1 / 9The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was born on July 6, 1935, in a farming family in Taktser, Amdo, in the northeastern part of Tibet. He was then called Lhamo Dhondup.
2 / 9At the age of two, the child was identified as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso.
3 / 9He and his family were held by a Chinese warlord for ransom. After the Tibetan government paid the money, Gyatso and his family reached Lhasa. He took the throne when he was four years old and became a monk at six.
4 / 9After the invasion of Tibet by China in 1950, the 14th Dalai Lama was called upon to assume full political power.
5 / 9However, after the brutal suppression of the Tibetan national uprising in Lhasa by China in 1959, the spiritual leader escaped to India with about 80,000 followers and set up a government in exile in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh.
6 / 9Every year, thousands of people visit Dharamshala to take part in the festivities to celebrate the birthday of the spiritual leader.
7 / 9The Dalai Lama, who advocates policies of non-violence even in the face of extreme aggression, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent struggle for the liberation of Tibet in 1989.
8 / 9The Dalai Lama's best-known teaching subject is the Kalachakra tantra. The Kalachakra (Wheel of Time) is one of the most complex teachings of Buddhism, and he often confers it on very large audiences, up to 200,000 students and disciples at a time.
9 / 9His hobbies include meditation, gardening and repairing old watches. He had stated that if he was not raised as a monk, he would have gone into engineering due to his keen interest in science.
