While most of the world is familiar with the Dalai Lama in regards to his position within Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama and China are also issues that make this man famous.

The current Dalai Lama, who is the 14th in succession to hold this position, has been in exile from his home country of Tibet for many years. In 1949, the People’s Republic of China invaded the nearby small country of Tibet, and claimed the country for their own. Tibet fought back, and unfortunately, was not able to get rid of the invading Chinese. In 1959, the Dalai Lama, along with 100,000 other Buddhist Tibetans, were forced into exile after a failed attempt to remove Communist power. This community now lives in Dharamsala, India.

Buddhism

Relations between the Dalai Lama and China have always been tense – with the Communist power of China being against Buddhism as well as religion in general. Dating back to 1979, Chinese leaders have invited the Dalai Lama to speak with them in closed-door talks – but only about “anything but independence” for Tibet. As independence is what most Tibetans hope for, this left little to be said between the Dalai Lama and China. Even so, the Dalai Lama’s envoys made 15 separate trips to China up until the year 1994, when talks were suspended due to lack of progress.

In June 2007, envoys from the Dalai Lama once again entered China with hopes to settle some of the issues between the country and the Dalai Lama – who insists that he does not want independence for Tibet, rather he just wants more autonomy and power over the region’s own decisions. China still views the Dalai Lama as a separatist even with his protests of not wanting independence. China also states that they have greatly improved the quality of life in the Tibetan region since the exile of the Dalai Lama.

Spiritual leaders have warned China that if the issue of Tibet’s independence, or at least a lessening of the strict rules on the region, is not resolved during this Dalai Lama’s lifetime, there will be dire consequences. The idea of the Dalai Lama dying while in exile and not within his homeland of Tibet would mean a radicalization of exiled Tibetan youth who are already searching for a way to make an impact.

While the Dalai Lama is known for compassion, as is the religion of Buddhism, it is hard to believe that compassion will change the relationship between the Dalai Lama and China. More political talks will need to take place in order to come to an agreement.

The Dalai Lama and China