HIS HOLINESS THE 14th DALAI LAMA

                                                                                         

His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama

Tenzin Gyatso was born on July 6th 1935 in Taktser , Amdo Province Tibet. Acting upon a grand vision by the Regent, a senior lama, he was picked as the successor to the 13th Dalai Lama at the age of three. Although he did not become the official 14th Dalai Lama untill 1950 at the age of 15. After the 1949 Communist revolution in China, Tibetans became fearful. In October 1950. 80,000 Chinese soldiers invaded Tibet and took over the eastern part of Tibet of the country. Negotiations with the Chinese over the next few years provided futile. In 1959 there was an unsucessful popular uprising against the Chinese. The 14th Dalai lama secretly left the Potala Palace complex Lhasa and fled to India along with thousands of his followers. He has lived there in exile ever since. As the spirtual leader of Buddhism in Tibet, he is very much  revered around the world.

His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama

MAITREYA BUDDHA

Maitreya Buddha

           According to some traditions, the period of the Buddhist Law is divided into three stages: a first period of 500 years is of the turning of the Wheel of Law, a second period of 1000 years is of its deterioration,and the third period of 3000 years is the one during which no one practices the Law. After this, Buddhism having disappeared, a new Buddha will appear who will again turn the Wheel . This future Buddha is known as Maitreya. It is believed that Gautama Buddha himself enthroned him as a successor.

The word 'Maitreya' is derived from the Sanskrit word for friendliness. Thus this Bodhisattva is fundamentally said to embody the qualities of amiability and an attitude of well- meaning sympathy.