14th Dalai Lama

Birthday July 6, 1935

Birth Sign Cancer

Birthplace Taktser, Amdo, Tibet, Republic of China

Age 88 years old

Nationality China

#2313 Most Popular

1645

The footnote before that (the second-to-last footnote in this sentence) contains a link to a PDF version of The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, ... a source that does not contain a defining entry for the word "temporal", but it does have a sentence that begins by saying [QUOTE:]"In 1645, three years after his installation as temporal ruler of Tibet, the fifth Dalai Lama NGAG DBANG BLO BZANG RGYA MTSHO began [...]"which is another example of the use of the word "temporal".

A Wikipedia search for the phrase "temporal duties" might or might not be helpful.

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That Wikipedia article -- ("Temporal power") -- is technically considered to be a disambiguation page, but it lists only two senses or 'meanings', and the only one of those two that is not specific to the [Roman] Catholic pope, says: [QUOTE:]

The temporal power (simply), the state (polity) or secular authority, in contrast to the church or spiritual authority so ... that Wikipedia article -- "state (polity)" -- that is mentioned there, might well shed some light on the meaning of the phrase "Temporal and Spiritual", and (by doing that), help us to understand what the word "temporal" means, as it is used here.

1935

The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name: Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, also known as Tenzin Gyatso; ; born 6 July 1935), known to the Tibetan people as Gyalwa Rinpoche, is, as the incumbent Dalai Lama, the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibet.

He is considered a living Bodhisattva; specifically, an emanation of Avalokiteśvara in Sanskrit, and Chenrezig in Tibetan.

He is also the leader and a monk of the Gelug school, the newest school of Tibetan Buddhism, formally headed by the Ganden Tripa.

The central government of Tibet, the Ganden Phodrang, invested The Dalai Lama with temporal The two footnotes at the end of this sentence -- (at least, 'as of' this [March 2024] version of this article) -- may help to understand what the phrase "temporal duties" means here.

The last footnote there contains a "QUOTE" that ends with the phrase "the spiritual and temporal ruler of Tibet".

That might serve as a hint, indicating that investigating the meaning and use of the phrase "spiritual and temporal" (especially in a context like this one) might help to clarify the meaning of the word "temporal" in the phrase "temporal duties" here.

Lhamo Thondup was born on 6 July 1935 to a farming and horse trading family in the small hamlet of Taktser, or Chija Tagtser, at The Edge of the traditional Tibetan region of Amdo in Qinghai Province.

He was one of seven siblings to survive childhood and one of the three supposed reincarnated Rinpoches in the same family.

His eldest sister Tsering Dolma, was sixteen years his senior and was midwife to his mother at his birth.

She would accompany him into exile and found Tibetan Children's Villages.

After the demise of the 13th Dalai Lama, in 1935, the Ordinance of Lama Temple Management was published by the Central Government.

1936

In 1936, the Method of Reincarnation of Lamas was published by the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission of the Central Government.

Article 3 states that death of lamas, including The Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama, should be reported to the commission, soul boys should be located and checked by the commission, and a lot-drawing ceremony with the Golden Urn system should be held.

Article 6 states that local governments should invite officials from the Central Government to take care of the sitting-in-the-bed ceremony.

Article 7 states that soul boys should not be sought from current lama families.

This article echoes what the Qianlong Emperor described in The Discourse of Lama to eliminate greedy families with multiple reincarnated rinpoches, lamas.

1937

He was selected as the tulku of the 13th Dalai Lama in 1937, and formally recognised as the 14th Dalai Lama in a public declaration near the town of Bumchen in 1939.

As with the recognition process for his predecessor, a Golden Urn selection process was exempted and approved by the Central Government of the Republic of China.

1940

His enthronement ceremony was held in Lhasa on 22 February 1940 and he eventually assumed full temporal (political) duties on 17 November 1950 (at fifteen years of age), after the People's Republic of China's occupation of Tibet.

The Tibetan government administered the historic Tibetan regions of Ü-Tsang, Kham and Amdo.

1959

duties until his exile in 1959.

Subsequent to the annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China, during the 1959 Tibetan uprising, The Dalai Lama escaped to India, where he continues to live in exile while remaining the spiritual leader of Tibet.

On 29 April 1959, The Dalai Lama established the independent Tibetan government in exile in the north Indian hill station of Mussoorie, which then moved in May 1960 to Dharamshala, where he resides.

1970

The Dalai Lama advocates for the welfare of Tibetans and since the early 1970s has called for the Middle Way Approach with China to peacefully resolve the issue of Tibet.

The Dalai Lama travels worldwide to give Tibetan Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism teachings, and his Kalachakra teachings and initiations are international events.

He also attends conferences on a wide range of subjects, including the relationship between religion and science, meets with other world leaders, religious leaders, philosophers, and scientists, online and in-person.

His work includes focus on the environment, economics, women's rights, nonviolence, interfaith dialogue, physics, astronomy, Buddhism and science, cognitive neuroscience, reproductive health and sexuality.

1989

The Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

Time magazine named The Dalai Lama one of the "Children of Gandhi" and Gandhi's spiritual heir to nonviolence.

2011

He retired as political head in 2011 to make way for a democratic government, the Central Tibetan Administration.

2013

His eldest brother, Thupten Jigme Norbu, had been recognised at the age of three by the 13th Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the high Lama, the 6th Taktser Rinpoche.

2014

The 14th Dalai Lama was born to a farming family in Taktser (Hongya Village), in the traditional Tibetan region of Amdo (administratively Qinghai, Republic of China).

2016

His fifth brother, Tendzin Choegyal, had been recognised as the 16th Ngari Rinpoche.

His sister, Jetsun Pema, spent most of her adult life on the Tibetan Children's Villages project.

The Dalai Lama has said that his first language was "a broken Xining language which was (a dialect of) the Chinese language," a form of Central Plains Mandarin, and his family speak neither Amdo Tibetan nor Lhasa Tibetan.