The fourteenth and current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, was born in 1935 in what is currently the Tsinghai province of China, recognized as the incarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama in 1937, enthroned in 1940, and vested with full powers as head of state in 1950. In accordance with the belief in reincarnate lamas, which began to develop in the 14th century, his successors were conceived as his rebirths. The first of the line was Dge-’dun-grub-pa (1391–1475), founder and abbot of Tashilhunpo monasteryin central Tibet.
Image credit: Cmichel67, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commonsĭalai Lama (1391-) is the foremost spiritual leader of the 'Yellow Hat' order of Tibetan Buddhists and, until 1959, both spiritual and temporal ruler of Tibet.