In Tibetan Buddhism, the successive Dalai Lamas (Tibetan: ཏ་ཱལའི་བླ་མ་ taa-la’i bla-ma; Simplified Chinese: 达赖喇嘛; Traditional Chinese: 達賴喇嘛; pinyin: Dálài Lǎmā) form a tulku lineage of Gelugpa leaders which trace back to 1391. Tibetan Buddhists believe the Dalai Lama to be the present incarnation of Avalokitesvara ("Chenrezig" [spyan ras gzigs] in Tibetan), the bodhisattva of compassion. Between the 17th century and 1959, the Dalai Lama was the head of the Tibetan government, controlling a large portion of the country from the capital Lhasa. The Dalai Lama is 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 granted the style "His Holiness" (or HH) before his title.
The Dalai Lama is often thought to be the head of the Gelug school, but......
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