The current Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso. He was born in 1935 and is the 14th Dalai Lama, revered as a spiritual leader among Tibetans who has great influence over Tibetan Buddhism. He is head of the Tibetan Government in Exile based in Dharamsala in India, as well as being a Nobel Peace Prize winner and the world's most recognised Buddhist monks.

Gyatso is the fifth of the 16 children of a farming family in the village of Taktser. He was proclaimed "tulku", meaning rebirth, of the 13th Tibetan Dalai Lama just two years after his birth. In 1950 he became Dalai Lama, Tibet's most important political ruler. This was one month after the People's Liberation Army's invaded Tibet from China.

Although he ratified an agreement with China in 1951, that was done under military threats. He left Tibet for India in 1959 after an unsuccessful revolt and the failure of resistance by a Tibetan movement. In India he was active in establishing the Tibetan Government in Exile and in working to preserve Tibetans' culture, lifestyle and education among the thousands of refugees who accompanied him.

Tenzin Gyatso is charismatic and a frequent public speaker, and is the first Dalai Lama to travel to the West. He has spread Tibetan Buddhism and promoted the concepts of universal responsibility, secular ethics, compassion, and religious tolerance. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, and the United States Congressional Gold Medal in 2007.