He has worked to overcome sectarian and other divisions in the exiled community and has become a symbol of Tibetan nationhood for Tibetans both in Tibet and in exile. The traditional function of the Dalai Lama as an ecumenical figure, holding together disparate religious and regional groups, has been taken up by the fourteenth Dalai Lama.

While he had no formal or institutional role in any of the religious traditions, which were headed by their own high lamas, he was a unifying symbol of the Tibetan state, representing Buddhist values and traditions above any specific school. The Dalai Lama was an important figure of the Geluk tradition, which was politically and numerically dominant in Central Tibet, but his religious authority went beyond sectarian boundaries. Since the time of the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th century, his personage has always been a symbol of unification of the state of Tibet, where he has represented Buddhist values and traditions.

The Dalai Lama is also considered to be the successor in a line of tulkus who are believed to be incarnations of Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. The 14th and incumbent Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso, who lives in exile as a refugee in India. Gendün Drubpa, 1st Dalai Lama, posthumously awarded after 1578.ĭalai Lama ( UK: / ˈ d æ l aɪ ˈ l ɑː m ə/, US: / ˈ d ɑː l aɪ/ Tibetan: ཏཱ་ལའི་བླ་མ་, Wylie: Tā la'i bla ma ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or 'Yellow Hat' school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

Dalai lama religion philosophy