Today is a day of a hundred-thousand auspiciousness and joy, marking by Tibetan tradition the 80th and by the outside universal system the 79th birth anniversary of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, the earthly human manifestation of the designated, wished-for deity of Tibet whose people have survived through many centuries of history, cultural enrichment, and territorial sovereignty. The spiritual lord of The Three Realms, the champion of world peace, the master on this earth of the entire corpus of the Buddha’s teachings, the protector of all the people of Tibet, and the great leader whose name, to state it in full for our purpose, is Jetsun Jampel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso Sisum Wanggyur Tsungpa Mepey De Pal Sangpo, was, as a result of a great convergent fruition of cumulative divine deeds and prayers of successive reincarnation of The White Lotus Holder and the good merits of his contemporary and future objects of teaching, born on the 5th day of the 5th month of the Tibetan Wood-Hog Year, corresponding to the 6th day of July 1935 in the Village of Tagtser, which is situated in the vicinity of the highly auspicious Kumbum Monastery, the site of the auspicious flowering of sacred images of the Tsongkhapa, and as indicated by the protector deities of Tibet without any cause for misunderstanding or without any misleading direction, and as reaffirmed by wondrous enlightening proofs. On such a day when across the world people are engrossed in seeking to accumulate as much good merits as possible with a joyous spirit, I, on behalf of the Tibetan people both in Tibet and in exile beseech and pray with utmost earnestness that the thousand-armed Bodhisattva remain unchanged forever in our presence, and continue to be a great source of guiding light to the countless numbers of sentient beings who are otherwise bereft of any protector and refuge, and thereby extend your divine deeds across the universe.

The essence of the meaning of observing the birthday of any globally renowned great being is to commemorate the deeds of that being and to respect and follow his guidance. This being the case, it is an important tribute on this important occasion of the birth anniversary of His Holiness the Dalai Lama that people across the world who take part in the celebrations, especially Tibetans both in Tibet and in exile, while certainly remembering the gratitude they owe to him with joy, faith and contentment, also keep in mind their commitments to follow and put into practice without any wavering his guidance to them.

In 1949, communist China began its armed invasion of Tibet from the eastern borders. As a result flowing from it, the political situation in Tibet came to be weakened to its worst possible depth, in the manner of the depletion of the level and emptying of the butter in a burning butter-lamp. And it then became obvious that only His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and no one else, had the capability and power to steer the course of the religious and political affairs of the Land of Snows. Hence, as spontaneously prayed with resolute vehemence by the people and godly beings of Tibet without any need for any discussion, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, though only 16 years old at the time, resolved to carry forward the unfinished works and commitments of his previous successive reincarnations. And so it was that on 17 November 1950, he was enthroned as the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet and took charge of the two root sources for addressing the well being of his people. Since exercising supreme authority and influence over all the three provinces of Tibet from that time onwards, he showed great foresight and prudence in dealing with the civilian and military Chinese leaders and officials who had taken up residence in the country. Though the Chinese were cruel and violent in their approach, His Holiness the Dalai Lama adopted a broad-minded and tolerant response to them, relying only on non-violent strategies in his attempts to resolve the Sino-Tibetan dispute. In that way, by willingly exposing himself to the raging fire of Chinese provocations, His Holiness tried, for nine long years, to protect the people of Tibet from an onslaught of bloodshed from the Chinese army.

At the same time, His Holiness spared no efforts in his studies to gain mastery over the entirety of the general as well as esoteric fields of Tibetan Buddhist studies, culminating in his being awarded the Geshe Lharampa degree after rigorous examinations at Tibet’s Three Great Seats of learning and at the annual Great Prayer Festival in a community of other monks. His Holiness thereby attained status as the apex ornament among all the learned scholars of the Land of Snows.

In order to ensure the well being of his Tibetan subjects and address their livelihood difficulties, His Holiness the Dalai Lama initiated reform measures that he saw as the needs of the hour and these included such initiatives as the waiver of old loans. For this purpose His Holiness made efforts to bring the Tibetan political and government system to one marked by liberal democracy to as great an extent as possible by setting up a separate Reform Bureau. Unfortunately, however, the whole of Tibet fell victim to the violent occupation onslaught of the army of communist China. As a result, there was no choice for him but to escape and seek political asylum in the neighbouring country of India in 1959. Over a short period of time since then, tens of thousands of Tibetan men and women; young and old; and monks and nuns as well as laypeople followed him, looking up to him as their only source of hope. And they received a new lease of life and were able to breathe the air of freedom after arriving in India. Not only were they not left wanting in their basic needs of food, clothing and shelter, but also a foundation was laid for restoring in future Tibet’s spiritual heritage in its original glory. With this aim in mind, centres were separately established where each of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism and the Bon religious tradition were able to continue their practices as well as trainings as before. In particular, under the exceptional leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the root source of the Tibetan religious and secular well being, wide-ranging, truly limitless initiatives were taken which included the setting up of an administration in exile, religious centres, cultural institutes, research centres, settlements, schools, handicrafts training centres, and businesses. The Tibetan people therefore owe to His Holiness the Dalai Lama such gratitude as they owe to no one else for his deeds which, in a manner of speaking, ensured for them such a state of well being as was better even than when Tibet was in its glorious days.

In order to realize his heartfelt wish to transform the Tibetan political system into a fully democratic one, His Holiness the Dalai Lama set up in 1960 a Tibetan parliament in exile. In 1963, he promulgated a democratic constitution for a future free Tibet. Along with it, he gave countless speeches and advices to the Tibetan people in exile on the ideology of the democratic system of politics and governance. In 1990, His Holiness dissolved the 10th Tibetan parliament in exile as well as the Kashag. In 1991, he followed it up by increasing the number of members of the Tibetan parliament in exile, and also presented a draft charter of Tibetans in exile. And the 11th Tibetan parliament in exile was set up in a changed form to ensure that it became a meaningful legislative body. A constitution based system of democratic administration was thereby established. And in 2001, a new system was introduced whereby the Kalon Tripa of the Tibetan administration in exile was directly elected by the Tibetan people. Thereafter, in 2011, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in a most dignified and solemn manner, passed on to leaders directly elected by the Tibetan people all his traditional political and administrative powers. As a result, the Central Tibetan Administration in exile is today a firmly rooted democratic system based on the rule of law. Such developments are fully in keeping with the modern democratic trends across the world and the current needs of the Tibetan people. His Holiness the Dalai Lama brought about these developments by a coercive strategy of compelling the Tibetan people to accept these changes, reflecting a leadership deed of great historicity. I take this opportunity to remember and express immense gratitude to His Holiness the Dalai Lama for this historically unprecedented gesture which is universally acknowledged and admired.

Over the past many decades, His Holiness the Dalai Lama has made special efforts for the benefit of all sentient beings in general and, especially for the people of all religious faiths, irrespective of their doctrinal differences, and more particularly for the Tibetan people both in Tibet and in exile. There has been an outpouring of the power of these bodily, speech and mind deeds in all directions and through all portals, and many in the international community who have benefited from them have come to revere him and look up to him as a great master. This has resulted in an unprecedented welcome opening of doors of assuming responsible concern and paying close attention to the just cause of the Tibetan people among numerous governments, individuals and communities of people across the world. In 1987, His Holiness the Dalai Lama proposed a five-point peace plan for the resolution of the issue of Tibet. Thereafter in 1988, His Holiness presented another proposal before the European Parliament. Including with these initiatives, His Holiness the Dalai Lama made great efforts to direct the Tibetan people to the sole path of non-violent means to continue their struggle. It is particularly because of these efforts, whose influence could not be belittled by any amount of denials that His Holiness was conferred such great awards as the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, the US Congressional Gold Medal in 2007, and the John Templeton Prize in the United Kingdom in 2012. The actual number of awards and prizes His Holiness has won runs into hundreds. In order to clearly understand the situation of the Tibetans in Tibet, His Holiness had sent fact-finding delegations and especially dispatched envoys to China over different periods of time.

Since 1974, His Holiness the Dalai Lama had resolved to seek a solution that is mutually beneficial to both Tibet and China. And since 1979 he has been of the view that an effort to find a middle way approach for the resolution of the issue of Tibet, if successful, would be in accordance with his wish for such a solution. After His Holiness arrived at such a decision, the Central Tibetan Administration here at Dharamshala also adopted this approach. The middle way approach that we still adhere to enjoys utmost support from public and private corners across the world, including among many governments. In particular, it is being admired and supported by considerable number of people inside China, especially the intellectual community. It is time that the government of China act with a high sense of responsibility to make efforts to resolve the Sino-Tibetan dispute with urgency since it is directly concerned with both the current and long term well being of both the Tibetan and Chinese peoples.

Denied the privilege of even a second of rest, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, using the weapon of indefatigable courage borne of infinite compassion, devotes himself to both the current and long term well being of the Tibetan people in and outside the occupied Land of Snows. In that respect, His Holiness has, while fully immersing himself in the realm of unceasing and unstoppable commitments to his secular responsibilities, pioneered new approaches in the fields of the practice, philosophy and science of Buddhism.  On the intellectual platform of the globe, His Holiness has flashed the precious light of the Buddha’s teachings to all corners of the world. For the purposes of reviving, with regard to those aspects that had suffered decline, and carrying forward, with regard to those aspects that continue to flourish, the Nalanda tradition which embodies the entire corpus of the Buddha’s teachings in their pristine, faultless form, His Holiness gives wide-ranging religious discourses in the profound fields of both tantra and sutra to draw countless number of sentient beings to the path of liberation from samsara. In terms of place, times and numbers of disciples encompassing the teachings given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, it remains impossible to make estimates. This includes most recently his 33rd Kalachakra empowerment teaching being presently given to countless number of sentiment beings that include the people from the Himalayan regions.

Among his outstanding efforts at maintaining the purity of the Buddha’s teachings remains his advice on the question of worshipping the controversial spirit called Dolgyal for which we would like to express high gratitude.  It is of utmost importance, as we know, that a good practice of Buddhism requires, to begin with, a pure and correct refuge practice. Numerous great and learned masters of the past in the fields of preserving, administering and propagating the faith, irrespective of which traditions of Tibetan Buddhism they belonged to, have clearly pointed out that the origin, nature and work of Dolgyal does not render it a worthy Buddhist object of worship. His Holiness the Dalai Lama too carried out a thorough research and came to an indubitable conclusion on the basis of which he has given us his advice to avoid it out of a great feeling of compassion. The vast majority of the Tibetan people has faithfully accepted from the depth of their hearts His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s advice and continues to avoid the mistake of worshipping Dolgyal. In addition, in a further effort to help the still very deeply entrenched ignorant people who continue to worship Dolgyal to realize the correct course of practice to be followed and so on, the Tibetan Parliament in Exile passed on 17 March 2014 a five-point resolution, in addition to other similar resolutions it had previously passed in 1996, 1997 and 2008. These became necessary because a small minority of people, having been themselves won over with monetary lure by the Chinese government for use as a political tool, also mislead in various ways people of other ethnicities and look for all kinds of opportunities on the international arena to carry out various type of campaigns designed to obstruct His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s programs. I take this opportunity to appeal to each and every individual among the broad Tibetan public to take personal responsibility and remain alert at all times to ensure the personal security of His Holiness the Dalai Lama as urged in that resolution.

India is like a second homeland to the Tibetan people living in exile. Over the past more than 55 years, the central and state governments of India, as well as local level administrative authorities have extended unimaginable help, patronage and cooperation in vast and diverse areas of our needs and these are still continuing. I therefore take this good opportune moment to express our limitless gratitude to the governments and people of India for their kindness and generosity. In addition, we remain hopeful that following the recent general election, those in the government and parliament who won by large majorities will continue to show even greater concern and help for the Tibetan people and their struggle.

The Tibetan people also remain indebted to the governments, parliaments, organizations and individuals in countries across the world, including the USA and Europe, for their continuing support for the just cause of the Tibetan people. I take this opportunity to urge them to continue, with even greater vigour, to support us.

There is even today no indication whatsoever that the government of China is changing its policy on the issue of Tibet. In fact, across the entire territory of Tibet, Chinese security clampdowns keep growing stronger. Besides, it has been claiming to be concerned about the livelihood of the around 200,000 Tibetans living overseas in yet another attempt by various continuing means of deceit to lure them back home.  Under the current leadership and system in Tibet where happiness remains unknown, around 130 Tibetan men, women and religious persons have carried out self immolation protests from February 2009 as of 15 April 2014. These protesters were of one voice in raising their slogans, demanding “Invite His Holiness the Dalai Lama Back to Tibet,” “Give Freedom to the Tibetan People,” and so on. This being the continuing situation in Tibet, I take this opportunity to pledge more efforts than ever before, with reinforced vigour, towards realizing these common desires of the Tibetan people in Tibet and in exile.

Finally, so long as the last wishes of the dead and the aspirations of the living remain to be realized, and as a result of the diamond-like strong determination to complete the task on hand avowed with the Buddha and his spiritual sons as witnesses; the pure, totally, selflessly inspired prayers of the great beings from all faith traditions living on this earth; the blessings flowing from the truthfulness of the faith and oaths of the entirety of the human and godly forms of the land of Tibet, we ardently prayer that His Holiness the Dalai Lama, by looking on all Tibetans in Tibet and in exile equally with great compassion and concern, as a mother would all her children, live unchanged for a hundred aeons, and see his wishes spontaneously fulfilled, and that the just cause of the Tibetan people be seen to definitely prevail.

The Tibetan Parliament in Exile
6th July, 2014