His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama's fortitude and courage and, above all, his great forbearance in the teeth of the greatest of odds in the wake of the Chinese occupation of Tibet marks him out as a true Apostle of Peace for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. The exemplary way in which he has conducted himself as an honoured refugee in India and the manner in which he has followed the Buddhist path of moderation while raising his voice on behalf of the Tibetans, dispossessed of their home and hearth, has earned him a place in the annals of history as a true humanitarian but for whose presence the world would have, for sure, lost the beautiful Tibetan culture. His Holiness had to tread a tightrope throughout in his non-violent crusade for justice for the Tibetans and exhibited the greatest of restraint in speech, moderation in criticism and a pragmatism in politics, rare in the brightest of statesmen. A Buddhist monk to the core, steeped in the spiritual tradition of his country, His Holiness has yet been ever progressive in his outlook and is a great protagonist of scientific culture which he has tirelessly tried to usher in the Tibetan community. He has even stepped down from his position as the exiled Tibetan community's temporal leader and now continues to be only its spiritual Master. His Holiness advocates democracy and has introduced a democratic form of government for his exiled Tibetan followers. He considers the office of the Dalai Lama also as archaic for today's Tibetans and would like to see the end of it after his demise if the Tibetans so desire. Acutely sensitive to the exigencies of the hour, His Holiness is leading his exiled Tibetan sisters and brothers into the modern world of science, technology and information culture while helping them preserve their cultural roots in Tibetan Buddhism. But for His Holiness the world would have witnessed the annihilation of an entire national culture at the hands of the conquering Chinese who have reduced Tibet to a colony fit to be despoiled of all that is good and grand in it, monasteries, manuscripts, monuments, monks and the masses. But through it all His Holiness has been exemplary in terms of the maturity and statesmanship he has shown as he has guided the destiny of millions of hapless Tibetans overnight rendered destitute by the cruel hand of tyranny.
Such then is our Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama who takes pride in calling himself and fellow monks of his Order as belonging strictly to the Nalanda lineage and himself a 'chela' (disciple) of the Indian spiritual masters and Indian spiritual thought. My prostrations at his holy feet and my heart-felt love for all my Tibetan sisters and brothers who have made their home at McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh a world centre of culture and pilgrimage by their industry, attitude and exemplary living.
An aside about His Holiness. He is extremely witty and spares no means to send his audience the world over into fits of laughter by his incessant jokes but such is his profound spirituality that he can instantly regain his composure and turn the train of thought of his listeners in a trice with the profundity of his expositions. And what a sweet personality overall His Holiness has, child-like, mischievous, and what compassion, love that knows no bounds! Truly, he is no more a Tibetan than a citizen of the world, no more a spiritual saint than a secular one, no more a monk than a human in all his essential glory. My prostrations yet again to His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, the last of a vanishing tribe.
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