Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama is the spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan people. Most Tibetan Buddhists regard him as an incarnation of the bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteśvara, and so he is sometimes referred to in Western literature as a “god king.” Even though the Dalai Lama has not always been unanimously accepted as the supreme sovereign by all Tibetans across the vast plateau of the region, most Tibetans accept the Dalai Lama as a symbol of Tibetan identity. Especially since the Chinese Communist invasion of Tibet, he has become the person Tibetans look to for hope, inspiration, and both religious and secular guidance.