He has embraced technology, with a comprehensive website and a larger Twitter following than the Pope (19 million vs 17 million), despite there being an estimated 500 million more Catholics in the world than Buddhists. How has it changed Buddhism?įrom his base in Dharamshala, in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, the Dalai Lama has spread Buddhism's message far and wide - and garnered support from followers globally for the Free Tibet movement. The Mantra of Light (Japanese: kmy shingon, ), also called the Mantra of the Light of Great Consecration (Ch: ) and Mantra of the Unfailing Rope Snare, is an important mantra of the Shingon and Kegon sects of Japanese Buddhism.It is also recited in Japanese Zen Buddhism. "The level of reverence is undiminished - if anything it's probably higher than when he was still there."Ĭhina disputes this, too, with Mr Wu claiming the Dalai Lama hasn't done a "single good thing" for Tibet since he left. He was undoubtedly the most important person in Tibet, and still is for most Tibetans," said John Powers, a professor at Deakin University who specialises in Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetans accuse China of ratcheting up repression in the years that followed, and there have been several outbreaks of unrest and protest against Chinese rule in the intervening years.įor those who stayed behind, the absence of the Dalai Lama left a vacuum that's been impossible to fill. "Realising that we were not be able to go back - that was very, very hard." "At first, we thought we could just escape for a few months, then return," he told the ABC. ![]() Tibet's government, with a then-teenage Dalai Lama at its head, signed a treaty that professed to preserve Buddhism and Tibetan autonomy.Ī resistance movement soon emerged in opposition to Chinese rule, and on March 10, 1959, thousands of people surrounded the Dalai Lama's palace to protect him against what they believed was an imminent kidnapping or assassination threat. ![]() ![]() Why did the Dalai Lama flee?Ĭhinese troops invaded Tibet in 1950 and formally incorporated the region into its territory the following year, a source of ongoing controversy to this day (Beijing calls it a "peaceful liberation"). It also set off a chain of events that Beijing likely could not have predicted, and surely did not intend. The unexpected invitation set alarm bells ringing for the Dalai Lama and his senior advisors, who quickly devised an escape route: cross the Himalayas on foot to seek asylum in India. Amid an uprising against Beijing in Tibet, the Buddhist leader was invited by a senior Chinese general to watch a dance performance.
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