Meaning “Ocean of Wisdom.” Tenzin Gyatso is the fourteenth incarnation of the Dalai Lama and current leader of the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism. Born in 1935 in Tibet, he was named the Dalai Lama after a series of tests performed by high lamas, when he was 3 years old. At 15, Tenzin Gyatso was given the formal title of Dalai Lama and lived in the capital of Lhasa. He later escaped to India in 1959 after the Chinese conquered the Tibetan people.