--- title: Dalai Lama Escapes From Tibet: How and Why It Happened description: March 17, 1959: The Dalai Lama flees Tibet for asylum in India canonical: https://time.com/3742242/dalai-lama-1959/ author: Jennifer Latson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-17T15:30:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2024-01-24T14:40:23.000Z article:section: History og:title: Dalai Lama Escapes From Tibet: How and Why It Happened og:description: March 17, 1959: The Dalai Lama flees Tibet for asylum in India og:url: https://time.com/3742242/dalai-lama-1959/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbcb02af82766e947/698783532dce0145579de00e/1101590420_400.jpg?branch=production&width=400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 400 og:image:height: 225 og:image:alt: Dalai Lama Cover og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Dalai Lama Escapes From Tibet: How and Why It Happened twitter:description: March 17, 1959: The Dalai Lama flees Tibet for asylum in India twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltbcb02af82766e947/698783532dce0145579de00e/1101590420_400.jpg?branch=production&width=400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How and Why the Dalai Lama Left Tibet > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. by [Jennifer Latson](https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson Updated: Jan 24, 2024 2:40 PM UTCPublished: Mar 17, 2015 3:30 PM UTC  The Apr. 20, 1959, cover of TIME The Apr. 20, 1959, cover of TIME Cover Credit: BORIS CHALIAPIN by [Jennifer Latson](https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson Updated: Jan 24, 2024 2:40 PM UTCPublished: Mar 17, 2015 3:30 PM UTC The invitation seemed innocuous: A Chinese general asked if the 14th Dalai Lama would like to see a performance by a Chinese dance troupe. But when he was told to come to the Chinese military headquarters without soldiers or armed bodyguards, according to his [official biography](http://www.dalailama.com/biography/from-birth-to-exile), the Tibetans sensed a trap. After years of guerrilla war between Tibetan rebels and the Chinese soldiers in a land that China considered to be its territory, the friendly overture seemed suspicious enough that, on the day of the performance, thousands of protesters surrounded the Dalai Lama’s palace in Lhasa to keep him from being abducted, arrested or killed. Over the following few days, the protests expanded into declarations of Tibetan independence and the mobilizing of rebel troops to fight the Chinese forces. The State Oracle, the Dalai Lama’s advisor, urged him to flee. On this day, March 17, in 1959, Tibet’s spiritual and political leader, then 23, disguised himself as a soldier and slipped through the crowds outside the palace he’d never see again. He embarked on a dangerous journey to asylum, crossing the Himalayas on foot with a retinue of soldiers and cabinet members. They traveled only at night, to avoid detection by Chinese sentries. Rumors later circulated among Tibetans that the Dalai Lama “had been screened from Red planes by mist and low clouds conjured up by the prayers of Buddhist holy men,” according to TIME’s [1959 cover story about the escape](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,864579,00.html). But until he appeared in India, two weeks after taking flight, people around the world feared that he had been killed, [according to the BBC](http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/31/newsid%5F2788000/2788343.stm). Back in Tibet, thousands died fighting the Chinese forces. Per the BBC, “All fighting-age men who had survived the revolt were deported, and those fleeing the scene reported that Chinese troops burned corpses in \[Lhasa\] for 12 hours.” It was the latest flare-up of the longstanding discord between Tibet and China, as TIME summarized: --- > “” --- That discord endures today. [Tibetans can still be arrested](http://time.com/3691766/china-dalai-lama-breakfast-obama/) if caught with the writings or a picture of the Buddhist leader and recipient of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize. And Chinese leaders were outraged last month when President Obama made his first public appearance with the Dalai Lama, whom he called a “[good friend](http://time.com/3697021/barack-obama-dalai-lama-china/).” And as the New York _Times_ [reported](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/12/world/asia/chinas-tensions-with-dalai-lama-spill-into-the-afterlife.html?%5Fr=0) last week, they were also incensed by the 79-year-old Dalai Lama’s recent speculation that he might not reincarnate this time around, foiling Chinese plans to hand-pick a 15th Dalai Lama who would follow the Communist party line. Per the _Times_, “\[Chinese\] officials repeatedly warned that he must reincarnate, and on their terms.” China’s official version of the Dalai Lama’s 1959 escape sees him as forced to flee due to a failed attempt on his part “to maintain the serfdom in the region, under which the majority of Tibetans were slaves leading a life of unimaginable misery,” per TIME. Tibetans tend to disagree with this retelling. According to [TIME’s coverage](http://time.com/3691766/china-dalai-lama-breakfast-obama/) of the Dalai Lama’s recent trip to the United States, “So profound is the despair among some Tibetans that more than 130 people have committed suicide since 2009 by setting themselves on fire, according to exile organizations. As they burn, self-immolators reserve their final breaths to praise the Dalai Lama and denounce Chinese rule.” **_Read TIME’s 1959 cover story about the Dalai Lama_**: [The Dalai Lama Escapes from the Chinese](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,864579,00.html) ### See the Dalai Lama's Life in Pictures  The 14th Dalai Lama at his enthronement in Lhasa, Tibet, Feb. 22, 1940. AP  The Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, second in rank as spiritual leader, pictured in Tibet in 1954. Hulton Archive/Getty Images  The Dalai Lama is seen with members of a Chinese government delegation on their official visit to Tibet in 1956. Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone/Getty Images  Averaging 12 miles a day through the Himalayas, the Dalai Lama is shown journeying through the Karpo Pass, one of the highest on the flight route of the 23-year-old ruler from Lhasa. His flight began on March 17, 1959\. Here the escape party is seen on March 28, three days before reaching sanctuary in the free zone of India. AP  The Dalai Lama pictured in India circa 1965. Michael Ochs Archives—Getty Images  The Dalai Lama and his loyal follower, actor Richard Gere, in New York in September 1990. Richard Corkery—NY Daily News/Getty Images  The Dalai Lama makes an appearance at the University of California, Los Angeles in May 2001. David McNew—Getty Images  President George W. Bush winks while he sits with the Dalai Lama during a ceremony to present him with the Congressional Gold Medal in Washington, D.C., in October 2007. Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images  The Dalai Lama speaks during a ceremony to present him with the Congressional Gold Medal in Washington, D.C., in October 2007. Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images  Prince Charles receives the Dalai Lama at Clarence House in London in June 2012. Gareth Cattermole—Getty Images  The Dalai Lama speaks onstage at the One World Concert at Syracuse University in New York in October 2012. Neilson Barnard—Getty Images  The Dalai Lama during a news conference at The Lowry Hotel in Manchester, United Kingdom, in June 2012. Christopher Furlong—Getty Images  The Dalai Lama visits Madame Tussauds and poses with a wax figure of himself in Sydney in June 2013. Getty Images  Tibetan Buddhist monks holding ceremonial scarfs stand in a line to welcome the Dalai Lama as he arrives at the Jhonang Takten Phuntsok Choeling monastery in Shimla, India, in March 2014. Tenzin Choejor—AP  The Dalai Lama stands at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., in February 2015. Stephen Crowley—The New York Times/Redux **Correction, March 5, 2019** _The original caption for the photo that appears with this article misstated the issue date for the TIME cover it shows. 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