The Indian Government, who was supported by the British Government, protested the People’s Republic of China’s invasion of Tibet because it was not in the interest of peace. Unfortunately, due to their policy of peaceful isolation, Tibet had never sought to become a member of the United Nations Organization and they did not receive help to negotiate with China (Gyatso 1990: 53). Tibetan society was in an uproar, and many people began to advocate that the fifteen-year-old Dalai Lama be enthroned and given full temporal power - two years early. The Dalai Lama himself felt he was too young for this responsibility, and the Tibetan government decided to consult the state oracle (Compassion 1998: 2).

The oracle was a young monk, a spirit medium, who when consulted was temporarily possessed by a Tibetan god. He wore a huge headdress that only a person under supernatural influence could even lift, much less wear. In an atmosphere of unbearable tension the fierce looking oracle tottered over to the young boy, draped a white scarf across the boy’s lap, and uttered, "His time has come." He was enthroned on November 17, 1950 (Compassion 1998: 2).

The night before his enthronement, the Dalai Lama was visited in Lhasa by his older brother, Takster Rinpoche, the head abbot of the Kumbum monastery. Because the monastery was near the Eastern border of Tibet, it had quickly fallen to the Chinese communists and Takster was imprisoned and tortured. He was freed by the Chinese after agreeing to travel to Lhasa and murder the Dalai Lama, if he did not agree to accept Chinese rule. This plot showed how little the Communists understood Tibetan religion - the idea of killing any living creature is abhorred by Buddhists. The two brothers fled on horseback to southern Tibet, where they could leave the country if necessary.  Takster continued into India while the Dalai Lama remained on Tibetan soil. Even though he was urged by his people to go to India and appeal to the world community, the Dalai Lama felt it was useless to ask for help and decided that Tibet must face the Chinese alone - he reasoned that the Chinese were, after all, just human beings (Compassion 1998: 2).
 
 

In 1951, the Dalai Lama met with a Chinese delegation at  Dromo, a Tibetan town near the Indian border, which included the PLA General. The Dalai Lama was determined to find some trace of goodness in the Chinese General, even though the man was overbearing and coldly civil. General Chiang Chin-wu explained to the Dalai Lama that the Chinese had come in genuine friendship and there was no reason why he should flee the country into exile. After their meeting the Dalai Lama returned to Lhasa and attempted to come to terms with the Chinese (Gyatso 1990: 66-70).

In 1954 he was invited to China and met with Chinese leaders including Chairman Mao Tse Tung. The Dalai Lama had studied Marxism and felt it could be compatible with Buddhism if it lived up to its ideals and removed its materialistic and anti-spiritual stance. The Dalai Lama was impressed with Mao’s genuine and decisive personality, but was shocked when the Chairman announced that "religion is poison, of course." Still, the Dalai Lama returned to Lhasa, "filled with youthful socialist idealism and the dream of a type of socialist Buddhism" (Compassion 1998: 2).