Dalai Lama

In Tibetan Buddhism, the successive Dalai Lamas form a lineage of allegedly reborn (tulku) magistrates which traces back to 1391. They are of the Gelug sect of Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhists believe the Dalai Lama to be one of innumerable incarnations of Avalokiteśvaraspyan ras gzigs] in Tibetan), the bodhisattva of compassion. Between the 17th century and 1959, the Dalai Lama was the head of the Tibetan government, administering a large portion of the country from the capital Lhasa. The Dalai Lama is considered the supreme head of Tibetan Buddhism, and the leaders of all four schools consider the Dalai Lama to be the highest lama of the Tibetan traditions. He is often styled "His Holiness" (HH) before his title.

The Dalai Lama is often thought to be the head of the Gelug sect, but this position officially belongs to the Ganden Tripa (Wylie: Dga'-ldan Khri-pa). Tibetans call the Dalai Lama Gyalwa Rinpoche (Tibetan: རྒྱལ་བ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ; Wylie: Rgyal-ba Rin-po-che) meaning "Precious Victor," or Yishin Norbu (Tibetan: ་ཡིད་བཞིན་ནོར་བུ; Wylie: Yid-bzhin Nor-bu) meaning "Wish-fulfilling Jewel".