July 6, 2010 "Hello, Dalai... well hello, Dalai..."

Today is the birthday of the 14th Dalai Lama, and everyone is running around wishing him a happy 75th... which I don't really get. Is that the way the reincarnation thing should work? Seems to me we should be wishing him a happy 619th, at least.

The reign of his first incarnation was as Gendun Drup (b. 1391) - the first in this line of tulkus, or emanations, reincarnation lineages, of the boddhisattva Avalokiteshvara - one of many different aspects of the Buddha that roam around and provide enlightenment to us mere mortals.



Happy 619th, dude. Hallmark seemed to be out of 619th birthday cards. I guess everyone else got to them first.