Dalai Lama Time's 'Most Influential'

Spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is the most influential person in the world, according to Time Magazine.

President George W. Bush, Russian leader Vladimir Putin, rocker Bruce Springsteen, media mogul Oprah Winfrey, teen singer Miley Cyrus and actor Robert Downey Jr. are among the newsmakers on Time magazine's 2008 list of the most influential people in the world, dubbed 'The Time 100."

His holiness was the top name in Leaders & Revolutionaries category, released Thursday on Time's Web site. The list is also divided among the categories Heroes & Pioneers, Scientists & Thinkers, Artists & Entertainers and Builders & Titans.

"To me, the most mystical thing about him is also the most ordinary: the Dalai Lama is happy. He's happy in the midst of chaos and turmoil," spiritualist Deepak Chopra wrote in an essay on his holiness. "The most inspiring thing he ever told me was to ignore all organized faiths and keep to the road of higher consciousness."

Winfrey's appearance on the list is her fifth.

The list also includes presidential contenders Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. John McCain, who are No. 3, 4 and 5 in the Leaders & Revolutionaries category, respectively. Putin is No. 2 in the category and Bush is No. 7.

Each person on the list is accompanied by an essay written by a public figure. Elizabeth Edwards writes about Lance Armstrong and Cate Blanchett writes about Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Michelle Obama writes about Winfrey, while former president Bill Clinton writes about former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

George Clooney writes about star couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who fall into the Heroes & Pioneers category for their work as goodwill ambassadors worldwide.

"It is one thing to talk about the problems of the world and quite another to actually try to change things," Clooney wrote.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, filmmaker Rob Reiner and Sen. Joe Lieberman write about Obama, Clinton and McCain, respectively.

The Time 100 also lists Iraq Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Other celebrities on the list include actor-filmmaker Tyler Perry, "Saturday Night Live" producer Lorne Michaels, Oscar-winning filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen, and "Knocked Up" and "Superbad" filmmaker Judd Apatow.

Dalai Lama

By Deepak Chopra

Millions of people turn to the Dalai Lama for inspiration, but to whom does he turn? He and his people have struggled all their lives with the audacity of hopelessness. Oppression and exile are their daily bread. Yet the Dalai Lama, 72, remains calm in the face of cruelty. What does he think of the human race? "We are the superior species on Earth but also the biggest troublemakers," he once told me.

China's rulers aren't like the British masters of colonial India, and the Dalai Lama's Gandhiesque nonviolent struggle won't give them twinges of conscience, leading to Tibet's freedom. If anything, Beijing has grown more ruthless in suppressing Tibetan aspirations, as we've seen this Olympic year. And yet he has found a way to think kindly of those who oppress his people and vilify his name. I found him unwilling to show any harshness. He said to me, "I don't dislike the Chinese, only their actions."

To me, the most mystical thing about him is also the most ordinary: the Dalai Lama is happy. He's happy in the midst of chaos and turmoil. The most inspiring thing he ever told me was to ignore all organized faiths and keep to the road of higher consciousness. "Without relying on religion, we look to common sense, common experience and the findings of science for understanding," he said. I do the same thing, but I still marvel at this model of calm and compassion. I'm sure neuroscientists would love to know what's going on inside that brain.

To whom, then, does the Dalai Lama turn for inspiration? It's not a person but a place—beyond I and thou, beyond self and nonself. The wonder isn't that such a place can be found. The wonder is that one man makes it look so easy.