Impact of the Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama is the figure head of modern Buddhism. With his political acumen and arresting personality the Dalai Lama and become the face of Buddhism to millions of Buddhist and non-Buddhism around the world. He has modernized promoted and lead Buddhism for over 50 years and during this time has made a profound impact on the religion.

The most important impact made by the Dalia lama is the promotion of Buddhism. The Dalai Lama left Tibet in 1959, since then he has preached Buddhism to the outside world. He seeked refuge in India where he established several educations systems (dharma shala) in order to keep the Tibetan traditions and the Buddhist faith alive. He later embarked on tours around the world, traveling to 63 nations since 1967, with a record total of 300 visits up until 2005. Here he raised the profile, image and global awareness of Buddhism, breaking the parameters of south East Asia and bringing bhudism to the western world. In promoting the Buddhist faith abroad, the Dalai Lama has made bhudism, a mainstream and popular religion in the modern world. He has been able to expand the faith to many traditionally Christian western nations, even hauling the interest of high profile Hollywood actors such as Richard Gere.

Another important contribution of the Dalai Lama is his modernization of bhudism. He has helped establish a link between bhudist philosophy and modern ethical issues. Through his rhetoric and speeches the Dalai Lama address modern issues such as the environment, abortion, homosexuality, and sexual behavior. An example of this is his view on abortion. The dalai lama acknowledges abortion to be a act of killing from Buddhist perspective, however he sates “each situation must be treated individually and should be approved or disapproved depending on circumstances rather then a religious doctrine.” On various occasions the Dalai Lama has also acknowledged the environment, urging Buddhist to factor ecology into their daily lives. By modernizing Buddhism the Dalia lama is able to make Buddhism more relevant to today, this makes the religion more appealing thus having a profound impact on the amount of Buddhist in the world.

Unlike some other religions today, the leader of the Buddhist is still current and accessible. Through his preaching and writing the Dalai Lama is able to simplify Buddhism and thus make it readily available to anyone and everyone. He has authored or been consulted on at least 72 books which have been published in English. This allows him to translate complex religious concepts into everyday language, thereby increasing the accessibility of Buddhist philosophy to the west. This further increases the appeal of the Buddhist culture allowing to further spread throughout the world.

The Dalai Lama has had a profound and positive impact on Buddhism. His impact has allowed Buddhism to spread beyond the small borders of the sangha and into the western world. He has modernized Buddhism making it more relevant to the people of today. He has also made Buddhism easy to understand and easily accessible. The 14th Dalia lama has made Buddhism one of the 5 most dominating and famous religions in this world; and it is for this reason that Buddhist all over the world not only follow in the footsteps of Buddha , but those of his great disciple the Dalia lama.