Dalai lama

termed in Chinese IMG:p150_2.png:Chinese characters chin hang ta shih, The Diamond Great Teacher, the chief lama of Tibetan Buddhism and the temporal ruler of Tibet. Dalai or Tale, is Mongolian for 'the ocean,' and is sometimes translated 'the All-embracing.' The title was first given in 1576 by Altan Khan, Prince of Tumed, to the chief lama of Lhasa, who came to him in the Ordos. It was also applied symbols of the twelve apostles; and that the system was carried to Turkic tribes by Coptic mi ionaries. This hypothesis seems destroyed by the existence of the cycle in China in the first century. There is a ma of writing on the subject, a list of the most important references being given in Chavannes' paper named below. Chavannes: Le Cycle Turc des douzc Animaux, in T'oung-pao, 1905; Halevy: Nouvelles ConsiderafioHx Kur le Cycle Turc des Animaux, ibid. D retrospectively to the four preceding Grand Lamas of the Gelupta sect (the Yellow clergy); and it is thus said sometimes that it originated with the founder of the sect, Tsongk'apa, about 1400. The present Dalai Lama is the 13th. The re-incarnation of lamas is an early belief, mentioned in the 13th century by Rubruck. Each Dalai Lama is supposed to be a re-incarnation of Avalokita. The visit of the Dalai Lama to Peking in 1908 is fully described by ROCK HILL. RocK HiLL: Dalai Lamas of Lhasa, T'oung Pao, vol. xi, 1910; Wabdell: The Bvddhixm of Tibet; Grenaud: Thibet.