By day, he's just an ordinary high schooler who plays video games with his friends and hits the gridiron alongside his teammates on the St. Anthony Village High School football team. By later in the day, and on weekends, Jalue Dorjee is an ascendant spiritual leader, the reincarnation of a Buddhist lama who calls Minnesota home.
Dorjee is the first U.S.-born reincarnated spiritual figure recognized by the Dalai Lama.
And sports columnist Chip Scoggins spent the 2024 football season following the teenager, who drives a 2012 Toyota Camry, as he bounced between the two distinct but complementary aspects of his life.
“He’s just a really funny and nice guy,” St. Anthony senior football captain Lincoln Urdahl said. “If no one told me that he was a religious figure, I don’t think I would have known.”
Dorjee wakes up at 6 a.m. to pray with his father, and speaks both English and Tibetan fluently. He loves the Atlanta Falcons for reasons he can't quite explain. And he spent hours studying Tibetan history, grammar, math, science and literature every weekend.
Upon graduation, he's bound for a monastery in India for more Buddhist education. Read the full story from Scoggins here.