Dalai Lama (UK: , US: ; Tibetan: ཏཱ་ལའི་བླ་མ་, Wylie: Tā la'i bla ma [táːlɛː láma]) is a title given by Altan Khan, the first Shunyi King of Ming China, in A.D. 1578 at Yanghua Monastery to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of its four major schools. The 14th and incumbent Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso, who lives in exile as a refugee in India. Dalai Lamas are tulkus who are believed to be incarnations of Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva of compassion.
Since the time of the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th century, the Dalai Lama has been a symbol of unification of the state of Tibet. The Dalai Lama was an important figure of the Geluk tradition, which was dominant in Central Tibet, but his religious authority went beyond sectarian boundaries, representing Buddhist values and traditions above any specific school. The Dalai Lama's traditional function as an ecumenical figure has been taken up by the fourteenth Dalai Lama, who has worked to overcome sectarian and other divisions in the exile community and become a symbol of Tibetan nationhood for Tibetans in Tibet and in exile.
From 1642 until 1705 and from 1750 to the 1950s, the Dalai Lamas or their regents headed the Tibetan government (or Ganden Phodrang) in Lhasa, which governed all or most of the Tibetan Plateau with varying degrees of autonomy. This Tibetan government enjoyed the patronage and protection of Mongol kings of the Khoshut and Dzungar Khanates (1642–1720) and then the emperors of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty (1720–1912). The 13th Dalai Lama supported Tibetan independence, as did the 14th before changing his position in the 1980s. The Dalai Lamas headed the Tibetan government until 1951.

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