The Dalai Lama turns nonagenarian

Negatives are arising. The Trump administration has cut aid to the government in exile, including millions of dollars meant to help build the capacity of Tibetan institutions. The great assistance given by the Indian government is also questioned, all because of wanting to not ruffle Chinese feathers It was said, and I repeat it was said, that the Dalai Lama expressed a desire to visit Sri Lanka to venerate the Sacred Tooth Relic and the Bodiya in Anuradhapura during the Rajapaksa regime. Visa refused for fear of earning the disapproval of China and resultant cut in borrowing facilities.

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he 14th Dalai Lama - Tensin Gyatso - turns 90 on July 6 this year. Recent videos have shown him dependent on others to walk even short distances, but his popularity, with ever increasing followers in the West, has been increasing.

He had to leave Tibet when the 1959 Tibetan uprising was sup-pressed by Chinese troops.

With his entourage the young Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual and political leader, then 23 years old, slipped out of Lhasa on March 17, 1959, disguised as a soldier and crossed the border to India on March 31. He was given sanctuary and slowly built a government in exile and residences to stay in at Dharamsala in the McLeod Ganj area in North India, just below the Himalayas.

Over seven decades since he led his flock of tens of thousands out of Tibet to escape Chinese persecution, he has given himself to the grueling task of sustaining a nation in exile. He garnered worldwide sympathy for spiritual and free Tibet but the Chinese took stronger hold on the country they moved into. He and others seem to have ceased railing against China. He has vowed to reveal a succession plan on July 6. Some opine he may even pronounce the dynasty of Dalai Lamas will end with him.

Government in exile