21. Tenzin Gyatso Earnings Go Up To $100 million
Since his enthronement ceremony in 1940 Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, born Lhamo Thondup is the Dalai Lama and the head of the Geluk school. He assumed full political duties on 17 November 1950, at the age of 15, after China’s invasion of Tibet. During the 1959 Tibetan uprising, the Dalai Lama fled to India, where he currently lives as a refugee. The 14th Dalai Lama has given public talks, interviews, and teachings for Buddhist and non-Buddhist audiences throughout the world and also to private groups at his residence in India. His talks and teachings are usually webcast live in multiple languages, via an inviting organization’s website, or on the Dalai Lama’s own website. Tenzin Gyatso has spoken about the welfare of Tibetans, environment, economics, women’s rights, non-violence, interfaith dialogue, physics, astronomy, Buddhism and science, cognitive neuroscience, reproductive health, and sexuality, along with various Mahayana and Vajrayana topics. In October 1998, the Dalai Lama’s administration acknowledged that it received $1.7 million a year in the 1960s from the U.S. government through the Central Intelligence Agency and it is believed that the Dalai Lama was receiving from CIA’s payroll $180,000 a year from 1950s to 1974. When asked about different social issues the Lama has said that from a Buddhist perspective abortion is an act of killing and has described himself as a feminist. When asked about gay rights Gyatso has expressed contradictory opinions indicating that oral, manual and anal sex (both homosexual and heterosexual) are not appropriate in Buddhism yet saying that in modern times all consensual sexual practices that do not cause harm are ethically acceptable and that society should not discriminate against lesbians and gay men and should accept and respect them. The Dalai Lama defined himself as a Marxist in terms of social economy theory and he’s the author of numerous books on Buddhism.
