Buddhist Leaders - Learn about the Famous Dharma Masters

This post is dedicated to the great Buddhist leaders around the world. The Buddhist Dharma teaches us to find peace within ourselves and with our sisters and brothers. For many years these venerable Buddhist leaders have been spreading the message of world peace and have made significant contributions to fighting war, hunger and human suffering. This post honors these these great leaders.

The Dalai Lama refers to the spiritual and political leader of the Tibetan people and is believed to be a reincarnation of previous Dalai Lamas. The current Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso Dalai Lama, is the 14th Dalai Lama and was born in 1935 in Tibet. His Holiness fled to India in 1959 in exile and has been there since. His Holiness was the first Dalai Lama to travel to the West. He has spread the teachings of Buddhism throughout the West and is known for his charisma and kindness. In 1989 His Holiness was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to promote peaceful dealings with China and was awarded the United States Congressional Gold Metal in 2007.

Thich Nhat Hanh was born in 1926 in Vietnam and is one of the best known Buddhist teachers in the world. He has published over 100 books and is a well-known peace activist. In the 1960s Thich Nhat Hanh founded the School of Youth for Social Services (SYSS) in Saigon, Vietnam to help provide aid to bombed villages. Later he studied at Princeton University in the United States and gave lectures at Cornell University and Colombia University. In 1967 Thich Nhat Hanh was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Thich Nhat Hanh has been active in peace movements for many years and continues to urge the Israeli and Palestinian peace talks.

Both the Dalai Lama and Thick Nhat Hanh are very accomplished writers with long best-sellers lists. You may further your learning about these leaders and Buddhism with the following to comprehensive book lists on each author.

• Dalai Lama book sale

• Thick Nhat Hanh book sale

Dharma Master Cheng Yen is a Taiwanese Buddhist nun and teacher and founder of Buddhist Compassion Relief Tzu-Chi Foundation. She is by far one of the most accomplished female Buddhist leaders in the world. Master Chen Yen was born in 1937 in central Taiwan. Early in life she learned compassion by caring for a sick brother and later embraced Buddhism. In 1966 Master Cheng Yen founded the non-profit Tzu-Chi Foundation, which still provides social services in Taiwan. Master Cheng Yen believes suffering in the world today is caused by material deprivation and spiritual poverty. Although Master Cheng Yen is 70 years-old she still delivers two daily 25-minute speeches on Taiwanese television. The Tzu-Chi Foundation now has over five million supporters and 30,000 Buddhist commissioners worldwide. Tzu-Chi has been involved in providing relief for Myanmar's Cyclone Nigris and China's earthquake in Sichuan Province.