He was two years old when monks arrived at his family's farmhouse near Taktser in Tibet's Amdo province with objects belonging to the thirteenth Dalai Lama. The toddler correctly identified each one. "This is mine," he said. Born Lhamo Thondup on July 6, 1935, he was recognized as the reincarnation of the thirteenth Dalai Lama and enthroned as the fourteenth at age four in Lhasa. His formal education in Buddhist philosophy began at six, studying metaphysics, logic, and epistemology with private tutors in the Potala Palace. He became Tibet's political leader at fifteen, earlier than planned, because China invaded in 1950 and the crisis required adult authority. He spent nine years attempting to coexist with Chinese rule, traveling to Beijing in 1954 and meeting Mao Zedong, who reportedly told him that religion was poison. The relationship deteriorated as Chinese policies suppressed Tibetan religious and cultural practices. In March 1959, after a failed uprising against Chinese forces, he fled to India disguised as a soldier, crossing the Himalayas on horseback in a two-week journey that took him to Dharamsala, where he established a government-in-exile that has operated ever since. His government rules nothing but embassies and hope. He has advocated for Tibetan autonomy through nonviolent means, a position that has earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 but has not altered China's control over Tibet. Over one million Tibetans have died under Chinese occupation through violence, famine, and imprisonment, and systematic cultural suppression continues through Han Chinese settlement and restrictions on religious practice. He has stated that he may choose not to reincarnate, a declaration intended to prevent China from selecting his successor.