The Dalai Lama as a child

On his 60th birthday

Tibetans believe that the Dalai Lama is the reincarnation of previous Dalai Lamas. He was discovered as a toddler in a remote part of Tibet and trained as a monk in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. He was formally made the Dalai Lama when he was 16, after the Chinese invasion. 

Part of the When the Iron Bird Flies: Vanishing Tibet exhibit