The Dalai Lama.

• Author: Pal, Amitabh
• Position: Interview

You have to be really hard-bitten not to be taken with the Dalai Lama's charm. He came across in our meeting as so pleasant and friendly--complete with a robust sense of humor--that I was disarmed.

The fourteenth Dalai Lama was born July 6, 1935, in the northeastern Tibetan province of Amdo. Named Lhamo Thondup by his parents, he was renamed Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso after monks discovered him at the age of two and proclaimed him to be the reincarnation of the previous Dalai Lama. When he was fifteen years old, the Chinese invaded Tibet. While both sides came to an agreement that allowed the Dalai Lama to stay on, this arrangement came to an end in 1959 when the Chinese started crushing a revolt on the eastern flanks of Tibet. The Dalai Lama fled to India along with some of his followers. Since 1960, he has lived in Dharamsala, a town situated at the foothills of the Himalayas that has become the seat of the Tibetan government in exile and home to 10,000 of his fellow countrymen.

The Dalai Lama is an inveterate traveler and has visited the West numerous times in recent years to propagate the Tibetan cause, making frequent media and public appearances. He has written two memoirs, My Land and My People and Freedom in Exile, and several books dealing with religion and spirituality, including the just-published The Universe in a Single Atom. Accounts of the Dalai Lamas life appear in two Hollywood films: Kundun and Seven Years in Tibet.

In 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "first and foremost for his consistent resistance to the use of violence in his people's struggle to regain their liberty," said Egil Aarvik, the chair of the Nobel Committee.

"I accept the prize with profound gratitude on behalf of the oppressed everywhere and for all those who struggle for freedom and work for world peace," said the Dalai Lama in his acceptance speech. "I accept it as a tribute to the man who founded the modern tradition of nonviolent action for change--Mahatma Gandhi--whose life taught and inspired me. And, of course, I accept it on behalf of the six million Tibetan people, my brave countrymen and women inside Tibet, who have suffered and continue to suffer so much."

The Dalai Lama is perhaps one of the most in-demand personalities in the world. Just ahead of me on his appointment roster was the ex-president of El Salvador, Francisco Flores. Later on that same afternoon, cinema superstar Jet Li dropped by. Numerous Western tourists time their visit to Dharamsala according to when he'll be in residence there just so that they can catch a glimpse of him.

I met the Dalai Lama on October 6 in Dharamsala. He lives in a house opposite a temple and a public area where he gives sermons. The house is not very grand from the outside, but contains a spacious courtyard surrounded by well-appointed rooms. After being frisked by security, I was ushered into a waiting chamber that held various awards and honorary degrees he has received, although I noticed that his Nobel medal was missing. (I was told afterward by my escort Jigmey Tsultrim that he keeps it in the meditation room.)

Tenzin Taldha and Tenzin Geyche Tethong, both assistants of the Dalai Lama, dropped by to chat with me while I was waiting. When I was beckoned for the interview, the Dalai Lama was outside in the hallway waiting to greet me. He guided me by the hand to the living room, where we spoke. The room contained a statue of the Buddha in a wooden showcase and several thangka cloth paintings depicting Buddhist imagery. Sitting in for assistance with his English (which the Dalai Lama needed only a couple of times) was Tenzin Geyche Tethong. When I asked a Buddhism-related question, a young monk was brought in to help with the translation of religious concepts. The Dalai Lama punctuated the interview throughout with his high-pitched laughter.

When the...