The 14th Dalai Lama often says, "I am just a simple Buddhist monk - no more, no less." His Holiness is anything but that - for on the surface he is the very embodiment of worldly success. All his life, he has been, and continues to be, courted, supported, honored, and promoted globally by Western interest groups.

He commands global attention for two reasons: first he, against China's interests, willingly serves the diverse and complex political and economic interests of the West; second, the novel mystical Tantric spirituality he represents dovetails with the unbearable, deepening religious void of many Western souls.

The 14th Dalai Lama's predecessor, the 13th Dalai Lama, sought exile in British India, where he served as an agent for the British against China's central government during the Qing and Kuomintang reign.