3. David Bowie

Before the Beatles ever made it to India Bowie had Tibet on the brain. A chance meeting with a Tibetan lama in the mid-'60s set him on his spiritual path before he hit 18. Before there was Ziggy, there was a man named David unafraid to mix Buddhism in to his work.

While a young Bowie may have dreamed about running to Tibet and becoming a monk he settled for a career in music and the occasional reference to yak butter statues. He'd eventually revisit "Silly Boy Blue" thematically 3 decades later with "Seven Years in Tibet". We can only hope to be so lucky as to get another part of the story in 2027.

4. Tina Turner

While His Holiness may be the most famous Buddhist in the world, Tina Turner finds herself pretty high up on that list and is easily the most high profile female Buddhist in the world. A follower of Nichiren Buddhism, she's famously chanted on Larry King's show and introduced the world to her beliefs via the film What's Love Got To Do With It.

For Turner, Buddhism was a source of strength for the troubles in her life, a strength that eventually gave her the power to break free from her abusive relationship with Ike and become her own woman. In 2009 she worked on a project called Beyond, which helped to bring together both Buddhism and Christianity. For Turner, the Lord's Prayer and a Buddhist chant aren't that far apart: the path may be different but they'll get you to the same place.