The Dalai Lama has often called himself a simple monk, but millions of his Tibetan Buddhist followers have worshipped him for decades as a near deity.

Tenzin Gyatso,  the 14th Dalai Lama, was only 23 years old when he fled Tibet in March 1959 into China. His arduous journey, which started from Lhasa where he disguised himself as a Chinese soldier, ...