The Kalon Tripa appointed his own cabinet who then had to be approved by the Tibetan Assembly. In September 2001, in a further step towards democratization the Tibetan electorate directly elected the Kalon Tripa, the Chairman of the Cabinet. That Assembly then elected the members of a new cabinet.

In the same year, exiled Tibetans living in India and more than 33 other countries elected 46 members to an expanded Eleventh Tibetan Assembly on a one-person one-vote basis. The Tibetan Cabinet (Kashag), which until then had been appointed by His Holiness, was dissolved along with the Tenth Assembly of the Tibetan People's Deputies (the Tibetan parliament in exile). In May 1990, as a result of His Holiness’s reforms the Tibetan administration in exile was fully democratized. His Holiness has made clear his hopes that a future Tibet, comprising the three traditional provinces of U-Tsang, Amdo and Kham, will be federal and democratic. It proposed that when Tibet becomes free the first task will be to set up an interim government whose immediate responsibility will be to elect a constitutional assembly to frame and adopt a democratic constitution for Tibet. In 1992, the Central Tibetan Administration published guidelines for the constitution of a future, free Tibet. It also provides detailed guidelines on the functioning of the Tibetan Administration with respect to Tibetans living in exile. The charter enshrines freedom of speech, belief, assembly and movement. The new democratic constitution was named 'The Charter of Tibetans in Exile'. In 1963, His Holiness presented a draft democratic constitution for Tibet, followed by a number of reforms to democratize the Tibetan administration. The General Assembly adopted three resolutions on Tibet in 1959, 19.

In exile, the Central Tibetan Administration led by His Holiness appealed to the United Nations to consider the question of Tibet. Since then he has been living in Dharamsala, northern India. Finally, in 1959, following the brutal suppression of the Tibetan national uprising in Lhasa by Chinese troops, His Holiness was forced to escape into exile. In 1954, he went to Beijing and met with Mao Zedong and other Chinese leaders, including Deng Xiaoping and Chou Enlai. In 1950, after China's invasion of Tibet, His Holiness was called upon to assume full political power. He passed with honors and was awarded the Geshe Lharampa degree, equivalent to the highest doctorate in Buddhist philosophy. The five minor subjects included poetry, drama, astrology, composition and synonyms.Īt 23, His Holiness sat for his final examination in Lhasa’s Jokhang Temple, during the annual Great Prayer Festival (Monlam Chenmo) in 1959. The major subjects included logic, fine arts, Sanskrit grammar, and medicine, but the greatest emphasis was given to Buddhist philosophy which was further divided into a further five categories: Prajnaparamita, the perfection of wisdom Madhyamika, the philosophy of the middle Way Vinaya, the canon of monastic discipline Abidharma, metaphysics and Pramana, logic and epistemology. The curriculum, derived from the Nalanda tradition, consisted of five major and five minor subjects. His Holiness began his monastic education at the age of six. Bodhisattvas are realized beings inspired by a wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings, who have vowed to be reborn in the world to help humanity. The Dalai Lamas are believed to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and the patron saint of Tibet. At the age of two, the child, then named Lhamo Dhondup, was recognized as the reincarnation of the previous 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso. He was born on 6 July 1935, to a farming family, in a small hamlet located in Taktser, Amdo, northeastern Tibet. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, describes himself as a simple Buddhist monk.

12th dalai lama