Dalai lama biography in tibetan language films

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His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama has, since his forced exile from his homeland in 1959, been credited as an author of over 100 books and appeared in dozens of international documentary films (including the strange Russian film, Sunrise/Sunset, released in 2008), not to mention the fictionalizations of his life shaped by Martin Scorsese and Brad Pitt. Still, The Great 14th, which aired on PBS stations throughout 2022, manages to give a novel look at His Holiness’ well-documented life, precisely because it does not directly concern itself with his public image nor frame itself through an editorial lens. Rather, it sits back and lets the man himself tell the story.

Told in a brisk but elegant 80 minutes, the film revolves around a long interview with His Holiness, supplemented by a breadth of archival footage, including remarkable scenery of life in Tibet prior to the Chinese invasion. As His Holiness tells us of his childhood friendships with workers in the Potala Palace — whom he affectionately refers to in his broken English as “the sweepers” — we watch the men in their long black robes carrying flowers all in formation from the palace. The scene and others dissolve some of the distance we might feel from him as a public person, giving us a sense of his personal story through the images that flow from his own memory.

He only gives us his biography up to the moment of his exile in Dharamsala, India when he was twenty-three years old. For the rest of the film, he speaks in general terms about the ideas and principles that guide his everyday choices. He offers, for example, a full explanation of his 2011 decision to dissolve the office of the Dalai Lama of its political authority, explaining that a democratic system would better serve the Tibetan people in the long term, while also preserving the office’s spiritual integrity — something of key importance to the rou

1997 film directed by Martin Scorsese

Kundun is a 1997 American epicbiographical film written by Melissa Mathison and directed by Martin Scorsese. It is based on the life and writings of Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, the exiled political and spiritual leader of Tibet. Tenzin Thuthob Tsarong, a grandnephew of the Dalai Lama, stars as the adult Dalai Lama, while Tencho Gyalpo, a niece of the Dalai Lama, appears as the Dalai Lama's mother.

"Kundun" (སྐུ་མདུན་ Wylie: sku mdun in Tibetan), meaning "presence", is a title by which the Dalai Lama is addressed. Kundun was released only a few months after Seven Years in Tibet, sharing the latter's location and its depiction of the Dalai Lama at several stages of his youth, though Kundun covers a period three times longer. It is the final film penned by Mathison to be released before her death in 2015, although her final project, The BFG, was released posthumously.

Plot

The film has a linear chronology with events spanning from 1937 to 1959; the setting is Tibet, except for brief sequences in China and India. It begins with the search for the 14th mindstreamemanation of the Dalai Lama. After a vision by Reting Rinpoche (the regent of Tibet) several lamas disguised as servants discover a promising candidate: a child born to a farming family in the province of Amdo, near the Chinese border.

These and other lamas administer a test to the child in which he must select from various objects the ones that belonged to the previous Dalai Lama. The child passes the test, and he and his family are brought to Potala Palace in Lhasa, where he will be installed as Dalai Lama when he comes of age.

During the journey, the child becomes homesick and frightened, but is comforted by Reting, who tells him the story of the first Dalai Lama–whom the lamas called "Kundun". As the film progresses, the boy matures in both age and learning. After a brief power struggle in which Reting is impri

Spiritual leader of Tibet since 1940

The 14th Dalai Lama (born 6 July 1935; full spiritual name: Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, shortened as Tenzin Gyatso;né Lhamo Thondup) is the incumbent Dalai Lama, the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. Before 1959, he served as both the resident spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet, and subsequently established and led the Tibetan government in exile represented by the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala, India. The adherents of Tibetan Buddhism consider the Dalai Lama a living Bodhisattva, specifically an emanation of Avalokiteśvara (in Sanskrit) or Chenrezig (in Tibetan), the Bodhisattva of Compassion, a belief central to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and the institution of the Dalai Lama. The Dalai Lama, whose name means Ocean of Wisdom, is part of the full title "圣 识一切 瓦齐尔达喇 达赖 喇嘛" (Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama) given by Altan Khan, the first Shunyi King of Ming China in 1578 AD., is also known to Tibetans as Gyalwa Rinpoche, The Precious Jewel-like Buddha-Master, Kundun, The Presence, and Yizhin Norbu, The Wish-Fulfilling Gem. His devotees, as well as much of the Western world, often call him His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the style employed on his website. 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 14th Dalai Lama was born to a farming family in Taktser (Hongya Village), in the traditional Tibetan region of Amdo, at the time a Chinese frontier district. He was selected as the tulku of the 13th Dalai Lama in 1937, and formally recognized as the 14th Dalai Lama in 1939. As with the recognition process for his predecessor, a Golden Urn selection process was