How the Dalai Lama is Found Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

How the Dalai Lama is Found - Essay Example He says that only Dalai Lama himself can tell about his future reincarnation and that no one else should try to manipulate people or abuse the system (Lama, 2010). All these events raise people’s curiosity about the way in which a Dalai Lama is ‘found’ and enthroned. The curiosity is also flamed by movies such as Little Buddha starring Keanu Reeves. The film revolves around the same concept and shows the spiritual master reincarnating as one soul in three different bodies (Smith, 100). Many critics who question the very concept of reincarnation question the validity of such traditions. But this concept has mass acceptance in the Indian sub-continent and Tibet. Tibetans believe that their Dalai Lamas are reincarnations of Avalokiteshvara, the personification of Compassion, who is also the patron saint of Tibet. According to the traditional Tibetan beliefs, Avalokiteshvara reincarnates repeatedly on this earth to serve humanity and hence for this mission he postpones his own nirvana. Dalai Lama, literally meaning ‘The Ocean of Wisdom’, was a title that was given by Mongolian king Altan Khan to the third head of Tibetan Buddhism. Since then it became a tradition to address the head of Tibet as Dalai Lama (Byrant, 94). There are many other traditions and the most important one is that of finding the reincarnated Dalai Lama. There is no one fixed method of finding Dalai Lama. Various methods have come into existence with the passing time. There have been many Dalai Lamas who have successfully predicted the place and time of their birth. On the other occasions prospective reincarnation’s identification of the belonging of his past life is a major signal of him being a Dalai Lama. This method was also used in finding the current Dalai Lama. The process of identification is not limited to the dead Dalai Lama and the prospective reincarnation. There is other