Dalai Lama

In an unbroken chain that began in 1391,

 the 14th Dalai Lama was born in 1935, recognized at age 2,

enthroned at age five and then began the long

 period of traditional training at the age of six.

The Dalai Lama took full political power at sixteen after

Lhasa, the capital of Tibet was invaded by China.

 In 1959, the country was overtaken by brutal military force and

80,000 Tibetans, including the Dalai Lama, became refugees.

His Holiness was given Political asylum in India, where he 

has remained in exile with his fellow Tibetans since 1960.

In 1989 the Dalai Lama received the Nobel Peace Prize for

a lifetime of  work on behalf of helpless refugees worldwide,

who like Tibetans, struggle for Peace every day of their lives.

During his long term in exile, His Holiness has become an

International traveler with visits to more than 45 Countries.

These visits whether to a head of state, or a small local College,

usually create great excitement and are quickly sold out.

The Dalai Lama's speaking engagements are booked

nearly 7 years in advance and have included,

 local spiritual leaders, International spiritual leaders,

the press, and thousands of students at Cornell, Harvard

and countless other Institutions of Learning in the

name of Peace, Freedom and Humanitarian issues.

Read what Desmond Tutu thinks about the

current plight of the Tibetan people and why

he is asking China to do the right thing in Tibet.

The Friends of Tibet and World Tibet Day were created to

make the world aware of the plight of the Tibetan people and

hopefully bring pressure on World Leaders to join them and millions of

others who seek to help return Tibetans to the autonomy they seek.

A fairly accurate quasi-documentary film about the early years

 of the Dalai Lama and the Chinese overthrow of Tibet is:

Seven Years in Tibet with Brad Pitt.

It is one of the few works about the Tibetan people or

the Dalai Lama and provides many details of the events

leading up to the Chinese invasion of the Country.