Biography[]
As the Twentieth Century has witnessed several massive upheavals, with the order of things dramatically shifting again and again, the nation of Tibet has stood as an unshaking, unchanging pillar admist it all. At the head of this unflinching nation sits the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. ALso known as Tenzin Gyatso, he is the spiritual and political leader of Tibet, in that order. Though lacking much in the way of direct political power, the sway that he holds over Tibet and the Tibetan Buddhist Faith as a whole is felt very clearly.
As with all Dalai Lamas, Tenzin Gyatso is believed to be the reincarnation of the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, the latest incarnation of Avalokitesvara. Tenzin was born on July 9th, 1935 in the small village of Takster, along the border of Tibet and China, and was discovered by the Lamas of Tibet at the tener age of four, passing all of the tests and methods they used to determine the identity of the next Dalai Lama.
From there, he was placed at the head of Tibet's spiritual and political organizations, though from the first moment of his rule, the real authority in Tibet has been held by the Lamas who nominally rule underneath him. Such an openly theocratic system is a curiosity to outsiders, and there is no shortage of criticisms levied at Tibet and the general system of rule within it, yet it has kept Tibet independent and free for the half-century since the Qing's destruction.