Perfecting Wisdom eBook

His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso was born in 1935 to a peasant family in a small village in northeastern Tibet. At just two years old, he was recognized as the reincarnation of his predecessor. The ceremony of recognition of the XIV Dalai Lama took place on February 22, 1940 in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. Ten years later, when China invaded Tibetan territory, with only 16 years of age and nine more of religious studies to complete, His Holiness had to assume total political power. In March 1959, during the National Tibetan People's Uprising against Chinese military occupation, he had to go into exile. Since then he has lived in the Himalayas, in Dharamsala in India, the official seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile, a constitutional democracy instituted in 1963. The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, unlike his predecessors who never travelled in the West, continues his travels around the world, calling for kindness, compassion, respect for the environment and, above all, peace in the world. In addition to an extensive bibliography, His Holiness has received numerous honorary awards in the various countries in which he has spoken, the most important of all being the Nobel Peace Prize, received in 1989.