-teachings-for-asians/amp|url-status=live}} The Dalai Lama has labelled such practices counter to the "message of Christ" and has emphasised that such individuals "practice conversion like a kind of war against peoples and cultures." In a statement with Hindu religious leaders, he expressed that he opposes "conversions by any religious tradition using various methods of enticement."

In 1993, the Dalai Lama attended the World Conference on Human Rights and made a speech titled "Human Rights and Universal Responsibility".{{cite web |last = Yeshe |first = Jamphel |title = Address by His Holiness The XIV Dalai Lama of Tibet To the United Nations World Conference on Human Rights |url = http://www.subliminal.org/tibet/responsibility.html |access-date = 10 October 2014 |archive-date = 3 April 2019 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190403134010/http://www.subliminal.org/tibet/responsibility.html |url-status = live }}

In 2001, in response to a question from a Seattle schoolgirl, the Dalai Lama said that it is permissible to shoot someone in self-defense (if the person was "trying to kill you") and he emphasised that the shot should not be fatal.{{cite news |last=Bernton |first=Hal |date=15 May 2001 |title=Dalai Lama urges students to shape world |website=Seattle Times |location=Portland |url=http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=dalai15m0&date=20010515 |url-status=dead |access-date=19 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200309075727/https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=20010515&slug=dalai15m0 |archive-date=9 March 2020}}

In 2013, the Dalai Lama criticised Buddhist monks' attacks on Muslims in Myanmar and rejected violence by Buddhists, saying: "Buddha always teaches us about forgiveness, tolerance, compassion. If from one corner of your mind, some emotion makes you want to hit, or want to kill, then please remember Buddha's faith. ... All problems must be solved through dialogue, through talk. The use of violence is outdated, and never solves problems."{{cite news |last=Lila |first=Muhammad |title=International Dalai Lama Pleads for Myanmar Monks to End Violence Amid Damning Rights Report |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/dalai-lama-pleads-myanmar-monks-end-violence-amid/story?id=19013148 |access-date=19 June 2015 |work=ABC News |date=22 April 2013 |location=Dharamshala |archive-date=8 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508073833/https://abcnews.go.com/International/dalai-lama-pleads-myanmar-monks-end-violence-amid/story?id=19013148 |url-status=live }} In May 2013, he said "Really, killing people in the name of religion is unthinkable, very sad."{{cite news |url = https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-dalailama-idUSBRE9460RC20130507 |title = Dalai Lama decries Buddhist attacks on Muslims in Myanmar |publisher = Reuters |date = 7 May 2013 |access-date = 12 October 2013 |archive-date = 9 May 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130509041004/http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/07/us-usa-dalailama-idUSBRE9460RC20130507 |url-status = live }} In May 2015, the Dalai Lama called on Myanmar's Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi to do more to help the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, and said that he had urged Suu Kyi to address the Rohingyas' plight in two previous private meetings and had been rebuffed.{{cite news|title=Dalai Lama presses Aung San Suu Kyi over Rohingya migrants|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32925805|publisher=BBC|date=28 May 2015|access-date=1 July 2018|archive-date=2 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150602225608/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32925805|url-status=live}}

In 2017, after Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo died of organ failure while in Chinese government custody, the Dalai Lama said he was "deeply saddened" and that he believed that Liu's "unceasing efforts in the cause of freedom will bear fruit before long.""[https://www.dalailama.com/news/2017/message-from-his-holiness-the-dalai-lama His Holiness the Dalai Lama Deeply Saddened by Liu Xiaobo's Passing..."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191026105315/https://www.dalailama.com/news/2017/message-from-his-holiness-the-dalai-lama |date=26 October 2019 }}. The 14th Dalai Lama. 18 July 2017.

The Dalai Lama has consistently praised India.{{Cite news |last1=Slodkowski |first1=Antoni |last2=Lies |first2=Elaine |date=10 November 2021 |title=Dalai Lama: China's leaders 'don't understand variety of cultures' |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/china/dalai-lama-says-prefers-stay-india-since-taiwan-china-relations-delicate-2021-11-10/ |access-date=21 June 2022 |archive-date=21 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621022450/https://www.reuters.com/world/china/dalai-lama-says-prefers-stay-india-since-taiwan-china-relations-delicate-2021-11-10/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Indo-Asian News Service |date=6 April 2017 |title=India best country to uphold religious harmony, tolerance: Dalai Lama |work=Business Standard India |url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/india-best-country-to-uphold-religious-harmony-tolerance-dalai-lama-117040601546_1.html |access-date=20 June 2022 |archive-date=21 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621022450/https://www.business-standard.com/article/news-ians/india-best-country-to-uphold-religious-harmony-tolerance-dalai-lama-117040601546_1.html |url-status=live }} In December 2018, he said Muslim countries like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Syria should learn about religion from India for peace in the world.{{Cite web |date=4 December 2018 |title=Muslim nations must learn about religion from India: Dalai Lama |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/muslim-nations-must-learn-about-religion-from-india-dalai-lama-5478444/ |website=The Indian Express |language=en |access-date=21 June 2022 |archive-date=21 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621022450/https://indianexpress.com/article/india/muslim-nations-must-learn-about-religion-from-india-dalai-lama-5478444/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Press Trust of India |date=4 December 2018 |title=Muslim Nations Must Learn About Religion From India: Dalai Lama |url=https://www.thequint.com/news/india/dalai-lama-india-pakistan-relations |website=The Quint |language=en |access-date=21 June 2022 |archive-date=21 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621022450/https://www.thequint.com/news/india/dalai-lama-india-pakistan-relations |url-status=live }} When asked in 2019 about attacks on the minority community in India including a recent one against a Muslim family in Gurgaon, he said: "There are always a few mischievous people, but that does not mean it a symbol of that nation".{{Cite web |date=4 April 2019 |title=Few Incidents of Attacks on Minorities Can't Become Symbolic of A Nation, Says Dalai Lama |url=https://www.news18.com/news/india/few-incidents-of-attacks-on-minorities-cant-become-symbolic-of-a-nation-says-dalai-lama-2089547.html |website=CNN-News18 |language=en |access-date=21 June 2022 |archive-date=21 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621022450/https://www.news18.com/news/india/few-incidents-of-attacks-on-minorities-cant-become-symbolic-of-a-nation-says-dalai-lama-2089547.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Press Trust of India |date=5 April 2019 |title='Few Attacks on Minorities Cannot Symbolise a Nation': Dalai Lama |url=https://www.thequint.com/news/india/few-attacks-on-minorities-cannot-symbolise-a-nation-dalai-lama |website=The Quint |language=en |access-date=21 June 2022 |archive-date=9 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221109180856/https://www.thequint.com/news/india/few-attacks-on-minorities-cannot-symbolise-a-nation-dalai-lama |url-status=live }} He reiterated in December 2021 that he thought India was a role model for religious harmony in the world.{{Cite web |date=19 December 2021 |title=What Dalai Lama Said On India's Role In World's Religious Harmony |url=https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/dalai-lama-dalai-lama-news-what-dalai-lama-said-on-indias-role-in-religious-harmony-in-the-world-2659307 |website=NDTV |access-date=21 June 2022 |archive-date=12 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312233226/https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/dalai-lama-dalai-lama-news-what-dalai-lama-said-on-indias-role-in-religious-harmony-in-the-world-2659307 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=20 December 2021 |title=India role model for religious harmony in the world, says Dalai Lama |url=https://en.trend.az/world/other/3529518.html |website=Trend News Agency |language=en |access-date=21 June 2022 |archive-date=12 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312233228/https://en.trend.az/world/other/3529518.html |url-status=live }}

{{blockquote|People think of animals as if they were vegetables, and that is not right. We have to change the way people think about animals. I encourage the Tibetan people and all people to move toward a vegetarian diet that doesn't cause suffering.|Dalai Lama{{cite web |url = http://www.universalcompassion.org/ |title = Universal Compassion Movement |publisher = Universalcompassion.org |date = 25 November 2010 |access-date = 17 July 2013 |archive-date = 26 August 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130826175834/http://www.universalcompassion.org/ |url-status = live }}}}

The Dalai Lama advocates compassion for animals and frequently urges people to try vegetarianism or at least reduce their consumption of meat. In Tibet, where historically meat was the most common food, most monks historically have been omnivores, including the Dalai Lamas. The Fourteenth Dalai Lama was raised in a meat-eating family but converted to vegetarianism after arriving in India, where vegetables are much more easily available and vegetarianism is widespread.{{Cite book|title=Food Science, An Ecological Approach|last=Edelstein|first=Sari|publisher=Jones & Bartlett Publishers|year=2013|isbn=978-1-4496-0344-1}} He spent many years as a vegetarian, but after contracting hepatitis in India and suffering from weakness, his doctors told him to return to eating meat which he now does twice a week.{{cite web|last=Kristof|first=Nicholas|title=Dalai Lama Gets Mischievous|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/16/opinion/nicholas-kristof-dalai-lama-gets-mischievous.html|work=The New York Times|date=16 July 2015|access-date=22 August 2019|archive-date=22 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190822111340/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/16/opinion/nicholas-kristof-dalai-lama-gets-mischievous.html|url-status=live}} This attracted public attention when, during a visit to the White House, he was offered a vegetarian menu but declined by replying, as he is known to do on occasion when dining in the company of non-vegetarians, "I'm a Tibetan monk, not a vegetarian".{{cite book |last=Iyer |first=Pico |title=The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama |publisher=Knopf Publishing Group |date=2008 |page=203 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ExP5VoHTyzgC&pg=PP1 |isbn=978-1-4088-0692-0 |access-date=24 October 2020 |archive-date=24 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624204609/https://books.google.com/books?id=ExP5VoHTyzgC&pg=PP1 |url-status=live }} His own home kitchen, however, is completely vegetarian.{{cite web |url = http://www.shabkar.org/teachers/tibetanbuddhism/dalai_lama.htm |title = H.H. Dalai Lama |publisher = Shabkar.org |access-date = 17 July 2013 |archive-date = 5 January 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210105230628/http://www.shabkar.org/teachers/tibetanbuddhism/dalai_lama.htm |url-status = live }}

In 2009, the English singer Paul McCartney wrote a letter to the Dalai Lama inquiring why he was not a vegetarian. As McCartney later told The Guardian, "He wrote back very kindly, saying, 'my doctors tell me that I must eat meat'. And I wrote back again, saying, you know, I don't think that's right. [...] I think now he's vegetarian most of the time. I think he's now being told, the more he meets doctors from the west, that he can get his protein somewhere else. [...] It just doesn't seem right – the Dalai Lama, on the one hand, saying, 'Hey guys, don't harm sentient beings... Oh, and by the way, I'm having a steak.{{'"}}{{cite news|last=Ellen|first=Barbara|date=17 July 2010|title=Interview: Paul McCartney|work=The Guardian|location=London|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/jul/18/paul-mccartney-vegetarianism|url-status=live|access-date=22 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130915150250/http://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/jul/18/paul-mccartney-vegetarianism|archive-date=15 September 2013}}

The Dalai Lama has referred to himself as a Marxist and has articulated criticisms of capitalism.{{cite web |title = The (Justifiably) Angry Marxist: An interview with the Dalai Lama |date = 30 August 2013 |url = https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/justifiably-angry-marxist-interview-dalai-lama/ |publisher = Tricycle: The Buddhist Review |access-date = 7 October 2021 |archive-date = 25 January 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210125170907/https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/justifiably-angry-marxist-interview-dalai-lama/ |url-status = live }}Catherine Phillips (15 January 2015). [http://www.newsweek.com/i-am-marxist-says-dalai-lama-299598 ‘I Am Marxist’ Says Dalai Lama] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924053129/http://www.newsweek.com/i-am-marxist-says-dalai-lama-299598 |date=24 September 2015 }}. Newsweek. Retrieved 16 January 2015.

{{blockquote|I am not only a socialist but also a bit leftist, a communist. In terms of social economy theory, I am a Marxist. I think I am farther to the left than the Chinese leaders. [Bursts out laughing.] They are capitalists.}}

He reports hearing of communism when he was very young, but only in the context of the destruction of the Mongolian People's Republic. It was only when he went on his trip to Beijing that he learned about Marxist theory from his interpreter Baba Phuntsog Wangyal of the Tibetan Communist Party.{{cite web |url = http://www.dalailama.com/news/post/1102-condolence-message-from-his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-at-the-passing-away-of-baba-phuntsog-wangyal |title = Condolence Message from His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the Passing Away of Baba Phuntsog Wangyal |author = Dalai Lama |author-link = 14th Dalai Lama |date = 30 March 2014 |access-date = 3 May 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140408001643/http://www.dalailama.com/news/post/1102-condolence-message-from-his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-at-the-passing-away-of-baba-phuntsog-wangyal |archive-date = 8 April 2014 |url-status = dead }} At that time, he reports, "I was so attracted to Marxism, I even expressed my wish to become a Communist Party member," citing his favourite concepts of self-sufficiency and equal distribution of wealth. He does not believe that China implemented "true Marxist policy,"{{Cite news |url = http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/99/0927/lhasa.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20010129054600/http://www.time.com/time/asia/magazine/99/0927/lhasa.html |url-status = dead |archive-date = 29 January 2001 |title = Long Trek to Exile For Tibet's Apostle |author = 14th Dalai Lama |date = 27 September 1999 |access-date = 29 August 2010 |publisher = Time|volume=154|number=12}} and thinks the historical communist states such as the Soviet Union "were far more concerned with their narrow national interests than with the Workers' International".{{cite web |url = http://hhdl.dharmakara.net/hhdlquotes1.html |title = Tibet and China, Marxism, Nonviolence |publisher = Hhdl.dharmakara.net |access-date = 2 May 2010 |archive-date = 20 November 2018 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181120051343/http://hhdl.dharmakara.net/hhdlquotes1.html |url-status = live }} Moreover, he believes one flaw of historically "Marxist regimes" is that they place too much emphasis on destroying the ruling class, and not enough on compassion. He finds Marxism superior to capitalism, believing the latter is only concerned with "how to make profits," whereas the former has "moral ethics".{{Cite news |url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/tibet/7747371/Marxist-Dalai-Lama-criticises-capitalism.html |title = 'Marxist' Dalai Lama criticises capitalism |date = 20 May 2010 |access-date = 28 August 2010 |work = The Sunday Telegraph |location = London |archive-date = 27 January 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210127082945/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/tibet/7747371/Marxist-Dalai-Lama-criticises-capitalism.html |url-status = live }} Stating in 1993:

{{blockquote|Of all the modern economic theories, the economic system of Marxism is founded on moral principles, while capitalism is concerned only with gain and profitability. Marxism is concerned with the distribution of wealth on an equal basis and the equitable utilisation of the means of production. It is also concerned with the fate of the working classes—that is, the majority—as well as with the fate of those who are underprivileged and in need, and Marxism cares about the victims of minority-imposed exploitation. For those reasons the system appeals to me, and it seems fair. I just recently read an article in a paper where His Holiness the Pope also pointed out some positive aspects of Marxism.[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/jun/20/dalai-lama-marxist-buddhism Of course the Dalai Lama's a Marxist] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210319091647/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/jun/20/dalai-lama-marxist-buddhism |date=19 March 2021 }} by Ed Halliwell, The Guardian, 20 June 2011}}On India–Pakistan relations, the Dalai Lama in October 2019 said: "There is a difference between Indian and Pakistani Prime Minister's speech at the UN. Indian prime prime minister talks about peace and you know what his Pakistan counterpart said. Getting China's political support is Pakistan's compulsion. But Pakistan also needs India. Pakistani leaders should calm down and think beyond emotions and should follow a realistic approach".{{Cite web |last=Manjeet Sehgal |date=15 October 2019 |title=Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama asks Pakistan PM Imran Khan to control emotions |url=https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/dalai-lama-pakistn-imran-khan-india-modi-china-chandigarh-1609626-2019-10-15 |website=India Today |language=en |access-date=21 June 2022 |archive-date=21 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621022450/https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/dalai-lama-pakistn-imran-khan-india-modi-china-chandigarh-1609626-2019-10-15 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Jagdeep Singh Deep |date=16 October 2019 |title=Chinese students should come to India to know how democracy works: Dalai Lama |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/chinese-students-should-come-to-india-to-know-how-democracy-works-dalai-lama-6071299/ |access-date=21 June 2022 |website=The Indian Express |language=en |archive-date=21 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220621022450/https://indianexpress.com/article/india/chinese-students-should-come-to-india-to-know-how-democracy-works-dalai-lama-6071299/ |url-status=live }}

The Dalai Lama is outspoken in his concerns about environmental problems, frequently giving public talks on themes related to the environment. He has pointed out that many rivers in Asia originate in Tibet, and that the melting of Himalayan glaciers could affect the countries in which the rivers flow.{{Cite news |url = https://www.smh.com.au/environment/think-global-before-local-dalai-lama-20091130-k17b.html |title = Think global before local: Dalai Lama |first = Joyce |last = Morgan |date = 1 December 2009 |access-date = 28 August 2010 |work = The Sydney Morning Herald |archive-date = 5 January 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210105185044/https://www.smh.com.au/environment/think-global-before-local-dalai-lama-20091130-k17b.html |url-status = live }} He acknowledged official Chinese laws against deforestation in Tibet, but lamented they can be ignored due to possible corruption.{{Cite news |url = http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Dalai_Lama_bemoans_deforestation_of_Tibet_999.html |title = Dalai Lama bemoans deforestation of Tibet |agency = Agence France-Presse |date = 21 November 2007 |access-date = 28 August 2010 |archive-date = 8 January 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210108015046/https://www.terradaily.com/reports/Dalai_Lama_bemoans_deforestation_of_Tibet_999.html |url-status = live }} He was quoted as saying "ecology should be part of our daily life";{{cite web |url = https://archive.org/details/DalaiLama_2006_09_19 |title = His Holiness the Dalai Lama's Address to the University at Buffalo |access-date = 2 May 2010|date = 19 September 2006 }} personally, he takes showers instead of baths, and turns lights off when he leaves a room.

Around 2005, he started campaigning for wildlife conservation, including by issuing a religious ruling against wearing tiger and leopard skins as garments.{{Cite news |title = Dalai Lama Campaigns to End Wildlife Trade |date = 8 April 2005 |publisher = ENS |url = http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2005/2005-04-08-01.asp |access-date = 8 September 2007 |archive-date = 24 September 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150924001013/http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2005/2005-04-08-01.asp |url-status = dead }}{{Cite news |title = Reports Fur Flies Over Tiger Plight |author = Justin Huggler |work = The New Zealand Herald|date = 18 February 2006 |url = http://www.tew.org/archived/wildlife.skins.issue.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071013141142/http://tew.org/archived/wildlife.skins.issue.html |url-status = dead |archive-date = 13 October 2007 }} The Dalai Lama supports the anti-whaling position in the whaling controversy, but has criticised the activities of groups such as the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (which carries out acts of what it calls aggressive nonviolence against property).{{Cite news |url = http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2010/2010-06-23-02.html |title = Dalai Lama Reminds Anti-Whaling Activists to Be Non-Violent |location = Tokyo |date = 23 June 2010 |access-date = 28 August 2010 |agency = Environment News Service |archive-date = 12 October 2020 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201012091040/http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2010/2010-06-23-02.html |url-status = dead }} Before the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, he urged national leaders to put aside domestic concerns and take collective action against climate change.{{Cite news |url = https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5AT16B20091130 |title = Dalai Lama says climate change needs global action |location = Sydney |date = 30 November 2009 |access-date = 28 August 2010 |work = Reuters |first = Michael |last = Perry |archive-date = 9 August 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100809023803/http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5AT16B20091130 |url-status = live }}

The Dalai Lama's stances on topics of sexuality have changed over time.

A monk since childhood, the Dalai Lama has said that sex offers fleeting satisfaction and leads to trouble later, while chastity offers a better life and "more independence, more freedom".{{cite web|url= https://www.smh.com.au/world/sex-invariably-spells-trouble-says-dalai-lama-20081129-6n91.html |title= Sex invariably spells trouble, says Dalai Lama |work= The Sydney Morning Herald |date= 29 November 2008 |access-date= 4 December 2023 |archive-date= 4 December 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231204154946/https://www.smh.com.au/world/sex-invariably-spells-trouble-says-dalai-lama-20081129-6n91.html |url-status=live}} He has said that problems arising from conjugal life sometimes even lead to suicide or murder.{{cite news |author = GMT 2|url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/3534994/Sexual-intercourse-spells-trouble-says-Dalai-Lama.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081203142210/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/3534994/Sexual-intercourse-spells-trouble-says-Dalai-Lama.html |url-status = dead |archive-date = 3 December 2008 |title = Sexual intercourse spells trouble, says Dalai Lama |work = The Telegraph|date = 29 November 2008 |access-date = 2 May 2010|location=London}} He has asserted that all religions have the same view about adultery.{{cite web|url= https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2010/02/21/dalai-lama-says-self-discipline-important-woods/ |title= Dalai Lama says faith is important for Woods |author= Associated Press |work= Golfweek |date= 21 February 2010 |access-date= 4 December 2023 |archive-date= 4 December 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231204154053/https://golfweek.usatoday.com/2010/02/21/dalai-lama-says-self-discipline-important-woods/ |url-status=live}}
{{cite web|url= https://www.thestar.com/sports/golf/tiger-who-dalai-lama-disses-golfer/article_f015a2c4-e3ee-5eea-bc32-5eb7a1fe8758.html |title= Tiger who? Dalai Lama disses golfer |work= Toronto Star |date= 21 February 2010 |access-date= 4 December 2023 |archive-date= 4 December 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231204154105/https://www.thestar.com/sports/golf/tiger-who-dalai-lama-disses-golfer/article_f015a2c4-e3ee-5eea-bc32-5eb7a1fe8758.html |url-status=live}}

In his discussions of the traditional Buddhist view on appropriate sexual behaviour, he explains the concept of "right organ in the right object at the right time," which historically has been interpreted as indicating that oral, manual and anal sex (both homosexual and heterosexual) are not appropriate in Buddhism or for Buddhists. However, he also says that in modern times all common, consensual sexual practices that do not cause harm to others are ethically acceptable and that society should accept and respect people who are gay or transgender from a secular point of view.{{cite web|url=http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_budd2.htm|title=Buddhism and homosexuality|website=religioustolerance.org|access-date=22 April 2015|archive-date=17 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210317083002/https://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_budd2.htm|url-status=live}} In a 1994 interview with OUT Magazine, the Dalai Lama clarified his personal opinion on the matter by saying, "If someone comes to me and asks whether homosexuality is okay or not, I will ask 'What is your companion's opinion?' If you both agree, then I think I would say, 'If two males or two females voluntarily agree to have mutual satisfaction without further implication of harming others, then it is okay.'"OUT Magazine February/March 1994 However, when interviewed by Canadian TV news anchor Evan Solomon on CBC News: Sunday about whether homosexuality is acceptable in Buddhism, the Dalai Lama responded that "it is sexual misconduct".{{cite web|website=HuffPost|date=13 July 2009|title=Gay Marriage: What Would Buddha Do?|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gay-marriage-what-would-b_b_230855|first=James|last=Shaheen|access-date=6 April 2023|archive-date=6 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406010916/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gay-marriage-what-would-b_b_230855|url-status=live}}

In his 1996 book Beyond Dogma, he described a traditional Buddhist definition of an appropriate sexual act as follows: "A sexual act is deemed proper when the couples use the organs intended for sexual intercourse and nothing else ... Homosexuality, whether it is between men or between women, is not improper in itself. What is improper is the use of organs already defined as inappropriate for sexual contact."Beyond Dogma by the Dalai Lama He elaborated in 1997, conceding that the basis of that teaching was unknown to him. He also conveyed his own "willingness to consider the possibility that some of the teachings may be specific to a particular cultural and historic context"."Dalai Lama Urges 'Respect, Compassion, and Full Human Rights for All', including Gays". Conkin, Dennis. Bay Area Reporter, 19 June 1997.

In 2006, the Dalai Lama has expressed concern at "reports of violence and discrimination against" LGBT people and urged "respect, tolerance and the full recognition of human rights for all".{{cite press release |url=http://ilga.org/ilga/en/article/782 |title=His Holiness The Dalai Lama Issues Statement in Support of Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People |publisher=International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA) |location=Geneva |date=3 April 2006 |access-date=20 November 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130623030316/http://ilga.org/ilga/en/article/782 |archive-date=23 June 2013 }}

In a 2014 interview with Larry King, the Dalai Lama expressed that same-sex marriage is a personal issue, can be ethically socially accepted, and that he personally accepts it. However, he also stated that if same-sex marriage is in contradiction with one's chosen traditions, then they should not follow it.{{cite magazine|url= https://time.com/15273/watch-dalai-lama-says-okay-to-same-sex-marriages/ |title= WATCH: Dalai Lama Says 'O.K.' to Same-Sex Marriages |first= Dan |last= Kedmey |magazine= Time |date= 7 March 2014 |access-date= 4 December 2023 |archive-date= 4 December 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231204144419/https://time.com/15273/watch-dalai-lama-says-okay-to-same-sex-marriages/ |url-status=live}}
{{cite web|url= https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/03/dalai-lama-says-he-supports-gay-marriage |title= Dalai Lama Says He Supports Gay Marriage |first= Jaime |last= Lutz |work= ABC News |date= 8 March 2014 |access-date= 4 December 2023 |archive-date= 4 December 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231204144359/https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/03/dalai-lama-says-he-supports-gay-marriage |url-status=live}}
{{cite web|url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/dalai-lama-says-gay-marriage-is-ok-9175947.html |title= Dalai Lama says gay marriage is 'ok' |first= Antonia |last= Molloy |work= The Independent |date= 7 March 2014 |access-date= 4 December 2023 |archive-date= 4 December 2023 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231204144621/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/dalai-lama-says-gay-marriage-is-ok-9175947.html |url-status=live}}

{{See also|Women in Buddhism|Criticism of Buddhism#Women in Buddhism}}

In 2007, he said that the next Dalai Lama could possibly be a woman: "If a woman reveals herself as more useful the lama could very well be reincarnated in this form."{{cite news |last = Spencer |first = Richard |url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1571850/Dalai-Lama-says-successor-could-be-a-woman.html |url-access=registration |title = Dalai Lama says successor could be a woman |work = The Telegraph |date = 7 December 2007 |access-date = 19 November 2010 |location = London |archive-date = 6 January 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210106155514/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1571850/Dalai-Lama-says-successor-could-be-a-woman.html |url-status = live }}

In 2009, on gender equality and sexism, the Dalai Lama proclaimed at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee: "I call myself a feminist. Isn't that what you call someone who fights for women's rights?" He also said that by nature, women are more compassionate based on their biology and capacity for reproduction and maternal care. He called on women to "lead and create a more compassionate world," citing the good works of nurses and mothers.{{cite news |url = https://www.huffingtonpost.com/tamara-conniff/the-dalai-lama-proclaims_b_297285.html |first1=Tamara |last1=Conniff |title = The Dalai Lama Proclaims Himself a Feminist: Day Two of Peace and Music in Memphis |work = HuffPost |date = 23 September 2009 |access-date = 17 July 2013 |archive-date = 15 November 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171115084047/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/tamara-conniff/the-dalai-lama-proclaims_b_297285.html |url-status = live }}

At a 2014 appearance at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai, the Dalai Lama said, "Since women have been shown to be more sensitive to others' suffering, their leadership may be more effective."{{cite web |title=Secular Ethics for Higher Education |url=https://www.dalailama.com/news/2017/launch-of-tata-institute-of-social-sciences-course-in-secular-ethics-for-higher-education/amp |website=His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet |publisher=The Office of His Holiness The Dalai Lama |access-date=13 August 2018 |archive-date=5 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210105162041/https://www.dalailama.com/news/2017/launch-of-tata-institute-of-social-sciences-course-in-secular-ethics-for-higher-education/amp |url-status=live }}

In 2015, he said in a BBC interview that if a female succeeded him, "that female must be attractive, otherwise it is not much use," and when asked if he was joking, replied, "No. True!" He followed with a joke about his success being due to his own appearance.{{cite web |title = Dalai Lama Says If Successor Is Female, She Must Be Very Attractive |url = http://www.tricycle.com/blog/dalai-lama-says-if-successor-female-she-must-be-very-attractive |publisher = Tricycle: The Buddhist Review |date = 22 September 2015 |access-date = 24 September 2015 |archive-date = 25 September 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150925002300/http://www.tricycle.com/blog/dalai-lama-says-if-successor-female-she-must-be-very-attractive |url-status = dead }} His office later released a statement of apology citing the interaction as a translation error.{{Cite web |last=Rodriguez |first=Adrianna |title=Dalai Lama apologizes for sexist remarks that female successor must be 'more attractive' |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/07/03/dalai-lama-apologizes-female-successor-more-attractive-sexist-remarks/1637106001/ |access-date=14 April 2022 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US |archive-date=14 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220414132912/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/07/03/dalai-lama-apologizes-female-successor-more-attractive-sexist-remarks/1637106001/ |url-status=live }}

File:Tenzin Gyatso - Trento 2013 01.JPG

In 2013, at the Culture of Compassion event in Derry, Northern Ireland, the Dalai Lama said that "Warm-heartedness is a key factor for healthy individuals, healthy families and healthy communities."{{cite news |url = https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/18/dalai-lama-culture-of-com_n_3111216.html |title = Dalai Lama 'Culture of Compassion' Talk: Key To Good Health Is 'Peace of Mind' (VIDEO) |work = HuffPost |date = 18 April 2013 |access-date = 20 February 2020 |archive-date = 19 October 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171019220126/https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/18/dalai-lama-culture-of-com_n_3111216.html |url-status = live }}

In a 2020 statement in Time magazine on the COVID-19 pandemic, the Dalai Lama said that the pandemic must be combated with compassion, empirical science, prayer, and the courage of healthcare workers. He emphasised "emotional disarmament" (seeing things with a clear and realistic perspective, without fear or rage) and wrote: "The outbreak of this terrible coronavirus has shown that what happens to one person can soon affect every other being. But it also reminds us that a compassionate or constructive act – whether working in hospitals or just observing social distancing – has the potential to help many."[https://time.com/5820613/dalai-lama-coronavirus-compassion/ 'Prayer Is Not Enough.' The Dalai Lama on Why We Need to Fight Coronavirus With Compassion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418193728/https://time.com/5820613/dalai-lama-coronavirus-compassion/ |date=18 April 2020 }} 14 April 2020, time.com, accessed 10 May 2021

In September 2018, speaking at a conference in Malmö, Sweden, home to a large immigrant population, the Dalai Lama said "I think Europe belongs to the Europeans," but also that Europe was "morally responsible" for helping "a refugee really facing danger against their life". He stated that Europe has a responsibility to refugees to "receive them, help them, educate them," but that they should aim to return to their places of origin and that "they ultimately should rebuild their own country".{{cite web|url=https://www.france24.com/en/20180912-dalai-lama-says-europe-belongs-europeans|title=Dalai Lama says 'Europe belongs to Europeans'|date=12 September 2018|access-date=17 September 2018|archive-date=14 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210314054736/https://www.france24.com/en/20180912-dalai-lama-says-europe-belongs-europeans|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/dalai-lama-says-europe-belongs-to-europeans|title=Dalai Lama says 'Europe belongs to Europeans'|date=13 September 2018|access-date=17 September 2018|archive-date=17 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917105230/https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/dalai-lama-says-europe-belongs-to-europeans|url-status=live}}

Speaking to German reporters in 2016, the Dalai Lama said there are "too many" refugees in Europe, adding that "Europe, for example Germany, cannot become an Arab country." He also said that "Germany is Germany".{{cite web|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/05/31/the-dalai-lama-says-too-many-refugees-are-going-to-germany/|title=The Dalai Lama says 'too many' refugees are going to Germany|first=Max|last=Bearak|website=facebook.com via The Washington Post|access-date=17 September 2018|archive-date=17 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180917105327/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/05/31/the-dalai-lama-says-too-many-refugees-are-going-to-germany/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/migrant-crisis-dalai-lama-says-germany-cannot-become-an-arab-country-20160601-gp8mhr.html|title=Migrant crisis: Dalai Lama says Germany 'cannot become an Arab country'|first=Max|last=Bearak|date=31 May 2016|website=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=17 September 2018|archive-date=16 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216142953/https://www.smh.com.au/world/migrant-crisis-dalai-lama-says-germany-cannot-become-an-arab-country-20160601-gp8mhr.html|url-status=live}}

{{see also|Dorje Shugden controversy}}

Dorje Shugden is an entity in Tibetan Buddhism that, since the 1930s, has become a point of contention over whether to include or exclude certain non-Gelug teachings. After the 1975 publication of the Yellow Book containing stories about Dorje Shugden acting wrathfully against Gelugpas who also practised Nyingma, the 14th Dalai Lama, himself a Gelugpa and advocate of an inclusive approach,{{sfn|Mills|2003}} publicly renounced the practice of Dorje Shugden.Prisoners of Shangri-La. Lopez, Donald. Page 191{{sfn|Kay|2004|pp=47–49}} Several groups broke away as a result, notably the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT). According to Tibetologists, the Dalai Lama's disapproval has reduced the prevalence of Shugden sects among Tibetans in China and India.Lague, David. Mooney, Paul. and Lim, Benjamin Kang. (21 December 2015). [https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/china-dalailama/ "China co-opts a Buddhist sect in global effort to smear Dalai Lama".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170704004949/http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/china-dalailama/|date=4 July 2017}} Reuters. Retrieved 21 December 2015. Shugden devotees have since complained about being ostracized when trying to get jobs or receive services. The Dalai Lama's supporters expressed that any discrimination is neither systematic nor encouraged by him. Some Shugden movements such as the NKT have organised demonstrations as a form of protest.{{cite web |title=The Dalai Lama Speaks Clearly About the Dorje Shugden Ban |url=https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/dorje-shugden/the-dalai-lama-speaks-clearly-about-the-dorje-shugden-ban.html |access-date=19 June 2020 |website=Tsem Rinpoche dot com |archive-date=17 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417015118/https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/dorje-shugden/the-dalai-lama-speaks-clearly-about-the-dorje-shugden-ban.html |url-status=live }} Some journalists have suggested that the Chinese government has taken advantage of the controversy. The group disbanded in 2016.{{cite web |author1=David Lague |author2=Stephanie Nebehay |date=11 March 2016 |title=Buddhist group leading global anti-Dalai Lama protests disbands |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-dalai-lama-idUSKCN0WD203 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602180048/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-dalai-lama-idUSKCN0WD203 |archive-date=2 June 2016 |access-date=12 March 2016 |website=Reuters |quote="The Buddhist group leading a global campaign of harassment against the Dalai Lama has called off its demonstrations and disbanded, according to a statement on its website. The announcement comes after a Reuters investigation revealed in December that China's ruling Communist Party backs the Buddhist religious sect behind the protests that have confronted the Dalai Lama in almost every country he visits. Reuters found that the sect had become a key instrument in China's campaign to discredit the Tibetan spiritual leader." |location=Geneva, Switzerland}}{{Cite web |last=Lama |first=The 14th Dalai |date=7 April 2023 |title=Avalokiteshvara Empowerment and Public Talk |url=https://www.dalailama.com/news/2016/avalokiteshvara-empowerment-and-public-talk |access-date=7 April 2023 |website=The 14th Dalai Lama |language=en |archive-date=7 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407101313/https://www.dalailama.com/news/2016/avalokiteshvara-empowerment-and-public-talk |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Thubten |first1=Tsem |title=Dalai Lama Says We Can Practise Dorje Shugden Finally! |url=https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/current-affairs/dalai-lama-says-we-can-practise-dorje-shugden-finally.html |access-date=20 June 2020 |website=Tsem Rinpoche dot com |date=8 April 2019 |archive-date=19 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200419202727/https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/current-affairs/dalai-lama-says-we-can-practise-dorje-shugden-finally.html |url-status=live }} His office said that there was no ban or discrimination against Shugden worshippers.{{Cite web |last=Lama |first=The 14th Dalai |date=6 April 2023 |title=In Response to the Shugden Protestors'… |url=https://www.dalailama.com/messages/dolgyal-shugden/statements-announcements/response-to-shugden-protestor-allegations |access-date=7 April 2023 |website=The 14th Dalai Lama |language=en |archive-date=7 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407101313/https://www.dalailama.com/messages/dolgyal-shugden/statements-announcements/response-to-shugden-protestor-allegations |url-status=live }}

{{main|CIA Tibetan program}}

In October 1998, the Dalai Lama's administration acknowledged that it received $1.7 million a year in the 1960s from the U.S. government through a Central Intelligence Agency program.{{cite news |title = World News Briefs; Dalai Lama Group Says It Got Money From C.I.A. |url = http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F3061EF73E5C0C718CDDA90994D0494D81&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fD%2fDalai%20Lama |date = 2 October 1998 |work = The New York Times |access-date = 24 November 2005 |archive-date = 28 January 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110128073617/http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F3061EF73E5C0C718CDDA90994D0494D81&n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FPeople%2FD%2FDalai%20Lama |url-status = live }} When asked by CIA officer John Kenneth Knaus in 1995 to comment on the CIA Tibetan program, the Dalai Lama replied that though it helped the morale of those resisting the Chinese, "thousands of lives were lost in the resistance" and further, that "the U.S. Government had involved itself in his country's affairs not to help Tibet but only as a Cold War tactic to challenge the Chinese."{{cite book |author = William Blum |url = http://members.aol.com/superogue/intro.htm |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080321053809/http://members.aol.com/superogue/intro.htm |archive-date=21 March 2008 |title = Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower |publisher = Zed Books|year=2006 |access-date = 2 May 2010}} As part of the program the Dalai Lama received 180,000 dollars a year from 1959 till 1974 for his own personal use.{{cite book |title=Contemporary Tibet: Politics, Development and Society in a Disputed Region |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge}}

His administration's reception of CIA funding has become one of the grounds for some state-run Chinese newspapers to discredit him along with the Tibetan independence movement.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

In his autobiography Freedom in Exile, the Dalai Lama criticised the CIA again for supporting the Tibetan independence movement "not because they (the CIA) cared about Tibetan independence, but as part of their worldwide efforts to destabilize all communist governments".{{cite news|title = CIA Gave Aid to Tibetan Exiles in '60s, Files Show|url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-sep-15-mn-22993-story.html|work = Los Angeles Times|access-date = 8 September 2013|quote = In his 1990 autobiography, 'Freedom in Exile', the Dalai Lama explained that his two brothers made contact with the CIA during a trip to India in 1956. The CIA agreed to help, 'not because they cared about Tibetan independence, but as part of their worldwide efforts to destabilize all Communist governments', the Dalai Lama wrote.|first = Jim|last = Mann|date = 15 September 1998|archive-date = 11 September 2013|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130911061410/http://articles.latimes.com/1998/sep/15/news/mn-22993|url-status = live}}

In 1999, the Dalai Lama said that the CIA Tibetan program had been harmful for Tibet because it was primarily aimed at serving American interests, and "once the American policy toward China changed, they stopped their help."{{cite web |first=Jonathan |last=Mirsky |title=Tibet: The CIA's Cancelled War |url=http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2013/apr/09/cias-cancelled-war-tibet/ |work=The New York Review of Books |date=9 April 2013 |access-date=3 November 2013 |archive-date=5 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905190033/http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2013/apr/09/cias-cancelled-war-tibet/ |url-status=live }}

File:President Barack Obama greets His Holiness the Dalai Lama (27591124962).jpg in 2016]]

File:77letDalajLamy3.jpg, Russia]]

The Dalai Lama places highly in global surveys of the world's most admired men, ranking with Pope Francis as among the world's religious leaders cited as the most admired.{{cite web |author1=Regina A. Corso |title=The Dalai Lama, President Obama and Pope Francis at Highest Levels of Popularity in U.S. and Five Largest European Countries |url=http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/mid/1508/ArticleId/1199/Default.aspx |publisher=Harris, A Nielsen Company |location=New York |date=29 May 2013 |access-date=1 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150405165043/http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom/HarrisPolls/tabid/447/ctl/ReadCustom%20Default/mid/1508/ArticleId/1199/Default.aspx |archive-date=5 April 2015 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|author=Matthew Smith|title=World's most admired 2020|publisher=YouGov|url=https://yougov.co.uk/topics/international/articles-reports/2020/09/23/worlds-most-admired-2020|date=22 September 2020|access-date=27 September 2020|archive-date=29 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929020601/https://yougov.co.uk/topics/international/articles-reports/2020/09/23/worlds-most-admired-2020|url-status=live}}

File:Plaque at AP Museum, Amaravathi.jpg

The Dalai Lama's appeal is variously ascribed to his charismatic personality, international fascination with Buddhism, his universalist values, and international sympathy for the Tibetans.{{Cite news |url = https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/dec/15/china-dalai-lama-exile-tibetans |title = The Next Dalai Lama: China has a choice |first = Dibyesh |last = Anand |work = The Guardian |date = 15 December 2010 |access-date = 19 December 2010 |location = London |archive-date = 6 January 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210106164016/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/dec/15/china-dalai-lama-exile-tibetans |url-status = live }} In the 1990s, many films were released by the American film industry about Tibet, including biopics of the Dalai Lama. This is attributed to both the Dalai Lama's 1989 Nobel Peace Prize as well as to the euphoria following the Fall of Communism. The most notable films, Kundun and Seven Years in Tibet (both released in 1997), portrayed "an idyllic pre-1950 Tibet, with a smiling, soft-spoken Dalai Lama at the helm—a Dalai Lama sworn to non-violence": portrayals the Chinese government decried as ahistorical.{{Cite book |title = Tibet |first=Michael |last=Buckley |publisher = Bradt Travel Guides |year=2006 |edition=2 |isbn = 978-1-84162-164-7 |page = [https://archive.org/details/tibetbuck00buck/page/35 35] |url = https://archive.org/details/tibetbuck00buck |url-access = registration |access-date = 5 December 2010}}

The Dalai Lama has his own pages on Twitter,{{cite web |url = https://twitter.com/DalaiLama |title = Dalai Lama |publisher = Twitter.com |access-date = 15 August 2014 |archive-date = 27 April 2021 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210427120001/https://twitter.com/DalaiLama |url-status = live }} Facebook,{{cite web |url = https://www.facebook.com/DalaiLama/ |title = Dalai Lama |publisher = Facebook.com |access-date = 17 July 2013 |archive-date = 8 April 2005 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050408055255/https://www.facebook.com/#!/DalaiLama |url-status = live }} and Instagram.{{cite web |url = https://instagram.com/dalailama/ |title = Dalai Lama: Instagram |access-date = 14 July 2015 |archive-date = 18 August 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150818234346/https://instagram.com/dalailama/ |url-status = live }}

File:Dalai Lama and Bishop Tutu. Carey Linde.jpg in 2004]]

The Dalai Lama has tried to mobilise international support for Tibetan activities.Fisher, D., Shahghasemi, E. & Heisey, D. R. (2009). A Comparative Rhetorical Analysis of the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. Midwest CIES 2009 Conference, Ohio, U.S. The Dalai Lama has been successful in gaining Western support for himself and the cause of greater Tibetan autonomy, including vocal support from numerous Hollywood celebrities, most notably the actors Richard Gere and Steven Seagal, as well as lawmakers from several major countries.[https://web.archive.org/web/20100812174009/http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/dalailama/interview.html Interview] with CBC News, 16 April 2004 Photos of the Dalai Lama were banned after March 1959 Lhasa protests until after the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976. In 1996 the Chinese Communist Party once again reinstated the total prohibition of any photo of the 14th Dalai Lama. According to the Tibet Information Network, "authorities in Tibet have begun banning photographs of the exiled Dalai Lama in monasteries and public places, according to reports from a monitoring group and a Tibetan newspaper. Plainclothes police went to hotels and restaurants in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, on 22 and 23 April and ordered Tibetans to remove pictures of the Dalai Lama{{nbsp}}..."{{Cite web|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1996/05/01/photos-of-dalai-lama-banned-in-monasteries-across-tibet/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322024650/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1996-05-01/news/9605010131_1|url-status=live|archive-date=22 March 2016|title=Photos of Dalai Lama Banned in Monasteries Across Tibet – tribunedigital-chicagotribune|website=Chicago Tribune |date=22 March 2016|access-date=28 July 2017}} The ban continues in many locations throughout Tibet today.

The 14th Dalai Lama has appeared in several non-fiction films including:

• 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama (2006, documentary)
• Dalai Lama Renaissance (2007, documentary)
• The Sun Behind the Clouds (2010)
• Bringing Tibet Home (2013)
• Monk with a Camera (2014, documentary)
• Dalai Lama Awakening (2014)
• Compassion in Action (2014)

He has been depicted as a character in various other movies and television programs including:

• Kundun, 1997 film directed by Martin Scorsese
• Seven Years in Tibet, 1997 film starring Brad Pitt and David Thewlis
• Klovn "Dalai Lama" Season 1, Episode 4 (2005)
• Red Dwarf episode "Meltdown" (1991){{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0684164/fullcredits|title="Red Dwarf" Meltdown (TV Episode 1991)|website=IMDb|access-date=1 July 2018|archive-date=3 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210103170601/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0684164/fullcredits|url-status=live}}
• Song of Tibet, 2000 film directed by Xie Fei.
• The Great Escape "14th Dalai Lama" (2018) on Epic
• "Dalai Lama," episode of the Indian television series Mega Icons (2019–20) on National Geographic.{{cite web |title=Mega Icons Season 1 Episode 5 |url=https://www.hotstar.com/in/tv/mega-icons/1260000382/dalai-lama/1770019091 |website=Disney+ Hotstar |language=en |access-date=12 June 2021 |archive-date=24 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624200957/https://www.hotstar.com/in/tv/mega-icons/1260000382/dalai-lama/1770019091 |url-status=live }}

The Dalai Lama was featured on 5 March 2017, episode of the HBO late-night talk show Last Week Tonight, in which host John Oliver conducted a comedic interview with the Dalai Lama, focusing on the topics of Tibetan sovereignty, Tibetan self-immolations, and his succession plans.{{Citation|title=Dalai Lama: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)|date=5 March 2017|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLY45o6rHm0|access-date=7 September 2017|archive-date=12 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210412152102/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLY45o6rHm0|url-status=live}}{{relevance inline|reason= please explain why this is historically relevant|date=February 2018}}

A biographical graphic novel, Man of Peace, also envisaging the Dalai Lama's return to Tibet, was published by Tibet House US.{{cite web |title=Man of Peace Graphic Novel |url=https://tibethouse.us/man-of-peace-graphics-novel/ |website=tibethouse.us |publisher=Tibet House US |access-date=28 March 2021 |archive-date=26 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126014804/https://tibethouse.us/man-of-peace-graphics-novel/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Samphel |first1=Thubten |title=Review: Man of Peace – The Illustrated Story of the Dalai Lama of Tibet |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/books/review-man-of-peace-the-illustrated-story-of-the-dalai-lama-of-tibet/story-YJrXNSkScYLHCX4ygoZoPP.html |access-date=22 October 2019 |work=Hindustan Times |date=9 February 2018 |archive-date=22 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191022173730/https://www.hindustantimes.com/books/review-man-of-peace-the-illustrated-story-of-the-dalai-lama-of-tibet/story-YJrXNSkScYLHCX4ygoZoPP.html |url-status=live }} The Extraordinary Life of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama: An Illuminated Journey, illustrations and text by artist Rima Fujita, narrated by the Dalai Lama, was published by Simon and Schuster in 2021.{{cite book |title=The Extraordinary Life of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, An Illuminated Journey |url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Extraordinary-Life-of-His-Holiness-the-Fourteenth-Dalai-Lama/Dalai-Lama/9781614297499 |date=8 June 2021 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=9781614297499 |access-date=6 July 2021 |archive-date=9 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709185443/https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Extraordinary-Life-of-His-Holiness-the-Fourteenth-Dalai-Lama/Dalai-Lama/9781614297499 |url-status=live }}

File:Dalai Lama Congressional Medal.jpg was awarded to Tenzin Gyatso in 2007.]]

File:Bush, Byrd and Pelosi awarding the Dalai Lama.jpg in 2007. From left: Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Senate President pro tempore Robert Byrd and U.S. President George W. Bush]]

The Dalai Lama has received numerous awards and honours worldwide over his spiritual and political career.{{cite web |title=Award & Honors 1957–1999 |url=https://www.dalailama.com/the-dalai-lama/events-and-awards/major-awards-and-honorary-conferments/award-honors-1957-1999 |website=dalailama.com |publisher=Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama |access-date=28 March 2021 |archive-date=27 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210427154933/https://www.dalailama.com/the-dalai-lama/events-and-awards/major-awards-and-honorary-conferments/award-honors-1957-1999 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Awards & Honors 2000 – present |url=https://www.dalailama.com/the-dalai-lama/events-and-awards/major-awards-and-honorary-conferments |website=dalailama.com |publisher=Office of His Holiness the Dala Lama |access-date=28 March 2021 |archive-date=16 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416160009/https://www.dalailama.com/the-dalai-lama/events-and-awards/major-awards-and-honorary-conferments |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url = http://www.tibet.com/DL/awards.html |title=List of awards |publisher=Replay.waybackmachine.org |access-date=17 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090327172930/http://www.tibet.com/DL/awards.html |archive-date=27 March 2009 }} For a more complete list see Awards and honours presented to the 14th Dalai Lama.

After the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded him the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize.{{cite news |url = http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2722/stories/20101105272202800.htm |title=Not so noble |first=John |last=Cherian |publisher=Frontline |volume=27 |issue=23 |date=November 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120910140258/http://www.frontlineonnet.com/fl2722/stories/20101105272202800.htm |archive-date=10 September 2012 }} The Committee officially gave the prize to the Dalai Lama for "the struggle of the liberation of Tibet and the efforts for a peaceful resolution"{{cite web |url = http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/1989/presentation-speech.html |title = Presentation Speech by Egil Aarvik, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee |publisher = Nobelprize.org |access-date = 2 May 2010 |archive-date = 6 September 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080906163726/http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/1989/presentation-speech.html |url-status = live }} and "in part a tribute to the memory of Mahatma Gandhi".{{cite web |url = http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/articles/gandhi/ |title = Mahatma Gandhi, the Missing Laureate |publisher = Nobelprize.org |access-date = 12 March 2014 |archive-date = 30 May 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130530232214/http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/articles/gandhi/ |url-status = live }}

He has also been awarded the:

• 1959 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership;{{cite web |url = http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Citation/CitationDalaiLam.htm |title = 1959 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership – Dalai Lama |website=Replay.waybackmachine.org |date=5 January 2009 |access-date=17 July 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090105224323/http://www.rmaf.org.ph/Awardees/Citation/CitationDalaiLam.htm |archive-date=5 January 2009 }}
• 1994 Freedom Medal from the Roosevelt Institute;{{cite web |url = http://www.rooseveltinstitute.org/four-freedoms-awards |title=Four Freedoms Awards |publisher=Roosevelt Institute |access-date=23 September 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150325223647/http://www.rooseveltinstitute.org/four-freedoms-awards |archive-date=25 March 2015 }}
• 1994 Wallenberg Medal from the University of Michigan; {{cite web | url = https://wallenberg.umich.edu/medal-recipients/1994-dalai-lama-of-tibet/ | title = Wallenberg Medal to His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet| date = 21 April 1994}}
• 2005 Christmas Humphreys Award from the Buddhist Society in the United Kingdom;
• 2007 Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award bestowed by the American Congress and President.{{cite news |url = https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/18/washington/18lama.html?_r=0 |title = Bush and Congress Honor Dalai Lama |work = The New York Times |date = 18 October 2007 |access-date = 9 January 2013 |first = Brian |last = Knowlton |archive-date = 14 May 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130514174619/http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/18/washington/18lama.html?_r=0 |url-status = live }} The Chinese government declared this would have "an extremely serious impact" on relations with the United States;{{cite news |last1=Haberman |first1=Clyde |title=A Hubbub Over a Visit by the Dalai Lama? Not in New York |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/nyregion/19nyc.html |access-date=2 April 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=19 October 2007 |archive-date=2 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402134531/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/19/nyregion/19nyc.html |url-status=live }}
• 2006 Order of the White Lotus by the Republic of Kalmykia for outstanding services and significant contribution to the spiritual revival and prosperity of the republic.{{Cite web|title = Его Святейшеству Далай-ламе присвоен Орден Республики Тыва|url = http://savetibet.ru/2012/02/03/dalai-lama.html|website = savetibet.ru| date=3 February 2012 |access-date = 30 October 2021|archive-date = 31 October 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211031062339/http://savetibet.ru/2012/02/03/dalai-lama.html|url-status = live}}
• 2007 Ahimsa Award from the Institute of Jainology in recognition of individuals who embody and promote the principles of Ahimsa (Non-violence); and in
• 2012, Order of the Republic of Tuva by the Tuvan Republic in recognition of the contribution to the upbringing of high spiritual and cultural tolerance, strengthening interreligious and interethnic harmony.
• 2012, the Templeton Prize.{{cite news |title = Dalai Lama Wins 2012 Templeton Prize |url = http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml?id=375500002 |access-date = 30 March 2012 |newspaper = Philanthropy News Daily |date = 30 March 2012 |archive-date = 23 May 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130523192906/http://foundationcenter.org/pnd/news/story.jhtml?id=375500002 |url-status = live }} He donated the prize money to the charity Save the Children.{{cite web |url = http://www.indianexpress.com/news/dalai-lama-gives-templeton-prize-money-to-indian-charity/949181/ |title = Dalai Lama gives Templeton Prize money to Indian charity |date = 14 May 2010 |access-date = 15 May 2012 |archive-date = 14 November 2012 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121114054424/http://www.indianexpress.com/news/dalai-lama-gives-templeton-prize-money-to-indian-charity/949181/ |url-status = live }}

In 2006, he became one of only six people ever to be granted Honorary Citizenship of Canada. In 2007 he was named Presidential Distinguished Professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, the first time he accepted a university appointment.{{cite web |url=http://news.emory.edu/Releases/DalaiLama1170686715.html |title=Dalai Lama named Emory distinguished professor |publisher=News.emory.edu |access-date=2 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081005190343/http://news.emory.edu/Releases/DalaiLama1170686715.html |archive-date=5 October 2008 }} He is the chief Patron of the Maha Bodhi Society of India, conferred upon him at the 2008 Annual General Meeting of the Maha Bodhi Society of India.{{Cite web|date=28 September 2008|first=Ratnottama|last=Sengupta|title=Now, Hindus can't head Mahabodhi Society|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/now-hindus-cant-head-mahabodhi-society/articleshow/3535612.cms|access-date=16 February 2021|website=The Times of India|language=en|archive-date=26 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210626164533/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/now-hindus-cant-head-mahabodhi-society/articleshow/3535612.cms|url-status=live}}

File:VOA Tibetan - Footage of Dalai Lama's controversial encounter with an Indian schoolboy in 2023.webm

In a February 2023 video, the Dalai Lama was recorded kissing a young boy on the lips and asking the child to suck his tongue.{{cite web |last1=Olson |first1=Emily |title=The Dalai Lama apologizes for asking a young boy to suck his tongue |url=https://www.npr.org/2023/04/10/1168962589/dalai-lama-apologizes-tongue-kiss |website=NPR |date=10 April 2023 |access-date=17 September 2023}}{{Cite news |last=Ellis-Petersen |first=Hannah |date=10 April 2023 |title=Dalai Lama apologises after kissing boy and asking him to 'suck my tongue' |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/10/dalai-lama-apologises-kissing-boy-suck-his-tongue-video |access-date=13 April 2023 |issn=0261-3077}} The meeting took place at his temple in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, India. Nearly 100 students were in attendance, as well as the boy's mother, a trustee of the event's organiser.{{Cite web |date=1 March 2023 |title=M3M Foundation gets blessing from HH Dalai Lama |url=https://www.aninews.in/news/business/business/m3m-foundation-gets-blessing-from-hh-dalai-lama20230301123051/ |website=ANI News}}{{Cite web |last=Daza |first=Baltasar |date=17 April 2023 |title=Esto fue lo que dijo el niño que fue "besado" por el Dalai Lama |url=https://www.latercera.com/tendencias/noticia/esto-fue-lo-que-dijo-el-nino-que-fue-besado-por-el-dalai-lama/KOAW4TU7TBAB5C6ZGBLMCZOYTY/ |website=La Tercera |quote=Payal Kanodia, mother of the child and worker of the M3M foundation, which built the compound}} Her son had asked for and received a hug from the Dalai Lama. He then pointed to his own cheek and lips, requesting and receiving two kisses at those locations from the boy, pulling the child's chin closer during the second one.{{Cite web |date=12 April 2023 |title=Dalai Lama Apologizes Over an Exchange with a Child |url=https://tricycle.org/article/dalai-lama-apologizes/ |website=Tricycle}}{{Cite web |date=10 April 2023 |title=Dalai Lama apologizes after video asking child to 'suck' his tongue sparks outcry |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/atlanta/news/dalai-lama-apologizes-after-video-asking-child-to-suck-his-tongue-sparks-outcry/ |website=CBS News}} He then gestured at and said "suck my tongue," stretching it out and moved closer.{{Cite web |last=C |first=Rika |date=12 April 2023 |title=Dalai Lama Apologizes After Asking Boy To Suck His Tongue |url=https://hot917fm.com/say-what-nah/dalai-lama-apologizes-after-asking-boy-to-suck-his-tongue/ |website=ZNH-FM}}{{Cite web |date=10 April 2023 |title=Dalai Lama apologizes for kissing young boy after criticism circulates |url=https://www.newschannel5.com/news/national/dalai-lama-apologizes-for-kissing-young-boy-after-criticism-circulates |website=WTVF}}

The video resurfaced in April 2023, and the Dalai Lama's conduct received negative media coverage. Some victim groups and media commentators raised concerns of "child abuse".{{Cite web |date=13 April 2023 |title=Dalai Lama: The significance of 'tongue greetings' in Tibetan culture |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/india/dalai-lama-tongue-kiss-video-tibet-b2318887.html |access-date=13 April 2023 |website=The Independent |language=en}}{{cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/10/india/dalai-lama-apology-kissing-boy-video-intl-hnk/index.html|title=Dalai Lama apologizes after video asking child to 'suck' his tongue sparks outcry|work=CNN|date=11 April 2023 }} His office issued a statement saying that the Dalai Lama often teases "in an innocent and playful way," adding that he wants to apologise to those involved "for the hurt his words may have caused" and "regrets the incident".{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_ibs-4RIws&t=47s |title=Dalai Lama accused of 'paedophilia' after asking boy to 'suck his tongue' |date=10 April 2023 |type=Video |language=en |publisher=TRT World |via=YouTube}}{{cite web |date=10 April 2023 |title=Dalai Lama regrets asking boy to 'suck my tongue' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-65229327 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410080108/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-65229327 |archive-date=10 April 2023 |access-date=10 April 2023 |website=BBC News}} Penpa Tsering, the political leader of the Central Tibetan Administration, called the gesture an "innocent grandfatherly affectionate demeanour" followed by a "jovial prank" with a tongue.{{Cite web |date=14 April 2023 |title='Innocent grandfatherly prank': Tibetan president in exile on Dalai Lama video |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/dalai-lama-boy-video-dalai-lama-news-innocent-grandfatherly-prank-tibetian-president-in-exile-on-dalai-lama-video-101681440541022.html |access-date=14 April 2023 |website=Hindustan Times |language=en}} He and other Tibetans accused "pro-Chinese sources" of being behind the video.{{Cite web |last=Pundir |first=Pallavi |date=14 April 2023 |title=Tibetans Explain What 'Suck My Tongue' Means. It's Not What You Think. |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/tibetans-explain-what-suck-my-tongue-means-dalai-lama-viral-video/ |website=Vice News}}{{Cite web |title=Tibetan leader defends Dalai Lama after 'suck my tongue' request to boy |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/13/india/tibetan-leader-defends-dalai-lama-kissing-boy-video-intl-hnk/index.html |website=CNN|date=14 April 2023 }}{{efn|According to CNN, no evidence was given for the preceding claim that pro-Chinese elements were involved in the spread of the video.{{Cite web|title=Tibetan leader defends Dalai Lama after 'suck my tongue' request to boy|url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/13/india/tibetan-leader-defends-dalai-lama-kissing-boy-video-intl-hnk/index.html|website=CNN|date=14 April 2023 }}}}

In an interview clip released by Voice of Tibet, the boy said it had been a "good experience" meeting the Dalai Lama, from whom he received a lot of "positive energy".{{Cite web |last=Pundir |first=Pallavi |date=14 April 2023 |title=Tibetans Explain What 'Suck My Tongue' Means. It's Not What You Think. |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/tibetans-explain-what-suck-my-tongue-means-dalai-lama-viral-video/ |website=Vice}} Some academics, Tibetan leaders and cultural groups described the situation as a cultural misunderstanding.{{Cite web |date=15 April 2023 |title=Global Tibetan leaders, activists stand in support of the Dalai Lama over viral video |url=https://www.aninews.in/news/world/asia/global-tibetan-leaders-activists-stand-in-support-of-the-dalai-lama-over-viral-video20230415224432/ |agency=Asian News International}} {{Cite web |date=16 April 2023 |title=Tibetan Canadians say video of Dalai Lama kissing boy taken out of context |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/tibetan-canadians-say-video-of-dalai-lama-kissing-boy-taken-out-of-context-1.6356777 |access-date=17 April 2023 |website=CTV News}} They mentioned that sticking out one's tongue is a form of traditional Tibetan greeting to show respect or agreement, stemming from a tradition of performing the gesture to demonstrate that one is not reincarnated from the malevolent king Langdarma, who was said to have a black tongue.{{Cite web |last=Dresser |first=Norine |date=8 November 1997 |title=On Sticking Out Your Tongue |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-nov-08-me-51420-story.html |access-date=21 April 2023 |website=Los Angeles Times}} The practice is not known to involve "sucking," however. David Germano, a Tibetologist at the University of Virginia, stated that the Dalai Lama's limited English proficiency led him to mistranslate a common Tibetan expression which means "eat my tongue." Germano said "The context as I understand it is that when grandparents play with kids they are communicating that I have given you every sweet or treat I have, and now I have none left, so you can eat my tongue!"{{cite news |last1=Ibrahim |first1=Nur |title=Did the Dalai Lama Ask a Boy To 'Suck My Tongue'? |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/dalai-lama-boy-tongue/ |access-date=20 June 2025 |agency=Snopes |date=10 April 2023}} The HAQ Centre for Child Rights in New Delhi said the video was "certainly not about any cultural expression and even if it is, such cultural expressions are not acceptable."{{Cite web |last=Alund |first=Natalie Neysa |title='Suck my tongue': Dalai Lama lambasted after video shows him kiss young boy on lips |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2023/04/10/dalai-lama-boy-kiss-video/11634769002/ |access-date=13 April 2023 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}}

{{div col|colwidth=50em}}

• My Land and My People: The Autobiography of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Ed. David Howarth. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1962. {{ISBN|978-0446674218}}
• Deity Yoga: In Action and Performance Tantras. Ed. and trans. Jeffrey Hopkins. Snow Lion, 1987. {{ISBN|978-0-93793-850-8}}
• Tantra in Tibet. Co-authored with Tsong-kha-pa, Jeffrey Hopkins. Snow Lion, 1987. {{ISBN|978-0-93793-849-2}}
• The Dalai Lama at Harvard. Ed. and trans. Jeffrey Hopkins. Snow Lion, 1988. {{ISBN|978-0-93793-871-3}}
• Freedom in Exile: The Autobiography of the Dalai Lama, London: Little, Brown and Co., 1990, {{ISBN|978-0-349-10462-1}}
• My Tibet, co-authored with photographer Galen Rowell, 1990, {{ISBN|978-0-520-08948-8}}
• The Path to Enlightenment. Ed. and trans. Glenn H. Mullin. Snow Lion, 1994. {{ISBN|978-1-55939-032-3}}
• Essential Teachings, North Atlantic Books, 1995, {{ISBN|1556431929}}
• The World of Tibetan Buddhism, translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, foreword by Richard Gere, Wisdom Publications, 1995, {{ISBN|0-86171-100-9}}
• Tibetan Portrait: The Power of Compassion, photographs by Phil Borges with sayings by Tenzin Gyatso, 1996, {{ISBN|978-0-8478-1957-7}}
• Healing Anger: The Power of Patience from a Buddhist Perspective. Trans. Thupten Jinpa. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion, 1997, {{ISBN|978-1-55939-073-6}}
• The Gelug/Kagyü Tradition of Mahamudra, co-authored with Alexander Berzin. Ithaca, NY: Snow Lion Publications, 1997, {{ISBN|978-1-55939-072-9}}
• The Art of Happiness, co-authored with Howard C. Cutler, M.D., Riverhead Books, 1998, {{ISBN|978-0-9656682-9-3}}
• The Good Heart: A Buddhist Perspective on the Teachings of Jesus, translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, Wisdom Publications, 1998, {{ISBN|978-0-86171-138-3}}
• Kalachakra Tantra: Rite of Initiation, edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Wisdom Publications, 1999, {{ISBN|978-0-86171-151-2}}
• MindScience: An East–West Dialogue, with contributions by Herbert Benson, Daniel Goleman, Robert Thurman, and Howard Gardner, Wisdom Publications, 1999, {{ISBN|978-0-86171-066-9}}
• The Power of Buddhism, co-authored with Jean-Claude Carrière, 1999, {{ISBN|978-0-7171-2803-7}}
• Opening the Eye of New Awareness, Translated by Donald S. Lopez Jr., Wisdom Publications, 1999, {{ISBN|978-0-86171-155-0}}
• Ethics for the New Millennium, Riverhead Books, 1999, {{ISBN|978-1-57322-883-1}}
• Consciousness at the Crossroads. Ed. Zara Houshmand, Robert B. Livingston, B. Alan Wallace. Trans. Thupten Jinpa, B. Alan Wallace. Snow Lion, 1999. {{ISBN|978-1-55939-127-6}}
• Ancient Wisdom, Modern World: Ethics for the New Millennium, Little, Brown/Abacus Press, 2000, {{ISBN|978-0-349-11443-9}}
• Dzogchen: Heart Essence of the Great Perfection, translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa and Richard Barron, Snow Lion Publications, 2000, {{ISBN|978-1-55939-219-8}}
• The Meaning of Life: Buddhist Perspectives on Cause and Effect, translated by Jeffrey Hopkins, Wisdom Publications, 2000, {{ISBN|978-0-86171-173-4}}
• Answers: Discussions with Western Buddhists. Ed. and trans. Jose Cabezon. Snow Lion, 2001. {{ISBN|978-1-55939-162-7}}
• The Compassionate Life, Wisdom Publications, 2001, {{ISBN|978-0-86171-378-3}}
• Violence and Compassion: Dialogues on Life Today, with Jean-Claude Carriere, Doubleday, 2001, {{ISBN|978-0-385-50144-6}}
• Imagine All the People: A Conversation with the Dalai Lama on Money, Politics, and Life as it Could Be, Coauthored with Fabien Ouaki, Wisdom Publications, 2001, {{ISBN|978-0-86171-150-5}}
• An Open Heart, edited by Nicholas Vreeland; Little, Brown; 2001, {{ISBN|978-0-316-98979-4}}
• The Heart of Compassion: A Practical Approach to a Meaningful Life, Twin Lakes, Wisconsin: Lotus Press, 2002, {{ISBN|978-0-940985-36-0}}
• Sleeping, Dreaming, and Dying, edited by Francisco Varela, Wisdom Publications, 2002, {{ISBN|978-0-86171-123-9}}
• Essence of the Heart Sutra: The Dalai Lama's Heart of Wisdom Teachings, edited by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, Wisdom Publications, 2002, {{ISBN|978-0-86171-284-7}}
• The Pocket Dalai Lama. Ed. Mary Craig. Shambhala Pocket Classics, 2002. {{ISBN|978-1-59030-001-5}}
• The Buddhism of Tibet. Ed. and trans. Jeffrey Hopkins, Anne C. Klein. Snow Lion, 2002. {{ISBN|978-1-55939-185-6}}
• The Art of Happiness at Work, co-authored with Howard C. Cutler, M.D., Riverhead, 2003, {{ISBN|978-1-59448-054-6}}
• Stages of Meditation (commentary on the Bhāvanākrama). Trans. Ven. Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa, Jeremy Russell. Snow Lion, 2003. {{ISBN|978-1-55939-197-9}}
• Der Weg des Herzens. Gewaltlosigkeit und Dialog zwischen den Religionen (The Path of the Heart: Non-violence and the Dialogue among Religions), co-authored with Eugen Drewermann, PhD, Patmos Verlag, 2003, {{ISBN|978-3-491-69078-3}}
• The Path to Bliss. Ed. and trans. Thupten Jinpa, Christine Cox. Snow Lion, 2003. {{ISBN|978-1-55939-190-0}}
• How to Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life, translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, 2003, {{ISBN|978-0-7434-5336-3}}
• The Wisdom of Forgiveness: Intimate Conversations and Journeys, coauthored with Victor Chan, Riverbed Books, 2004, {{ISBN|978-1-57322-277-8}}
• The New Physics and Cosmology: Dialogues with the Dalai Lama, edited by Arthur Zajonc, with contributions by David Finkelstein, George Greenstein, Piet Hut, Tu Wei-ming, Anton Zeilinger, B. Alan Wallace and Thupten Jinpa, Oxford University Press, 2004, {{ISBN|978-0-19-515994-3}}
• Dzogchen: The Heart Essence of the Great Perfection. Ed. Patrick Gaffney. Trans. Thupten Jinpa, Richard Barron (Chokyi Nyima). Snow Lion, 2004. {{ISBN|978-1-55939-219-8}}
• Practicing Wisdom: The Perfection of Shantideva's Bodhisattva Way, translated by Geshe Thupten Jinpa, Wisdom Publications, 2004, {{ISBN|978-0-86171-182-6}}
• Lighting the Way. Snow Lion, 2005. {{ISBN|978-1-55939-228-0}}
• The Universe in a Single Atom: The Convergence of Science and Spirituality, Morgan Road Books, 2005, {{ISBN|978-0-7679-2066-7}}
• How to Expand Love: Widening the Circle of Loving Relationships, translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Atria Books, 2005, {{ISBN|978-0-7432-6968-1}}
• The Tibetan Book of the Dead, translated and edited by Gyurnme Dorje, Graham Coleman, and Thupten Jinpa, introductory commentary by the 14th Dalai Lama, Viking Press, 2005, {{ISBN|0-670-85886-2}}
• Living Wisdom with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with Don Farber, Sounds True, 2006, {{ISBN|978-1-59179-457-8}}
• Mind in Comfort and Ease: The Vision of Enlightenment in the Great Perfection. Ed. Patrick Gaffney. Trans. Matthieu Ricard, Richard Barron and Adam Pearcey. Wisdom Publications, 2007, {{ISBN|978-0-86171-493-3}}
• How to See Yourself as You Really Are, translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, 2007, {{ISBN|978-0-7432-9045-6}}
• The Leader's Way, co-authored with Laurens van den Muyzenberg, Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2008, {{ISBN|978-1-85788-511-8}}
• My Spiritual Autobiography compiled by {{interlanguage link|Sofia Stril-Rever|Fr}} from speeches and interviews of the 14th Dalai Lama, 2009, {{ISBN|9781846042423}}
• Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World, Mariner Books, 2012, {{ISBN|054784428X}}
• The Wisdom of Compassion: Stories of Remarkable Encounters and Timeless Insights, coauthored with Victor Chan, Riverhead Books, 2012, {{ISBN|978-0-55216923-3}}
• My Appeal to the World, presented by Sofia Stril-Rever, translated from the French by Sebastian Houssiaux, Tibet House US, 2015, {{ISBN|978-0-9670115-6-1}}
• The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World, coauthored by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, 2016, {{ISBN|978-0-67007-016-9}}
• Behind the Smile: The Hidden Side of the Dalai Lama, by Maxime Vivas (author), translated from the French book Not So Zen, Long River Press 2013, {{ISBN|978-1592651405}}

{{div col end}}

• Voice for the Voiceless: Over Seven Decades of Struggle With China for My Land and My People (2025)

{{Portal|Religion|China|India|Asia|Biography}}

{{div col|colwidth=30em|small=yes}}

• Awards and honours presented to the 14th Dalai Lama
• Chinese intelligence activity abroad#Modes of operation
• Dalai Lama Center for Peace and Education
• The Discourse of Lama
• Foundation for Universal Responsibility of His Holiness the Dalai Lama
• Golden Urn
• History of Tibet (1950–present)
• Annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China
• Chinese occupation of Tibet
• Human rights in Tibet
• Period of de facto Tibetan independence
• Protests and uprisings in Tibet since 1950
• Sinicization of Tibet
• List of organisations of Tibetans in exile
• List of overseas visits by Tenzin Gyatso the 14th Dalai Lama outside India
• List of peace activists
• List of Nobel laureates
• List of refugees
• List of rulers of Tibet
• Mind & Life Institute
• Freedom of religion in China
• Religious persecution
• Templeton Prize lauretes
• Tibet Fund
• Tibet House
• Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama
• Tibetan art
• Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy
• Tibetan culture
• Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts

{{div col end}}

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist|35em}}

{{refbegin}}

• Craig, Mary. Kundun: A Biography of the Family of the Dalai Lama (1997) Counterpoint. Calcutta. {{ISBN|978-1-887178-64-8}}.
• Bell, Sir Charles (1946). Portrait of the Dalai Lama Wm. Collins, London, 1st edition. (1987) Wisdom Publications, London. {{ISBN|086171055X}}.
• Iyer, Pico. The Open Road: The Global Journey of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama (2008) Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-307-38755-4}}
• {{cite book |last = Kay |first = David N. |title = Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain: Transplantation, development and adaptation |url = https://archive.org/details/tibetanzenbuddhi00kayd |url-access = limited |pages = [https://archive.org/details/tibetanzenbuddhi00kayd/page/n60 44]–52 |year = 2004 |publisher = Routledge Curzon |location = London |isbn = 0-415-29765-6 }}
• Knaus, Robert Kenneth. Orphans of the Cold War: America and the Tibetan Struggle for Survival (1999) PublicAffairs. {{ISBN|978-1-891620-18-8}}.
• {{cite book |title = The Story of Tibet : Conversations with the Dalai Lama |url = https://archive.org/details/storyoftibetconv00lair |url-access = registration |year = 2006 |publisher = Grove Press |edition = 1st |location = New York |last = Laird |first = Thomas |isbn = 978-0-8021-1827-1 |ref = none }}
• {{Citation | last = Mills | first = Martin A. | year = 2003 | title = This turbulent priest: contesting religious rights and the state in the Tibetan Shugden controversy. In: Human Rights in Global Perspective | publisher = Routledge | isbn = 0-415-30410-5 | url = http://info-buddhism.com/Shugden_Controversy-Turbulent_Priest-Religious_Rights-Mills.html | access-date = 30 March 2020 | archive-date = 14 October 2019 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191014145616/https://www.info-buddhism.com/Shugden_Controversy-Turbulent_Priest-Religious_Rights-Mills.html | url-status = live }}
• Mullin, Glenn H. (2001). The Fourteen Dalai Lamas: A Sacred Legacy of Reincarnation, pp. 452–515. Clear Light Publishers. Santa Fe, New Mexico. {{ISBN|978-1-57416-092-5}}.
• Richardson, Hugh E. (1984). Tibet & Its History. 1st edition 1962. 2nd edition, Revised and Updated. Shambhala Publications, Boston. {{ISBN|978-0-87773-376-8}} (pbk).
• Shakya, Tsering. The Dragon in the Land of Snows (1999) Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-231-11814-9}}.
• United States. Congressional-Executive Commission on China. [https://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo18813 The Dalai Lama: What He Means for Tibetans Today: Roundtable before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, One Hundred Twelfth Congress, First Session, 13 July 2011.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211213185342/https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-112hhrg70941/pdf/CHRG-112hhrg70941.pdf |date=13 December 2021 }} Washington, D.C.: U.S. G.P.O., 2012.

{{refend}}

{{Sister project links

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• {{Official website}}
• [https://www.lamayeshe.com/teachings?f%5B0%5D=field_teacher%3A77 Teachings by the Dalai Lama]
• {{Internet Archive film clip |id = 1959-04-30_Dalai_Lama_Greeted_By_Nehru |description="Dalai Lama Greeted By Nehru, Again Blasts Reds, 1959/04/30 (1959)"}}
• [http://digitalcollections.ucsc.edu/cdm/search/searchterm/Bstan-%CA%BCdzin-rgya-mtsho/order/title Photographs of the Dalai Lama's visit to UC Santa Cruz, October 1979 from the UC Santa Cruz Library's Digital Collections] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170405234749/http://digitalcollections.ucsc.edu/cdm/search/searchterm/Bstan-%CA%BCdzin-rgya-mtsho/order/title |date=5 April 2017 }}
• {{C-SPAN|22717}}
• {{PM20|FID=pe/003647}}
• {{Nobelprize}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-hou |Dalai Lama|6 July|1935}}

{{s-rel | bu }}

{{s-bef |before = Thubten Gyatso}}

{{s-ttl |title = Dalai Lama |years = 1935–present
Recognised in 1937; enthroned in 1940}}

{{s-inc |heir = 15th Dalai Lama}}

{{s-break}}

{{s-off}}

{{s-bef |before = Ngawang Sungrab Thutob
Regent}}

{{s-ttl |title = Ruler of Tibet |years = 1950–1959
Part of the People's Republic of China from 1951}}

{{s-non |reason = fled to India during the 1959 rebellion }}

{{s-break}}

{{s-new | office }}

{{s-ttl

|title = Director of the Preparatory Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region

|years = 1956–1959

}}

{{s-aft

|after = Choekyi Gyaltsen, 10th Panchen Erdeni

|as = Acting Director

}}

{{s-break}}

{{s-new | office }}

{{s-ttl |title = Head of state of the
Central Tibetan Administration|years=1959–2012}}

{{s-aft |after = Lobsang Sangay |as = Sikyong }}

{{s-break}}

{{s-ach}}

{{s-bef | before = United Nations
Peacekeeping Forces }}

{{s-ttl | title = Laureate of the Nobel Peace Prize | years = 1989 }}

{{s-aft | after = Mikhail Gorbachev }}

{{s-end}}

{{Books by the 14th Dalai Lama|state=expanded}}

{{Dalai Lamas}}

{{Tibet Autonomous Region leaders}}

{{NPCSC Vice-Chairpersons}}

{{Nobel laureates of the People's Republic of China}}

{{Nobel Peace Prize Laureates 1976–2000}}

{{1989 Nobel Prize winners}}

{{Templeton Prize Laureates}}

{{Ramon Magsaysay Award Winners}}

{{Pacem in Terris Award laureates}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalai Lama, 14th}}

Category:1935 births

Category:20th-century lamas

Category:20th-century philosophers

Category:20th-century Tibetan people

Category:21st-century philosophers

Category:21st-century Tibetan people

Category:Articles containing video clips

Category:Buddhist and Christian interfaith dialogue

Category:Buddhist socialists

Category:Buddhist feminists

Category:Buddhist monks from Tibet

Category:Buddhist pacifists

Category:Scholars of Buddhism from Tibet

Category:Civil rights activists

*A4

Category:Dorje Shugden controversy

Category:Ecofeminists

Category:Living people

Category:Male feminists

Category:Tibetan Marxists

Category:Marxist feminists

Category:Congressional Gold Medal recipients

Category:Nautilus Book Award winners

Category:Nobel Peace Prize laureates

Category:Nobel laureates from the People's Republic of China

Category:Vice chairpersons of the National People's Congress

Category:Nonviolence advocates

Category:People from Kangra, Himachal Pradesh

Category:People from Ping'an

Category:Ramon Magsaysay Award winners

Category:Tibetan activists

Category:Tibetan dissidents

Category:Tibetan Buddhists from Tibet

Category:Tibet freedom activists

Category:Tibetan environmentalists

Category:Tibetan feminists

Category:Tibetan pacifists

Category:Templeton Prize laureates

Category:Animal welfare workers

Category:21st-century Buddhist monks

Category:21st-century lamas

Category:Tibetan refugees

Category:Tibetan emigrants to India

Category:World War II political leaders