A tribute as the Dalai Llama has turned 90.

He turned 90 on July 6th. This article is from Time magazine (which I guess still exists). The Dalai Llama is a signatory to the original Seamless Garment statement, opposing abortion, euthanasia and the death penalty, while promoting true peace and justice. 

… as he prepares to mark his 90th birthday on July 6th, the 14th Dalai Lama has come to symbolize a sort of planetary doctor of the mind, making house-calls on every continent. Regularly noting that “my religion is kindness” and frequently reiterating that if scientific findings contradict Buddhist teachings, science must trump Buddhism, he’s become the rare spiritual teacher who can speak across every border in our ever more divided world.

He begins each day with prayers for his “Chinese brothers and sisters,” taking care to distinguish between often heroic individuals and a government in Beijing that has more or less tried to destroy Tibet. 

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For Buddhists, he is a formidable scholar who draws on ancient texts to show that people’s interdependent destinies make environmental awareness and global consciousness a necessity. For Tibetans, he has become one of the three defining Dalai Lamas of their history. But for the rest of us, he’s been an open-hearted incarnation of conscience who puts his faith in “common sense, common experience, and scientific findings.” A natural democrat, he renounced all temporal power in 2011, though his people often wish he’d make all their decisions for them. He has also often stated that he may be the last Dalai Lama—though not the last spiritual leader of the Tibetans—since, on his death, Beijing will surely choose a boy who’s a Party member and present him as a successor.