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Tenzin Ösel Hita Torres
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Tenzin Ösel Hita at Institut Vajra Yogini, France, December 2018
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| Born | 1985 (age 38–39)
Bubión, Spain
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Tenzin Ösel Hita y Torres (born 1985 in Bubión, Granada, Spain) is a Spanish Tibetan Buddhist tulku and spiritual teacher. Born Ösel Hita Torres to María Torres and Francisco Hita,[citation needed] he was designated soon after his birth as the tulkuorreincarnationofThubten Yeshe[citation needed] — making him one of only a handful of Western tulkus[citation needed] — and renamed Tenzin Ösel.(Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་འོད་གསལ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ།)
For many years, Hita was expected to succeed to leadership of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), the organization co-founded by Yeshe.[citation needed] As a university student, "Oz" (as he came to be known)[citation needed] gradually distanced himself from the FPMT, and in 2009 made media statements indicating his intention to pursue a life independent of that organization.[citation needed] However, he remained a follower of Tibetan Buddhism and an FPMT supporter, joining that organization's board of trustees in 2010.[citation needed]
Hita's parents, María Torres and Francisco Hita, had been students of Lama Yeshe, and the suggestion was raised soon after his birth that Hita might be Yeshe's tulku (reincarnation). Fourteen months later, after certain traditional tests, the Dalai Lama formally recognized him as such. As a child Ösel was heavily promoted by the FPMT, and made the subject of a book by Vicki Mackenzie, Reincarnation: The Boy Lama (Wisdom Publications, 1996). He is the fifth of nine siblings.[citation needed]
As a youth Hita studied traditional Tibetan subjects at Sera Monastery in southern India, and simultaneously received private tutoring in Western subjects.[citation needed]
At age 18, Hita gave up his monastic robes and distanced himself from the FPMT in favor of a more secular lifestyle, for example performing at the 2007 Burning Man festival. He later attended St. Michaels University School, a private high school in Victoria, British Columbia. Once he passed his ASATs in Canada, he moved to Switzerland and studied western philosophy, human rights, French and art. After six months he decided to leave for Italy, ending up in Bologna working with Matteo Passigato, an experienced camera operator. There he spent another six months working different jobs related to cinema and TV.[citation needed]
Once he came back to Spain he decided to study film. So at the age of 20 he spent two years at the NIC school in Madrid getting his director of cinema diploma. Then another year for director of photography. After that he did a master for documentaries at EIMA which took one more year. In 2011, Osel is said to have joined the board of the FPMT although as of January 2019 he is not listed as a Director on the FPMT website, and there has not been any notification that he was expelled or had resigned from or otherwise left the FPMT Board of Directors.[citation needed]
In December 2012 he released his film Being Your True Nature.[citation needed]
After attaining his majority, formulaic greetings regularly appeared in FPMT publications. In May 2009, Hita gave an interview for Babylon Magazine, a bilingual (Spanish/English) Madrid periodical. In it he expressed belief in reincarnation, and admiration for Lama Zopa and the Dalai Lama, while complaining of discomfort with his exile Tibetan environs:[1]
I returned to Spain because I had arrived at a point where I no longer fitted within that life. I couldn't find myself, because for me it was a lie being there living something that was imposed from outside.[1]
Having left Sera monastery at eighteen, without going on for the geshe degree, he felt unqualified to teach, as the FPMT expected of him: "The literal translation of lama is teacher, and I'm no teacher."[1]
Similar, but more pointed, remarks soon appeared in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo:
Con 14 meses ya me habían reconocido y llevado a la India. Me vistieron con un gorro amarillo, me sentaron en un trono, la gente me veneraba... Me sacaron de mi familia y me metieron en una situación medieval en la que he sufrido muchísimo. Era como vivir en una mentira.[2]
At 14 months I was recognized and taken to India. They dressed me in a yellow hat, they sat me on a throne, people worshipped me ... They took me away from my family and put me in a medieval situation in which I suffered a lot. It was like living a lie.[This quote needs a citation]
In a video posted on YouTube in December 2018, on 27 December 2018 he gave a two-part, 3-hour long talk to students at the FPMT-affiliated Tibetan Buddhist Centre, Institut Vajra Yogini, at Lavaur, near Toulouse, France.[citation needed]
In November 2019, Hita showed his commitment to supporting the UK Daily Mirror's "Million Trees" Campaign, along with the 14th Dalai Lama and Hollywood legend Richard Gere.[3] Tree planting has always been one of Osel’s passions and dreams. In January 2020, Osel formally launched the Global Tree Initiative through a WhatsApp chat group. People from around the world joined and various committees were established to handle different tasks. The goal was set to collect 100,000 tree plantings to offer to the Dalai Lama on July 6, 2020, to celebrate his 85th birthday.[4]
A documentary about Hita's life, called The Reluctant Lama, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 28 September 2012. The documentary was produced by Beth O'Dea and presented by Jolyon Jenkins.[5]
A documentary series about Hita's life, called Osel, was released on HBO Max in 2022.[6]
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