Tibet is one of the few countries where secular and religious affairs of state were merged. His Holiness the Dalai Lama was both the spiritual as well as political leader of the Tibetan people. The Himalayan country of Tibet was invaded and occupied by the Chinese Red Army in 1949. Over the next ten years the Dalai Lama attempted to work with Mao Zedong, but in 1959 fled Tibet for fear of his life. With welcome, support, and blessings from India, the Dalia Lama set up the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala, an Indian hill station in the foothills of the Himalayas.

The Chinese were not the first to suppress Tibetan Buddhism; it was suppressed in 840 C.E. during a civil war. 200 years later, siddhas (“tantric yogis”) and scholars were brought over from India to reintroduce it. Four schools emerged from this re-introduction. First, the Sakyapa sect headed the country, and then later the Gelugpa (“Yellow Hat”) ruled the country. This was the first time in Buddhist history that the sangha assumed secular control of its country. Given this confluence of secular and religious forces, a large percentage of Tibetan men became monks — 25 percent by the early twentieth century.

The Tibetan crisis has brought international attention to this isolated, mountainous country. Awareness and interest in Tibetan Buddhism and Buddhism in general has subsequently increased greatly in recent years.