|
The Dalai Lama was born to a Mongour
farming family as Lhamo Thondup (also spelled Lhamo Dhondrub among
other spellings) on July 6, 1935, in the far north eastern
province of Amdo in the village of Taktser, a small and poor
settlement which stood on a hill overlooking a broad valley. His
parents, Choekyong and Dekyi Tsering, were moderately wealthy
farmers among about twenty other families, some ethnic Han
Chinese, making a precarious living off the land raising barley,
buckwheat, and potatoes. He was the fifth of nine children, the
eldest child being his sister Tsering Dolma, who was eighteen
years older than he. His eldest brother, Thupten Jigme Norbu, has
been recognized as the reincarnation of the high lama, Takser
Rinpoche. His other elder brothers are Gyalo Thondup and Lobsang
Samten. When the Dalai Lama was about three years old, a search
party was sent out to find the new incarnation of the Dalai Lama.
The thirteenth Dalai Lama had turned to face the northeast while
he was dying, indicating the area where the next Dalai Lama should
be found. Shortly afterwards, a senior lama had a vision of a
house with strangely shaped guttering. They found a house similar
to the one in the vision after extensive searching. They presented
the boy they found, Lhamo Thondup, with various relics and toys of
the previous Dalai Lama. It is claimed that he recognized them by
saying, "It's mine, it's mine!"
Lhamo Thondup was recognised as the
reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and renamed Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang
Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso ("Holy Lord, Gentle Glory,
Compassionate, Defender of the Faith, Ocean of Wisdom"). Tibetan
Buddhists normally refer to him as Yeshe Norbu, the
"Wish-fulfilling Gem", or just Kundun, "the Presence". In the West
he is often called "His Holiness the Dalai Lama", which is the
style that the Dalai Lama himself uses on his website.
Tenzin Gyatso began his monastic education at the age of six. At
twenty-five, he sat for his final examination in the Jokhang
Temple, Lhasa, during the annual Monlam (prayer) Festival in 1959.
He passed with honours and was awarded the Lharampa degree, the
highest level geshe degree (roughly equivalent to a doctorate in
Buddhist philosophy).
|
