History Fact Finder | Religion - Who Is The Dalai Lama?

Who is the Dalai Lama?

The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of Lamaism, a part of the Myahayana school of the Buddhist religion whose followers live in Tibet (a region located in China). Buddhism is a religion based on the pursuit of nirvana, or complete enlightenment, through a series of steps that involve strict moral discipline. Unlike the other traditional Buddhist school, Hinayana, which adheres to extremely strict rules of conduct, Lamaism is more lenient when interpreting the rules of Buddhism. Lamaists believe that the Dalai Lama is continually reborn through the process of reincarnation by which the soul of a dead person moves into the body of another person and is born again. When the Dalai Lama dies, Buddhist monks (men who live in a religious community) go in search of a young boy who was born at about the time of the Dalai Lama's death. After finding this boy, they train him to become the next Dalai Lama. Meaning...

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