Word: lamas
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Although pre-communist Tibet closely approximated a feudal society, with the majority of the population serving as herders or farmers while the lamas, or monks, reigned as the nobility, anyone was free at any time to become a lama. The monasteries provided spirtual education and organized the administrative aspects of government, while the rest of the Tibetans lived mostly in villages, owned their own means of lievelihood, and above all, practiced Tibetan Buddhism...
...Selflessness, switching self and others," is the goal of Tibetan monks in the world, the Dalai Lama said at the Divinity school last Thursday. The emphasis is on helping others find their own way, he added...
...true Tibetan Buddhist monk need not wear maroon robes nor even be Tibetan, the Dalai Lama stressed. The external aspects of religion--the rituals and customs, the surface manifestations-- are peripheral from the true religious standpoint. "The emphasis is on essence," he said repeatedly during his visit. "All religions are basically the same," he added, "we are all seeking to grow spiritually...
Tibetan Buddhists feel that throughout history many souls who approach Nirvana decide to return to earth to help others in times of need. A person who turns down Nirvana to help others is called a Bodhisattva. To Tibetans. His Holiness the Dalai Lama is just such a Bodhisattva. Tibetans consider him a "living Buddha," the fourteenth consecutive incarnation of Avalokita, "spirit of infinite compassion...
Sometime during his first incarnation as leader of Tibet in the late 1500s, the Dalai Lama came to a momentous decision. For the sake of Tibet, he decided to reincarnate life after life in the same human niche, as leader of his country, to preserve its spiritual welfare. Each lifetime, before he dies, the Dalai Lama gives several clues as to where his soul will next be born...