The 14th Dalai Lama was born Lhamo Döndrub, the 5th child of a large family in the farming village of Qinghai, China. At the age of 2, he was picked out as the rebirth of the thirteenth Dalai Lama and sent for formal monastic training to become a Buddist monk and eventually become the spiritual head of the Tibetan people.

A young man in search of enlightenment had traveled to Tibet at great expense and more than a little consternation amongst his family and friends. It was a week before he was allowed to speak with a red-capped administrator of the Dalai Lama’s personal staff; in the meantime he enjoyed the wondrous sights of the Himalayas. The people of the countryside had welcomed him and he was learning their language slowly. They had made it clear no one got to talk to the Dalai Lama and ask a personal question unless they had waited a long time and shown proper respect and intent.

His feeling was that a university graduate of philosophy with his Master’s and a teaching certificate should be allowed some consideration. As he discussed the matter with the administrator he saw it didn’t seem to be a positive factor that he had studied Kant and Nietzsche or the convoluted Hegelian politics of Fukayama. The administrator went on about clarity of purpose and concentration or convergence with the harmonizing forces. It was made abundantly clear that the great man was kind and generous with his love and time; but that he was a man with many people to care for and guide towards their spiritual purpose. He told the red-capped Lama