July 2017

Dalai Lamas

Everyone is aware that Dalai Lama is the political and spiritual leader of Buddhism. But what exactly does Dalai Lama mean?

The Dalai Lamas are believed to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and the patron saint of Tibet. In Tibetan, Avalokitesvara is known as Chenrezig.

He is responsible for all religious and cultural matters in Tibet. The First Dalai Lama was Gendun Drup, he was born in 1311. There have been 14 Dalai Lamas until now.

When the Dalai Lama dies the Buddhist Council of Tibet searchs for the reincarnation of him. He is then trained and assumes position of Dalai Lama at the age of 18. “Dalai” means “ocean” in Mongolian (the name “Gyatso” comes from the Tibetan word for ocean). “Lama” is the equivalent of the Sanskrit word “guru,” or spiritual teacher. Put together, the title of Dalai Lama is literally “Ocean Teacher,” meaning a “teacher spiritually as deep as the ocean” or “ocean of wisdom”.

In 1578 the Mongol ruler Altan Khan gave the title Dalai Lama to Sonyam Gyatso, third in a line of reborn lamas of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The title means “ocean of wisdom” and was given posthumously to Sonyam Gyatso’s two predecessors.

In 1642, the 5th Dalai Lama, Lobsang Gyatso, became the spiritual and political leader of all of Tibet, an authority passed on to his successors. Since that time the succession of Dalai Lamas has been at the center of both Tibetan Buddhism and the history of the Tibetan people.

All 15 Dalai Lama’s:

GEDUN DRUPA, THE 1ST DALAI LAMA

 

Gendun Drupa was born to a nomadic family in 1391 and died in 1474. His original name was Pema Dorjee.

He took novice monk’s vows in 1405 at Narthang monastery and received full monk’s ordination in 1411. In 1416, he became a disciple of Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelugpa School, and eventually became Tsongkhapa’s principle disciple. Gendun Drupa is remembered as a great scholar who wrote a number of books and who founded a major monastic university, Tashi Lhunpo.

Gendun Drupa was not called “Dalai Lama” during his lifetime, because the title did not yet exist. He was identified as the first Dalai Lama several years after his death.

GENDUN GYATSO, THE 2ND DALAI LAMA

Gendun Gyatso was born in 1475 and died in 1542. His father, a well-known tantric practitioner of the Nyingma school, named him Sangye Phel and gave the boy a Buddhist education.

When he was 11 years old, he was recognized as an incarnation of Gedun Drupa and enthroned at Tashi Lhunpo monastery. He received the name Gendun Gyatso at his monk’s ordination. Like Gedun Drupa, Gendun Gyatso would not receive the title Dalai Lama until after his death.

Gedun Gyatso served as abbot of Drepung and Sera monasteries. He is also remembered for reviving the great prayer festival, the Monlam Chenmo.

SENGDROMA GYATSO, THE 3RD DALAI LAMA

Sengdroma Gyatso was the only female Dalai Lama so far. Actually there are have been 15 Dalai Lamas so far. The current one is 15th one and not 14th one. Sengdroma Gyatso is not listed as Dalai Lama by many. Hence with her the count is 15 and without her the count is 14.

SONAM GYATSO, THE 3RD DALAI LAMA

(4th for if we do not consider Sengdroma as Dalai Lama)

Sonam Gyatso was born in 1543 to a wealthy family living near Lhasa. He died in 1588. His given name was Ranu Sicho. At the age of 3 he was recognized to be the reincarnation of Gendun Gyatso and was then taken to Drepung Monastery for training. He received novice ordination at the age of 7 and full ordination at 22.

Sonam Gyatso received the title Dalai Lama, meaning “ocean of wisdom,” from the Mongolian king Altan Khan. He was the first Dalai Lama to be called by that title in his lifetime.

Sonam Gyatso served as abbot of Drepung and Sera monsteries, and he founded Namgyal and Kumbum monasteries. He died while teaching in Mongolia.

YONTEN GYATSO, THE 4TH DALAI LAMA

(5th for if we do not consider Sengdroma as Dalai Lama)

Yonten Gyatso was born in 1589 in Mongolia. His father was a Mongol tribal chief and a grandson of Altan Khan. He died in 1617.

Although Yonten Gyatso was recognized to be the reborn Dalai Lama as a small child, his parents did not allow him to leave Mongolia until he was 12. He received his early Buddhist education from lamas visiting from Tibet.

Yonten Gyatso finally came to Tibet in 1601 and soon after took novice monk’s ordination. He received full ordination at the age of 26 and was abbot of Drepung and Sera monasteries. He died at Drepung monastery only a year later.

LOBSANG GYATSO, THE 5TH DALAI LAMA

(6th for if we do not consider Sengdroma as Dalai Lama)

Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso was born in 1617 to a noble family. His given name was Künga Nyingpo. He died in 1682.

Military victories by the Mongol Prince Gushi Kahn gave control of Tibet to the Dalai Lama. When Lobsang Gyatso was enthroned in 1642, he became the spiritual and political leader of Tibet. He is remembered in Tibetan history as the Great Fifth.

The Great Fifth established Lhasa as the capital of Tibet and began construction of Potala Palace. He appointed a regent, or desi, to handle the administrative duties of governing. Before his death, he advised the Desi Sangya Gyatso to keep his death a secret, possibly to prevent a power struggle before a new Dalai Lama was prepared to assume authority.

TSANGYANG GYATSO, THE 6TH DALAI LAMA

(7th for if we do not consider Sengdroma as Dalai Lama)

Tsangyang Gyatso was born in 1683 and died in 1706. His given name was Sanje Tenzin.

In 1688, the boy was brought to Nankartse, near Lhasa, and educated by teachers appointed by the Desi Sangya Gyatso. His identity as the Dalai Lama was kept secret until 1697 ​when the death of the 5th Dalai Lama finally was announced and Tsangyang Gyatso was enthroned.

The 6th Dalai Lama is most remembered for renouncing monastic life and spending time in taverns and with women. He also composed songs and poems.

In 1701, a descendant of Gushi Khan named Lhasang Khan killed Sangya Gyatso. Then, in 1706 Lhasang Khan abducted Tsangyang Gyatso and declared that another lama was the real 6th Dalai Lama. Tsangyang Gyatso died in Lhasang Khan’s custody.

KELZANG GYATSO, THE 7TH DALAI LAMA

(8th for if we do not consider Sengdroma as Dalai Lama)

Kelzang Gyatso was born in 1708. He died in 1757.

The lama who had replaced Tsangyang Gyatso as Sixth Dalai Lama was still enthroned in Lhasa, so Kelzang Gyatso’s identification as 7th Dalai Lama was kept secret for a time.

A tribe of Mongol warriors called the Dzungars invaded Lhasa in 1717. The Dzungars killed Lhasang Kahn and deposed the pretender 6th Dalai Lama. However, the Dzungars were lawless and destructive, and the Tibetans appealed to the Emperor Kangxi of China to help rid Tibet of the Dzungars. Chinese and Tibetan forces together expelled the Dzungars in 1720. Then they brought Kelzang Gyatso to Lhasa to be enthroned.

Kelzang Gyatso abolished the position of desi (regent) and replaced it with a council of ministers.

JAMPHEL GYATSO, THE 8TH DALAI LAMA

(9th for if we do not consider Sengdroma as Dalai Lama)

Jamphel Gyatso was born in 1758, enthroned at Potala Palace in 1762 and died in 1804 at the age of 47.

During his reign, a war broke out between Tibet and the Gurkhas occupying Nepal. The war was joined by China, which blamed the war on a feud among lamas. China then attempted to change the process for choosing the rebirths of lamas by imposing the “golden urn” ceremony on Tibet. More than two centuries later, the current government of China has re-introduced the golden urn ceremony as a means of controlling the leadership of Tibetan Buddhism.

Jamphel Gyatso was the first Dalai Lama to be represented by a regent while he was a minor. He completed the building of Norbulingka Park and Summer Palace. By all accounts a quiet man devoted to meditation and study, as an adult he preferred to let others run the government of Tibet.

LUNGTOK GYATSO, THE 9TH DALAI LAMA

(10th for if we do not consider Sengdroma as Dalai Lama)


Lungtok Gyatso was born in 1805 and died in 1815 before his tenth birthday from complications from a common cold. He was the only Dalai Lama to die in childhood ​and the first of four that would die before the age of 22. His reincarnated successor would not be recognized for eight years.

TSULTRIM GYATSO, THE 10TH DALAI LAMA

(11th for if we do not consider Sengdroma as Dalai Lama)


Tsultrim Gyatso was born in 1816 and died in 1837 at the age of 21. Though he sought to change the economic system of Tibet, he died before being able to enact any of his reforms.

KHENDRUP GYATSO, THE 11TH DALAI LAMA

(12th for if we do not consider Sengdroma as Dalai Lama)


Khendrup Gyatso was born in 1838 and died in 1856 at the age of 18. Born in the same village as the 7th Dalai Lama, he was recognized as the reincarnation in 1840 and assumed full power over the government in 1855–only a year before his death.

TRINLEY GYATSO, THE 12TH DALAI LAMA

(13th for if we do not consider Sengdroma as Dalai Lama)


Trinley Gyatso was born in 1857 and died in 1875. He assumed full authority over the Tibetan government at the age of 18 but died before his 20th birthday.

THUBTEN GYATSO, THE 13TH DALAI LAMA

(14th for if we do not consider Sengdroma as Dalai Lama)

Thubten Gyatso was born in 1876 and died in 1933. He is remembered as the Great Thirteenth.

Thubten Gyatso assumed leadership in Tibet in 1895. At that time Czarist Russia and the British Empire had been sparring for decades over control of Asia. In the 1890s the two empires turned their attention eastward, to Tibet. A British force invaded in 1903, leaving after extracting a short-lived treaty from the Tibetans.

China invaded Tibet in 1910, and the Greath Thirteenth fled to India. When the Qing Dynasty collapsed in 1912, the Chinese were expelled. In 1913, the 13th Dalai Lama declared Tibet’s independence from China.

The Great Thirteenth worked to modernize Tibet, although he didn’t accomplish as much as he hoped.

TENZIN GYATSO, THE 14TH DALAI LAMA

(15th for if we do not consider Sengdroma as Dalai Lama)

Tenzin Gyatso was born in 1935 and recognized as the Dalai Lama at the age of three.

China invaded Tibet in 1950 when Tenzin Gyatso was only 15. For nine years he attempted to negotiate with the Chinese to save the Tibetan people from the dictatorship of Mao Zedong. However, the Tibetan Uprising of 1959 forced the Dalai Lama into exile, and he has never been allowed to return to Tibet.

The 14th Dalai Lama established a Tibetan government in exile in Dharamsala, India. In some ways, his exile has been to the world’s benefit, since he has spent his life bringing a message of peace and compassion to the world.

The 14th Dalai Lama was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. In 2011 he absolved himself of political power, although he is still the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. Future generations are likely to regard him in the same light as the Great Fifth and the Great Thirteenth for his contributions to spreading the message of Tibetan Buddhism to the world, thereby saving the tradition.

 

 

Mikhail Gorbachev

Nationality – Russian

Most important point to note about him:

  1. He was the one who brought new reforms in USSR and end communism.
  2. His reforms brought an end to the cold war.

That is why he is one of the important personality in world history. Know more about Mikhail Gorbachev in this post.

Mikhail Gorbachev was general secretary of the Soviet Union Communist Party from 1985-1991. He was also the first democratically elected President in 1990.
Mikhail Gorbachev played a key role in dismantling the Communist grip on power in both the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. His aspirations for democracy and reform opened up the way for the end of the Cold War and the bringing down of the Berlin Wall. He was removed from Presidential office in 1991, during a failed coup attempt. Since leaving office, Gorbachev has worked tirelessly promoting new efforts at social justice and concern for the environment through his own organisation the Green Cross.

Mikhail Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 1990

Gorbachev was born in March 1931 in Stavropol, the North Caucuses to a poor peasant family. At the age of 11, the district was occupied by the Germans for three years, a torrid time for all in the village. In 1950 he enrolled at Moscow university where he became a member of the Soviet Union Communist party. It was here that Gorbachev met his future wife, Raisa Maximova, they married soon after meeting.After gaining a degree in law, Gorbachev made much progress within the Communist party.

In 1980 he was the youngest politburo member and in 1985 he was elected General Secretary of the Communist Party.At first Gorbachev was relatively unknown but he soon gave an indication that he wished to reform society. In particular he announced two key policies, Perestroika and Glasnost.

Perestroika involved reforming the economy and opening it up to market forces.Glasnost involved political reform. This involved freedom of religious expression and individual liberties; it paved the way for democracy and for many political prisoners to be released. It was particularly significant for the Eastern Block. When eastern European economies made calls for democracy, the Soviet Union no longer stood in their way (as they had in Hungary and Czechoslovakia)On the international scene Gorbachev aspired to end the arms race as he said:

“We need Star Peace, not Star Wars”

He has been credited with playing a major role in ending the cold war, in both the east and also the West.In 1991 conservative military forces attempted a coup where the life of Gorbachev was in serious jeopardy. The Coup eventually failed but on returning to Moscow political power and shifted from the Politburo to modernisers such as Yeltsin. Gorbachev resigned and never made a successful return to Russian politics.

Raisa Maximova, Gorbachev’s wife died of Leukaemia in 1999. They had one daughter Irina.
Although unpopular in Russia for his perceived role in the breakup of the Soviet Union, he remains an influential voice. In 2011, he criticised Putin (who he previously had supported) for his third term as Russian President. He was also critical of the democratic deficit in the 2011 elections. Gorbachev has also warned against a new ‘cold war’ and argued that America and the West need to be careful in interfering in Russian affairs and Russian spheres of influence.

How did World War I start and end?

British and German troops meeting in No-Man’s Land during the unofficial truce.

 

You may have heard that World War I started when a Serbian terrorist shot an Austro-Hungarian archduke in Sarajevo, Bosnia, in 1914. It’s true but much more complicated than that.

For one thing, the Serbians were angry with the Austro-Hungarian Empire (yes, it was a combination Austria and Hungary) for annexing Bosnia (even though Bosnia still technically belonged to the Ottoman Empire). The Austro-Hungarians worried about the Serbs’ potentially uniting all the Slavs in southeastern Europe, which could threaten the Hungarian part of their empire. Russia was mad at Austro-Hungary, too. The Russians saw that part of Europe, the Balkans, as their sphere of influence.

First World War. Image of a hospital dormitory, with men in beds and nurses standing up

 

Russia mobilized troops, which caused the Germans (allies of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) to declare war on both Russia and its ally France. In 1914, the Germans cut through neutral Belgium on the way to attack France. As relations between Britain and Germany were strained by an undeclared race between them for naval superiority, German troops crossing into Belgium gave the British an excuse to enter the war.

Eventually, Japan, Serbia, Portugal, Romania, Italy, and China joined the Allies (Britain, France, and Russia). The Ottoman Empire cast its lot with the Central Powers (Germany and Austro-Hungary).

In 1915, the British passenger liner Lusitania was sunk by a German submarine. In all, 1,195 passengers, including 128 Americans, lost their lives. Americans were outraged and put pressure on the U.S. government to enter the war. President Woodrow Wilson campaigned for a peaceful end to the war, but in 1917, when the Germans announced that their submarines would sink any ship that approached Britain (even more passenger ships), Wilson declared that America would enter the war and restore peace to Europe.

a captured British tank now bearing the German cross a curious crowd watches as fellow soldiers huddle on top trying to make it run

By 1918, German citizens were striking and demonstrating against the war. The British navy blocked German ports, which meant that thousands of Germans were starving and the economy was collapsing. Then the German navy suffered a major mutiny. After German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated on November 9th, 1918, the leaders of both sides met at Compiegne, France. The peace armistice was signed on November 11th.

By the time it was said and done, four empires — the Russian, the Ottoman, the German, and the Austro-Hungarian had collapsed because of the war.

Algerian cavalry attached to the French Army, escorting a group of German prisoners taken in fighting in the west of Belgium.

In 1919, The Treaty of Versailles officially ended the War. But the Treaty was brutal towards Germany — requiring that Germany accept full responsibility for causing the war; make reparations to some Allied countries; surrender some of its territory to surrounding countries; surrender its African colonies; and limit the size of its military.

The Treaty also established the League of Nations to prevent future wars. The League of Nations helped Europe rebuild and fifty-three nations joined by 1923. But the U.S. Senate refused to let the United States join the League of Nations, and as a result, President Wilson (who had established the League) suffered a nervous collapse and spent the rest of his term as an invalid.

Although Germany joined the League in 1926, continuing resentment because of The Versailles Treaty caused them to withdraw (along with ally Japan) in 1933. Italy withdrew three years later. The organization subsequently proved helpless to stop German, Italian, and Japanese expansionism.

Some might argue that World War I never had an effective ending, but the battles just stopped. World War II never would have happened if not for World War I, because had the Germans not been beaten down so badly by the demands of The Treaty of Versailles, Adolf Hitler may not have risen to power in the 1930s and convinced the Germans to fight regain their dignity and place in the world.

Indira Feroze Khan or Indira Gandhi?

Indira Priyadarshini Nehru married to Feroze Jehangir Gandhi in March 1942 according to Hindu rituals and adopted his surname.

Feroze Gandhi born as Feroze Jehangir Ghandy to a Parsi family at the Tehmulji Nariman Hospital situated in Fort, Bombay, his parents, Faredoon Jehangir Ghandy and Ratimai (formerly Ratimai Commissariat), lived in Nauroji Natakwala Bhawan in Khetwadi Mohalla in Bombay.

His father Jehangir was a Marine Engineer. Feroze was the youngest of the five children with two brothers Dorab and Faridun Jehangir, and two sisters, Tehmina Kershashp and Aloo Dastur. The family had migrated to Bombay from Bharuch in South Gujarat where their ancestral home, which belonged to his grandfather, still exists in Kotpariwad.

Feroze abandoned his studies in 1930 to join the Indian independence movement. Being inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, Feroze changed the spelling of his surname from “Ghandy” to “Gandhi” after joining the Independence movement.

He was imprisoned in 1930, along with Lal Bahadur Shastri (the 2nd Prime Minister of India), head of Allahabad District Congress Committee, and lodged in Faizabad Jail for nineteen months. Soon after his release, he was involved with the agrarian no-rent campaign in Uttar Pradesh and was imprisoned twice, in 1932 and 1933.

Feroze and Indira were arrested and jailed in August 1942, during the Quit India Movement less than six months after their marriage. Feroze Gandhi was imprisoned for a year in Allahabad’s Naini Central Prison.

Post independence Feroze was a member of the provincial parliament (1950–1952), he won independent India’s first general elections in 1952, from Rae Bareli constituency in Uttar Pradesh. Feroze soon became a prominent force in his own right, criticizing the government of his father-in-law and beginning a fight against corruption.

Feroze died in 1960 at the Willingdon Hospital (now Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital), Delhi, after suffering a second heart attack. He was cremated and his ashes interred at the Parsi cemetery in Allahabad.

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