Why does dalai lama live in exile

The kingdom had no useful allies, the government of Lhasa having declined to establish official diplomatic relations with any other nation or join international organizations. It never did. Four decades of conversations between China and exiled Tibetan leadership have led nowhere.

The talks stipulated that Tibetan independence was off the table, but even so, the drawn-out process was suspended in and after briefly resuming in the s is again at a standstill. Meanwhile, Tibet remains firmly under the thumb of Beijing.

The U. In May, Tibetan businessman Tashi Wangchuk was jailed for five years merely for promoting the Tibetan language. In December, the government issued a directive to stop Tibetan language and culture from being taught in monasteries. Although the U. Many allege their cultural and religious freedom is under attack by the Beijing government. Some in Tibet resort to extreme measures to protest their treatment.

Since , more than Tibetans — monks, nuns and ordinary civilians — have set themselves ablaze in protest. Often self-immolators exalt the Dalai Lama with their final breaths. Despite his message of nonviolence, the Dalai Lama has been criticized for refusing to condemn the practice.

Beijing vehemently refutes accusations of human-rights violations in Tibet, insisting that it fully respects the religious and cultural rights of the Tibetan people, and highlights how development has raised living standards in the previously isolated and impoverished land.

This level of investment presents a dilemma to Tibetans stranded in exile. Many toil as roadside laborers or make trinkets to sell to tourists. And so large numbers of young Tibetans are making the choice to return, lured to a homeland they have never known.

Many of the returnees are armed with better education and world experience than their peers who grew up in Tibet. Tibet still has a government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration CTA in Dharamsala, but it is dogged by infighting and scandal.

Exiles are instead forging their own path. Even those who have achieved prosperity elsewhere are opting to return. Today his award-winning brewery has an annual capacity of 2. Most residents lived a Hobbesian existence. Nobles were strictly ranked in seven classes, with only the Dalai Lama belonging to the first.

Few commoners had any sort of education. Modern medicine was forbidden, especially surgery, meaning even minor ailments were fatal. The sick were typically treated with a gruel of barley meal, butter and the urine of a holy monk. Life expectancy was 36 years.

Criminals had limbs amputated and cauterized in boiling butter. But he also emphasizes that traditional Tibetan life was more in communion with nature than the present. Asked who is responsible for fixing the crisis, he points not to Beijing but to Washington. The Dalai Lama is a refreshingly unabashed figure in person. He appears equally at home with both the physical and the spiritual, tradition and modernity. There were his two main religious achievements. He didn't give many initiations, or many lectures.

Now, with respect to the country, he had great thought and consideration for statecraft. The outlying districts in particular.

How they should be governed and so forth. He cared very much how to run the government more efficiently. He had great concern about our borders and that type of thing. Question: During the course of your life, what have been your greatest personal lessons or internal challenges?

Which realizations and experiences have had the most effect on your growth as an individual? Answer: Regarding religious experience, some understanding of shunya emptiness: lack of independent self nature some feeling, some experience and mostly bodhichitta, altruism. It has helped a lot. In some ways, you could say that it has made me into a new person, a new man. I am still progressing. It gives you inner strength, courage, and it is easier to accept situations.

That's one of the greatest experiences. Question: When you became a refugee, what helped you gain this strength?

Was it the loss of your position and country, the fact of everyone suffering around you. Were you called on to lead your people in a different way than you had been accustomed to? Answer: Being a refugee is really a desperate, dangerous situation. At that time, everyone deals with reality. It is not the time to pretend things are beautiful.

That's something. You feel involved with reality. In peace time, everything goes smoothly. Even if there is a problem, people pretend that things are good. During a dangerous period, when there's a dramatic change, then there's no scope to pretend that everything is fine. You must accept that bad is bad. Now when I left the Norbulinka, there was danger. We were passing very near the Chinese military barracks. It was just on the other side of the river, the Chinese check post there.

You see, we had definite information two or three weeks before I left, that the Chinese were fully prepared to attack us. It was only a question of the day and hour. Question: About you being the incarnation of the bodhisattva of infinite compassion, Avalokiteshvara.

How do you personally feel about this? Is it something you have an unequivocal view of one way or another? Answer: It is difficult for me to say definitely. Unless I am engaged in a meditative effort, such as following my life back, breath by breath, I couldn't say exactly. We believe that there are four types of rebirth. One is the common type wherein, a being is helpless to determine his or her rebirth, but only reincarnates in dependence on the nature of past actions.

The opposite is that of an entirely enlightened Buddha, who simply manifests a physical form to help others. In this case, it is clear that the person is Buddha. A third is one who, due to past spiritual attainment, can choose, or at least influence, the place and situation of rebirth. The fourth is called a blessed manifestation. In this the person is blessed beyond his normal capacity to perform helpful functions, such as teaching religion. For this last type of birth, the person's wishes in previous lives to help others must have been very strong.

They obtain such empowerment. Though some seem more likely than others, I cannot definitely say which I am. Question follow up : From the viewpoint then of the realistic role you play as Chenrezi, how do you feel about it? Only a few people have been considered, in one way or another, divine.

Is the role a burden or a delight? Answer: It is very helpful. Through this role I can be of great benefit to people. For this reason I like it: I'm at home with it. It's clear that it is very helpful to people, and that I have the karmic relationship to be in this role. Also, it is clear that there is a karmic relationship with the Tibetan people in particular.

Now you see, you may consider that under the circumstances, I am very lucky. However, behind the word luck, there are actual causes or reasons. There is the karmic force of my ability to assume this role as well as the force of my wish to do so.

In regard to this, there is a statement in the great Shantideva's Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds which says, As long as space exists, and as long as there are migrators in cyclic existence, may I remain removing their sufferings. I have that wish in this lifetime, and I know I had that wish in past lifetimes. Question follow up : With such a vast goal as your motivation, how do you deal with your personal limitations, your limits as a man?

Answer: Again, as it says in Shantideva, If the blessed Buddha cannot please all sentient beings, then how could I. Even an enlightened being, with limitless knowledge and power and the wish to save all others from suffering, cannot eliminate the individual karma of each being. Question follow up : Is this what keeps you from being overwhelmed when you see the suffering of the six million Tibetans, who on one level, you are responsible for?

Answer: My motivation is directed towards all sentient beings. There is no question, though, that on a second level, I am directed towards helping Tibetan. If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever. Question follow up : A lot of people say this, but few really live by it.

Did you always feel this way, or did you have to learn it? Answer: It is developed from inner practice. From a broader perspective, there will always be suffering. On one level, you are bound to meet with the effects of the unfavorable actions you yourself have previously committed in body, speech or mind.

Then also, your very own nature is that of suffering. Tibetan exiles set fire to Chinese goods in Dharamshala in after a crackdown by Chinese troops against protests in Tibet. Credit: AP. I first encountered the Dalai Lama at a difficult moment for him and the Tibetan people.

It was March and anti-China protests inside Tibet had turned violent, attracting global media attention. The press conference was sometimes tense as reporters questioned why he was not being more critical of the repressive tactics being used by Chinese authorities inside Tibet. When my turn came, the Dalai Lama held my hand for some time and remarked on how far I had come to attend.

At one point, the Dalai Lama leant forward in his chair, fixed me with an intense gaze and described the predicament facing all Tibetans campaigning for greater autonomy for their homeland. It can only express the truth. Our only weapon, our only strength, is justice and truth. The Dalai Lama during a press conference in Dharamshala in March The conclusion of that press conference was different to any I have experienced. The Dalai Lama stayed on to greet his inquisitors one at a time. With charm and grace, he shook hands, joked and chatted.

Reporters now jostled to meet the famous monk they had been grilling minutes earlier. I left with a deeper appreciation of why this Dalai Lama is so widely admired.

An attendant carries the new Dalai Lama as he prepares to journey across the Himalayas to Lhasa, Tibet. Years later, he would flee to north India. Credit: Getty Images. When a Dalai Lama dies — or even before their death — a successor is found rather than chosen. The search involves consulting oracles, interpreting visions and reading spiritual signs. The senior monks may find clues from the deceased body of the Dalai Lama, such as the direction it faces or its posture.

If the body is cremated, the direction of the smoke is monitored as a potential indicator for the direction of rebirth. The boy was able to pinpoint artefacts that had belonged to the previous Dalai Lama.

Dreams are an important guide. Once these visions and signs have been followed up and a potential child has been found, there is a series of tests to verify the rebirth. The child is presented with artefacts, some of which belonged to the previous Dalai Lama. If the child identifies which objects belonged to the Dalai Lama, it is taken as a sign.