Words of the Week 15/2015

Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama is a lama of the Gelug or “Yellow Hat” school of Tibetan Buddhism, founded by Tsongkhapa (1357–1419). The 14th and current Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso, recognized since 1950.

The name is a combination of the Mongolic word dalai meaning “ocean” and the Tibetan word བླ་མ་ (bla-ma) meaning “guru, teacher, mentor”. The Tibetan word “lama” corresponds to the better known Sanskrit word “guru”.

For certain periods between the 17th century and 1962, the Gelug school managed the Tibetan government, which administered portions of Tibet from Lhasa.