Tenzin Ösel Hita

Tenzin Ösel Hita Torres (born 1985 in Bubión, Granada, Spain) is a Tibetan Buddhist tulku, the recognized reincarnation of FPMT co-founder Thubten Yeshe. As a child "Lama Ösel" was heavily promoted by the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, and made the subject of a book by Vicki Mackenzie, Reincarnation: The Boy Lama (Wisdom Publications, 1996). Raised in India as a boy monk, Hita gave up robes and returned to Spain on attaining his majority. Though still a devout Buddhist, he now reports a vexed relationship with the FPMT, whose board he served on from 2008 to 2011.Tenzin Ösel Hita Torres, "Dear FPMT Family" (13 March 2025), https://oselhita.com/letter-march-13-2025/

Life

Born the fifth child of María Torres (later a travel agent) and Francisco "Paco" Hita (a construction worker), he was initially given the name "Ösel Hita Torres" (with Hita as the primary surname, following Spanish custom). As Spanish hippies, the parents had been converted to Buddhism by Lama Yeshe, and organized an FPMT retreat center in Bubión. On the death of Lama Yeshe, FPMT participants began speculating that the newborn Ösel was Yeshe's reincarnation.Tim McGirk, "Reincarnation in Exile" (The Believer, 1 Feb. 2013), https://www.thebeliever.net/reincarnation-in-exile/ Taken to Dharamshala, Himanchal Pradesh, India at the age of fourteen months, he was recognized by the fourteenth Dalai Lama as the tulku of Lama Yeshe, and enthroned at the Tushita Meditation Centre on 17 March 1987,https://fpmt.org/fpmt/osel/ receiving the new name of "Tenzin Ösel Rinpoche" (བསྟན་འཛིན་འོད་གསལ་རིན་པོ་ཆེ།). He then returned to Spain, but at the age of six, was sent to the exile version of Sera Je Monastery, near Mysore, Karnataka. His parents divorced at some point after that. Around 1993, his mother took "Lama Ösel" back to Spain; however, according to a New York Times report,

Ösel's status disrupted the lives of his nine siblings as well, since they too had to travel in order for their mother to be with Ösel.Jolyon Jenkins, "Osel Hita Torres - The Reluctant Lama" (BBC, 28 Sept. 2012), https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19702122 Hita would later recall that

Nevertheless, Ösel chafed at monastic life:

At eighteen, Hita left Sera Je permanently and disrobed.Ashifa Kassam, "From Six-Year-Old Tibetan Monk to Teenage Ibiza Raver: A Spanish Boy’s Incredible Journey" (The Guardian, 31 Dec. 2022), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/dec/31/six-year-old-tibetan-monk-teenage-ibiza-raver-spanish-boy On his eighteenth birthday, he asked his mother whether he could be forced to return to Sera Je. She told him no; he decided not to return."I got a huge amount of letters and phone calls, and people coming to visit me," he recalls, "just telling me that I made a big mistake, that I lost a huge opportunity, that was my destiny, my purpose, blah-blah-blah, whatever."Jolyon Jenkens, "Osel Hita Torres-The Reluctant Lama" (BBC, 28 Sept. 2012), https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19702122

Hita completed his high school education at St. Michaels University School, a private boarding school in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. (The school was chosen by FPMT board member Peter Kedge.) Justin McElroy, "A Conflicted Lama's Canadian Connection" (McLean's, 26 June 2009), https://macleans.ca/education/uniandcollege/a-conflicted-lamas-canadian-connection After six months in an unidentified school in Switzerland, he transferred to the Complutense University of Madrid in 2006, earning a BA degree in cinematography in 2008. During this period, he apprenticed to Italian filmmaker Matteo Passigato in Bologna, and took various jobs in the TV and film industry. For several years, Hita would continue studying for further film-related credentials.In 2012, he co-directed the documentary short Being Your True Nature, chronicling a 2011 FPMT retreat. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8908504/

In May 2009, Hita gave an interview for Babylon Magazine, a bilingual (Spanish/English) Madrid periodical, in which he seemed to distance himself from the FPMT, although he affirmed his belief in Tibetan Buddhism. Similar, but more pointed, remarks soon appeared in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo:

Hita later disavowed these remarks, indicating that he had been misquoted.

Several news articles focus on what reporters portray as an avant-garde lifestyle--for example, Hita's attendance (and djembe performance) at the 2007 Burning Man festival. He reports having been homeless in Venice and Naples. Tenzin Ösel Hita, "A Different Way for This Future Generation" (n.d.), https://one-big-love.com/osel-hita-bio/

In later years, Hita would speak at, lead, or translate for FPMT events, and even briefly serve on the organization's board of trustees (2008-2011). At some point he began offering his own workshops, unaffiliated with the FPMT, called HAK (for "Habit Alignment Key"). He is the founder of the Global Tree Initiative as well as One World Orphanages, projects of the US nonprofit Universal Clear Light, Inc.. ("Clear Light" is the meaning of the name Ösel.)

In 2017, Hita had a son, Tenzin Norbu, with his then-partner, Brazilian-Spanish TCM practitioner Indila Dora Amaral. https://fpmt.org/fpmt-community-news/osel-news/welcome-to-the-world-tenzin-norbu/

In 2025, Hita wrote an open letter criticizing the FPMT board:

At the time of the letter, the FPMT board had been pressuring Hita to enter drug rehab, a program he insisted he did not need:

Hita states that he does not currently use drugs or alcohol, although he has participated in ayahuasca ceremonies in the past. On his refusal to submit to rehab, the FPMT cut off an allowance which Lama Zopa had established, and reneged on promises to pay his son's school fees.

Activities

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.

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. 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.

Documentaries 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.

A documentary series about Hita's life, called Osel, was released on HBO Max in 2022.

References

Tenzin Ösel Hita

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