On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we discuss one of the greatest spiritual leaders of our time, the Dalai Lama. His real name is Tenzin Gyatso, and he is the 14th Dalai Lama, supposedly the true ruler of Tibet and a beacon for Buddhism around the world. His life story is one that involves mysticism, war, conquering armies, power-hungry warlords, the CIA, and a world leader.

Born in a small village, Tenzin Gyatso was an unassuming child of horse farmers. But when the 13th Dalai Lama died, the extensive mystical search for his replacement pointed to Tenzin. There are many Lamas, and several of them are supposedly reincarnations of previous iterations. In fact, two of Tenzin’s siblings are just such lesser Lamas. The search for the Dalai Lama takes years and involves the highest monks of the order. Signs such as the floating head of the previous Dalai Lama and visions near a holy lake pointed them to Tenzin.

He passed the tests they gave him, and before he could become the new Dalai Lama, there was a two year struggle with a local warlord and a play to sneak him into Tibet without the Chinese government knowing. By 1939, he was finally in Lhasa, the capitol of Tibet, where he was able to rule his people. By 1950, however, the People’s Republic of China had taken over Tibet. All religious freedoms were stifled, people were killed or disappeared, and it became illegal to hang a Tibetan flag or a picture of the Dalai Lama up.

In 1959, a CIA-backed coup was meant to kick the Chinese out of Tibet, but it failed. The CIA had to smuggle the Dalai Lama over the Himalayas disguised as a soldier, where they placed him and 80,000 Tibetan refugees up in India in a government in exile. To this day, the 14th Dalai Lama still lives there. The Chinese still control Tibet, but to their government, he is a dangerous man. He controls the heart and culture of a land that is critical to their country. What will happen when finally dies? Why does he think China will try to create a fake Dalai Lama that they control? How can he stop such a thing? Why did they give him a Nobel peace prize? What threats does he face when he travels abroad to talk? How might quantum physics explain reincarnation? Listen, laugh, learn.

Visit Our Sources:

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/reviews/story/a-simple-universal-doctor-of-the-soul-59365

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalai_Lama

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/14th_Dalai_Lama

https://www.dalailama.com/

https://www.tripsavvy.com/facts-about-the-14th-dalai-lama-1458309

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2008/03/28/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-dalai-lama

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48772175

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V45yL-rqsVo

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1989/lama/biographical/

https://freetibet.org/about/dalai-lama

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_Tibetan_program