Since 1391, the Lord of Compassion Chenrezig has graciously sent an incarnation of himself to Earth to help bring happiness and hopefully enlightenment to humanity. One of the Bodhisattvas, he resides here in human form and is known as the Dalai Lama.

Whenever his human body dies, his spirit pops up again inside another suitable fetus and he is reborn again. Of course the doting parents may not notice that their new baby is really an ancient enlightened being. Luckily, Buddhist officials scour the land for likely candidates and are likely to turn up with questionnaires and spiritual DNA testing kits.

His current incarnation, number fourteen, is highly regarded across the world and is one of the very few enlightened immortal beings to appear on TV and have a Twitter account.

Since the occupation of Tibet by godless Chinese Communism, the ancient religion of Tibet has taken a few knocks. Their very own living Bodhisattva incarnation the Dalai Lama was forced into exile many years ago. So how the temples and multitudes of monks are coping we don’t know. By all accounts, not too well. Tibet is not the easiest place to get to at the best of times — Mount Everest is more than a walk in the park and No Trespassing notices do not help the situation.

The infinitely affable Mr Lama has indicated he may be the last of his honorable line, which would surely make the world a much poorer and sadder place. Luckily he is a Master of Patience and his good-natured laugh remains infectious.

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Article last revised on September 20, 2018 by Rowan Allen.
Editors: Peter J. Allen, Chas Saunders

References: Coming soon.

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