Brendan Wang

Bauer
History of Asia-A1
14 February 2022
Word Count: 1787
The Dalai Lama: An Icon of Courage

Courage. The: mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear,

or difficulty. That is the Merriam-Webster’s definition of courage. Everyone will exhibit

moments of courage throughout their life, some more than others, and some less. One of the

most courageous man to walk the earth is the 14th Dalai Lama or Tenzin Gyatso. Tenzin is a

perfect example of someone who showed mental and moral strength during situations of danger,

fear, and difficulty. With hundreds of years of history, The Dalai Lama is the title that the

supposed reincarnation of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara gets. The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara is

an important Buddhist deity and is the embodiment of the virtue of compassion.1 The Dalai

Lama was the highest spiritual and political leader of Tibet from the 16th century all the way up

to the 21st century.2 The Dalai Lama has exhibited the TAS value courage to an extreme breadth

throughout his life. He has shown this powerful trait by fighting Chinese hegemony during his

time in Tibet, continuing to fight Chinese hegemony in exile and setting up the future of his

country despite how little strength they have against a superpower like China. Lastly, despite the

contrary belief that the Dalai Lama is a coward for fleeing his country this is far from the truth.

1
“Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in the Water-Moon Manifestation (Shuiyue Guanyin) | Yale University
Art Gallery.” 2013. Yale.edu. 2013. https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/8135#:~:text=The
%20Bodhisattva%20Avalokiteshvara%2C%20known%20in,a%20small%20seated%20Buddha%20depicted.

2
Jiu-Hwa Lo Upshur, "Dalai Lama XIV, Tenzin Gyatso." Encyclopedia of the Contemporary World (1950 to
Present). Facts On File, 2016. online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=12093&itemid=WE53&articleId=243932.
 First, an important example of when Tenzin Gyatso showed his mental strength through

dangerous and difficult times was during his fight against Chinese hegemony while he was in

Tibet. The Dalai Lama has been fighting against bullies since he was a child, China being one of

them. China would send generals and officers to Tibet along with military groups. The Tibetan

leaders and the Chinese officers and generals would often have disputes. One day Lobshang

Tashi, a Tibetan Prime minister, said something that infuriated Chiang, a Chinese General, and

Chiang moved as if he was about to hit the prime minister. Tenzin Gyatso, The 14th Dalai Lama,

moved in between the two men to stop the collision. He could only think “I was terrified.”3

Undoubtedly, this is a perfect demonstration of the Dalai Lama standing up against people with

more power than him even despite the difficulties prevalent in the moment.

Furthermore, The Chinese would continue to oppress the Dalai Lama’s power and

oppress the power of Tibet as a whole. The Chinese forced Tenzin to resign both his Prime

Ministers who assisted him in all his political duties.4 As a young teenager taking on the role of

the leader of a country would be hard. Taking on this amount of political power alone is an act of

true courage, especially when a world superpower like China is influencing and oppressing the

country. Tenzin was just a young boy, but he still persevered through China influencing their

hegemony onto Tibet, showing a true large amount of courage. Tenzin even stated, “For the first

time, I understood the true meaning of the word bully.”5 China would continue to ‘bully’ Tibet

all throughout Tenzin’s years there.

3
Tenzin Gyatso, Freedom In Exile the Autobiography Of The Dalai Lama, First Edition, 1990, Reprint, Great
Britain: Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1991, 74.
4
Gyatso, Freedom in Exile, 77.
5
Gyatso, Freedom in Exile, 77.
 In addition, China had performed an aerial bombing on a monastery in Lithang Kham. 6

He stated “When I heard of it, I cried. I could not believe that human beings were capable of

such cruelty to each other.” 7 This not only shows Tenzin’s absurd amount of courage, but it

shows his compassion and kindness which is a major reason why he is so courageous in the first

place. Courage, love and kindness are all intertwined, this is why Tenzin’s most courageous

moments are when he is protecting his country and people which he loves dearly.

Moreover, China continued to torture and kill monks throughout the time of the aerial

bombing and Tenzin had enough. He "did not know what to do, but do something I must." 8 He

had stood up to China the ‘bully’ yet another time, this time writing a letter to Chairman Mao,

and demanding a meeting with general Chiang.9 Tenzin had shown amounts of courage during a

short part of his life that most people don’t show throughout the duration of their whole lives.

Notably, Dalai Lama or Tenzin was truly an icon of courage, standing up to what he deemed

morally unjust and standing up to the biggest bully of his life, and country.

Second, Tenzin demonstrated his large amounts of courage was while he was in exile,

continuing to fight Chinese hegemony even in a worsening situation, taking his previous fight

against Chinese hegemony to another level. Tenzin was in exile for a large part of his life and

even though China had put him in exile this did not stop Tenzin from using his power for good

and fighting the ‘bully’ that China was. After exile, in 1959, the Tibetan government

reestablished at Lhuntse Dong.10 The same year at an international press conference he formally

rejected the 17-point agreement he had previously agreed to.11 This shows how he is willing to
6
Gyatso, Freedom in Exile, 110.
7
Gyatso, Freedom in Exile, 110.
8
Gyatso, Freedom in Exile, 110.
9
Gyatso, Freedom in Exile, 110.
10
Lama, Dalai, “Chronology of Events,” Text/html, The 14th Dalai Lama, January 11, 2022,
https://www.dalailama.com/the-dalai-lama/events-and-awards/chronology-of-events.
11
Lama, “Chronology of Events”.
fight against Chinese hegemony even with a worsening situation, and even though his situation

isn’t improving. It takes a certain amount of courage and strength to act courageous even when

hope is lost, and Tenzin stays courageous through a time of his life where hope is nowhere to be

found.

Moreover, in 1963, Tenzin drafted a democratic constitution for Tibet.12 This shows how

Tenzin is willing to fight the Chinese power and rule over Tibet in many ways. China disagrees

with democracy and is a communist country which shows how courageous Tenzin is by pushing

towards democracy in Tibet. Tenzin continues to push for Tibetan reform and democracy in

1992, when he started direct election of ministers.13 This is a huge step against Chinese

hegemony because it makes it harder for China to regulate who has power in Tibet. This shows

how even though Tenzin was in exile he was still able to fight Chinese hegemony courageously

and even improve Tibet’s situation against Chinese power. In 2011, Tenzin sent a letter to

Tibet’s parliament asking them to remove him from his political power. 14 It takes a huge amount

of courage to give up power and Tenzin did this. He did this because he knows that he can

continue to fight Chinese power no matter what, nor is he scared to fight Chinese hegemony

even without his political power. This shows how courageous Tenzin was, because anyone can

act courageously but it is so hard to act courageously against a superpower like China. Not only

that but Tenzin was also fighting in exile, which simply shows his next level amounts of courage.

Third, Tenzin set up the future of his country despite how little strength they had against

a superpower like China. China had a motive to make Tibet theirs, even threatening to choose

12
Lama, “Chronology of Events”.
13
Lama, The 14th Dalai Lama, “Chronology of Events”.
14
Lama, The 14th Dalai Lama, “Chronology of Events”.
their own Dalai Lama when the current one (Tenzin) would die.15 This is very important because

the Dalai Lama holds a vast amount of influence and power to the Tibetan people. This would be

an important and impactful way for China to impose control on Tibet. However, Tenzin would

not allow China to take control of Tibet that easily. He has made numerous statements that

would make it impossible for China to validate a Dalai Lama that they chose. He has stated that

there is no need for a institution for the Dalai Lama anymore,16 showing that he is willfully

giving up his power in order to fight against a major superpower who corruptly uses the

institution. This shows his courage because it takes much courage to lose power and continue to

fight, all while the enemy being a superpower like China. He has also stated he would select the

15th Dalai Lama before he dies,17 which is another courageous way he is fighting against China’s

dominance and rule for Tibet. Tenzin also stated that his next reincarnation and successor would

be a woman.18 This is a bold and courageous statement because China, a massive superpower,

would absolutely despise a female with that much power and influence in Tibet. China is a very

patriarchal and male dominated state, never having a female president or a single female in the

standing committee, where all decisions on ruling and controlling the country were made. This

shows how Tenzin’s statement obviously trumped and enraged China which takes such a great

amount of courage and mental strength to do.

Nevertheless, many would still call the Dalai Lama a coward, because of how many times

he fled his country. For example, in 1950 the PRC announced their intentions of taking over

Tibet and The Dalai Lama and his court fled to India when China was making an advance into

15
Brooke Schedneck, “How the Dalai Lama Is Chosen and Why China Wants to Appoint Its Own.” The
Conversation. http://theconversation.com/how-the-dalai-lama-is-chosen-and-why-china-wants-to-appoint-its-own-
114351.
16
Schedneck “How the Dalai Lama Is Chosen”
17
Schedneck. “How the Dalai Lama Is Chosen”
18
Schedneck. “How the Dalai Lama Is Chosen”
Tibet.19 Later he had returned to Tibet but would only leave when another threat would arrive.

Tenzin did this until he went into exile, where he set up a government in exile on the

Indian/Chinese border.20 Many would say that this shows how he is a coward and only left his

country and people, but that statement is shallow and doesn’t take the full picture into

understanding. By leaving his country the Dalai Lama could stay safe and continue to give the

Tibetan people hope. With hope there is courage and because of this the Dalai Lama gave his

people courage as well as giving himself courage. People could say he failed his people by

leaving them and Tibet while seeking safety for himself, but he didn’t fail his people since he

fought for them even while in exile which was written in the previous body paragraphs. He

fought for his people in exile and even drafted and started a democratic constitution and

government in Tibet. Therefore, while some people say he was a coward for leaving and failing

his country and people, that is wrong because he fought hard for them even in a worsened

situation.

Thus, the Dalai Lama or Tenzin Gyatso, a political and influential figure who lived most

of his life in exile, truly embodied the TAS value of courage to a very great extent. He proved

this through three major events of his life. He led a country at a young age and fought against a

superpower from that young age, he also fought against that same superpower while he was in

exile, and even when things did not look good, he persevered and kept fighting against Chinese

hegemony. Thirdly, he set up the future of his country and people even with the government of

China trying to take his power and worsen the rights and future of his country. Thus, the Dalai

Lama or Tenzin Gyatso embodied the TAS value of courage to an extremely large extent, which

truly makes him an icon of courage.

19
Upshur, "Dalai Lama XIV, Tenzin Gyatso."
20
Upshur, "Dalai Lama XIV, Tenzin Gyatso."
 Annotated Bibliography
“Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in the Water-Moon Manifestation (Shuiyue Guanyin) | Yale
University Art Gallery.” 2013. Yale.edu. 2013.
https://artgallery.yale.edu/collections/objects/8135#:~:text=The%20Bodhisattva
%20Avalokiteshvara%2C%20known%20in,a%20small%20seated%20Buddha
%20depicted.
This is an art gallery from Yale University. It is accurate information because a prestigious
school such as Yale would fact check the articles, they put on their art gallery site. It has
some background information on the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara that is helpful towards
the introduction of the research paper.

Lama, The 14th Dalai. “Chronology of Events.” Text/html. The 14th Dalai Lama, January 11,
2022.
https://www.dalailama.com/the-dalai-lama/events-and-awards/chronology-of-events.
This is the Dalai Lama's own website with links to his social media, teachings in videos,
webcasts, news, and much more information. This is credible since the information was
taken directly out of historical events from the Dalai Lama's Life. This specific page is a
chronological timeline of the Dalai Lama's life. It covers all major points during his life.
This helps me understand some major things he did that may contribute to the topic on
whether he is courageous or not. It can help me identify some courageous moments
throughout his life.

Schedneck, Brooke. “How the Dalai Lama Is Chosen and Why China Wants to Appoint Its
Own.” The Conversation. http://theconversation.com/how-the-dalai-lama-is-chosen-and-why-
china-wants-to-appoint-its-own-114351.
This is an online article from a journal called The Conversation. The journalist who wrote
this article has gotten many degrees related to the topic. Brooke Schedneck, the author, has
received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Boston University in religious studies, a Master of
Theological Studies on World Religions, from Harvard Divinity School, and a PHD from
Arizona State University on Asian Religions. She is well versed on the research topic of the
Dalai Lama. Her article explains the importance the Dalai Lama holds and why he is so
important to Tibetan people and religion. Schedneck continues about how the Dalai Lama
is found and how China plans to choose the next Dalai Lama in order to manipulate the
Tibetan people. Schedneck also explains how the Dalai Lama has tried to fight China's
corrupted plan. This article is quite relevant to the topic on whether or not the Dalai Lama
 displays courage or not because it shows us the direct action he has taken against the
government of such a powerful country.

Tenzin, Gyatso. Freedom In Exile The Autobiography Of The Dalai Lama. First Edition. 1990.
Reprint, Great Britain: Hodder and Stoughton Ltd., 1991.
The author of this book is the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, himself, which means this
is a primary source. This book is an autobiography about the Dalai Lama’s life. The Dalai
Lama lived a large portion of his life in exile which is why this book is called ‘Freedom
In Exile’. This is helpful for many reasons. First of all, this allows us to understand the
Dalai Lama's perspective of the events that occurred in the book. The content in this book
is relevant to my research project since by understand his perspective I can get a better
understanding of his character, and by understanding his character I can comprehend
whether or not he is a courageous person.

Upshur, Jiu-Hwa Lo. "Dalai Lama XIV, Tenzin Gyatso." Encyclopedia of the Contemporary
World (1950 to Present). Facts On File, 2016. online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?
aid=12093&itemid=WE53&articleId=243932.
This is an article from the encyclopedia of Modern World History. It is written by an author
called Jiu-Hwa Lo Upshur. She went to the University of Sydney for her bachelor's degree
then went to the University of Michigan for her graduates degree. She studied history and
anthropology and got a PHD in 1972. This is a good article because it helps me understand
the basic background information of the Dalai Lama. It will help me get an understanding
of the overall duty of the Dalai Lama and what type of power he has.