Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama ist the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th Dalai Lama was born on July 6, 1935 in the Tibetan village of Taktser as Lhamo Thondup and goes by the spiritual name of Tenzin Gyatso. At the age of two, he was identified as one of three candidates for the reincarnated Dalai Lama and was officially declared the 14th Dalai Lama in 1939 at age four. He was enthroned as Tibet’s spiritual leader in 1940 and assumed political leadership in 1950 at age 15, five years earlier than customary due to the conflict with China. During the Tibetan Uprising in 1959, he fled to India and has been living there in exile ever since.