Essay Example on Dalai Lama: Icon of Modern Asia's Diverse Culture

Introduction

There are many different important figures that have influenced the current diverse Culture of Asia; however, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso is one of the most significant who represent the modernity of Asia. Dalai Lama is a spiritual leader of the Tibet people, and he represents the symbol of the unification of Tibet and a strong believer of Buddhist traditions &values. As the Tibet being a part of China, the Dalai Lama and the Tibet people has been a very controversial topic and culture to Asia and even to the whole world.

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Discussion

Some people believe that he is the representative of a 'government in exile' under the Chinese nation. Where others believe that he is the self-proclaimed leader of his own region. His existence helped defined the culture of the Tibetans, the belief of Buddhism, and also the value of kindness and peace to others. Dalai Lama's mentality has affected many people in this world. His life quotes have been world widely used to help people find peacefulness and happiness (Puri, 2008). He believes that physical peacefulness will not actually bring them to peace, only the true mental and heart peaceful mindset will really bring happiness to life. He did not only want to be significant to a certain group of people or a single culture of a country, but his goal is to bring happiness to everyone.

Dalai Lama is significant to the history and culture of Asia because, from his case, we can see the different culture value and beliefs in different Asian countries and as a religious perspective, Dalai Lama has an important impact on the passage of Buddhism. Lastly, as a perspective of being the leader of Tibet, he is important to his people for preserving their culture and language. The official site of the Dalai Lama and the noble prize organization site have deep storytelling of the 14th Dalai Lama (Puri, 2008). The students at Indiana University have also stated one of his most famous quotes, the art of happiness. "As long as space endures, as long as sentient beings remain, May I too live, to dispel the miseries of the world." -his holiness, the Dalai Lama (Puri, 2008).

Significance of Dalai Lama

As a figure of Asian modernity, there are a countable number of positive contributions which are attributed to the existence of the 14th Dalai Lama in connection to the culture and history of the Asian people. The entire life and or existence of this spiritual leader among the people of the Asian origin play a vital role in shaping the lives of the Asian persons. He impacts and influences the way people of Asia lead their lives in different ways ("Principal Commitments | the 14th Dalai Lama", 2019). Through him, there is proof that everything in Asia has changed from ancient Asia through various phases to current Asia in existence. These are the ways in which the 14th Dalai Lama affects the lives of the Asian persons throughout the time he exists;

Unity of the People

Owing to the fact that this title Dalai Lama is given to the transcendent leaders of the Tibet persons who are said to be people in some parts of China but with great origin and connection from the Asian people, the 14th Dalai Lama as a spiritual leader is a symbol of unity for the people. He is a symbol of unity for the people of Asia in that they believe that they are under one spiritual leader of the Buddhism religion whom they have to honor and respect. This honor and respect of the single spiritual leader of the Tibet people is the one that makes them get united all the way in their trust and honor to the leader they have. In all kinds of leadership up to and including the leadership vested in the 14th Dalai Lama, the people around tend to respect authority as much as they can. Therefore, in respect of authority, there comes the respect for each other hence unity of all the people as a result.

Good Morals of the People

Dalai Lama of the Tibet people always embraced and emphasized more on what was good for the community of the Tibet people entirely. Therefore, the people of Tibet or rather Asia were able to understand what was expected of them in terms of behavior and contact in their day to day life activities in the community ("The Nobel Peace Prize 1989", 2019). Therefore, through this transcendent leader of the Asian persons Dalai Lama, a sense of good morals was fostered in the people of modern Asia. All the people wanted to do the right thing so as to honor and respect what their spiritual leader Dalai Lama taught and embraced. Social Life

When it comes to the social life of the people, Dalai Lama as a figure of Asian modernity played a vital role and still, the impact of his existence is seen and felt. The greatest impact which Dalai Lama made on the people of Asia in terms of the social life and interaction with the other people was through his powerful quotes related to individual happiness and the happiness of the other people. He said that happiness was not just created in the physical appearance but rather deeply involved a connection of the mind and heart of a person who wanted to be happy. By this, he meant that one had to purpose to be happy and surely they would do. He added that happiness was not only for an individual person but it would have been even better striving to make the other people around one happy ("Principal Commitments | The 14th Dalai Lama", 2019). Therefore, with the understanding and belief of Dalai Lama about happiness, he impacted positively on the lives of the Asian people. The figure of modernity fostered the spirit of each and every person striving to be happy in all the possible ways and making the other people around them happy in return. The existence of the notion that making the other people was the best thing has made the Asian people to always love each other and treat them with compassion. This has thus created a peaceful environment for the people of Asia to live in.

Upholding of the Religion

The most important thing to understand about this figure of modernity in the Asian people is about the greatest role he played among the people of Asia. Buddhism as a religion that is highly recognized and practiced by the Asian and or Tibet people is an important aspect of people's lives. He acted as a figure that supported and embraced the continuous beliefs and practices of the Buddhism religion ("The Nobel Peace Prize 1989", 2019). He played very great roles in the success of this religion in the land of the Asians and therefore it would have been hard for this religion to succeed and grow within this region without his presence. Moreover, with the deep understanding of the Buddhism religion, the 14th Dalai Lama ensured and served a role of making sure that this religion was understood by all the generations of the Tibet people. The understanding and following of this religion by all these people in Asia has given them a special religion in which they believe and obey at all times.

Preservation of the Culture of the People

Despite the fact that Dalai Lama was a spiritual leader in Asian Tibet people, the culture of the people is one of the major things he considered and valued greatly. As a leader in the religion of these people, he could not have left out the culture and practices of these people. He was therefore on the forefront to make sure that the people strictly followed and did what was dictated by their culture. There are so many ways in which he achieved this and one of the ways was through the education he gave to the people concerning the culture. Basically, he acted as a symbol through which the people of Asia and generations could understand and interact well with what their culture dictated ("Principal Commitments | the 14th Dalai Lama", 2019). From generation to generation, the impact of the roles of Dalai Lama on culture has been evident. This is through the continuous passage of ideas and or knowledge on what people of Asia believe and do. Generally, though this figure of Asian modernity, the perceptions, and beliefs of the people regarding all dimensions of life are preserved and strictly adhered to at all times by the Asian people and this has an impact on how the resulting lives of the people are like.

Influence on Leaders

The 14th Dalai Lama by the name Tenzin Gyatso is not only a leader in terms of spirituality but also bears all the characters or traits of any other form of leadership that may be exercised. Therefore, he is one of the most influential leaders Asia has ever had. As a figure of modernity, there are so many that are found in him in regard to how he does things and operates. His approach to all kinds of issues highly contributed to the way the other political and social leaders in the present day Asia came to be (Puri, 2008). Dalai Lama possessed great leadership skills right from giving all kinds of positive advice to the people up to and including actively participating in matters of such leadership. Therefore, he just but acted as a figure through which the other leaders of different backgrounds could look and see what they were expected to do in certain matters. Thus, many of the leaders had to emulate the character of this spiritual leader and his unique style and character has contributed to the great leaders in Asia even today.

Conclusion

There exist so many figures of modernity with different levels of contributions to the lives of the people under them. However, the existence of the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso made a great transformation of the people and entire Asia in very different ways. His life impacted and changed so many people in Asia ranging from religious matters, the culture and social life of the people. It can be said that whatever positive thing remained and grew more while the negative things in Asia ended through Dalai Lama.

References

Principal Commitments | the 14th Dalai Lama. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.dalailama.com/the-dalai-lama/biography-and-daily-life/three-main-commitments

Puri, B. (2008). Discourse and Method of the 'Earlier' Dalai Lama and the 'Later' Dalai Lama. China Report, 44(2), 175-184. Doi: 10.1177/000944550804400205

The Nobel Peace Prize 1989. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1989/lama/biographical/