Dalai Lama set to reveal succession plan

The Dalai Lama will address a major three-day gathering of Buddhist religious figures this week ahead of his 90th birthday as his followers wait for the Tibetan spiritual leader to share details about his succession.

The move could irk China. Beijing views the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, as a separatist and said it will choose his successor.

The Dalai Lama has said his successor will be born outside China and urged his followers to reject anyone chosen by Beijing.

Tibetan Buddhists believe enlightened monks are reborn to carry forward their spiritual legacy. The 14th Dalai Lama will turn 90 on Sunday and has said he would consult senior monks and others to share possible clues on where his successor, a boy or a girl, could be found after  his death.

"The rest of my life I will dedicate for the benefit of others, as much as possible, as extensive as possible," the Dalai Lama told a gathering of his followers on Monday while they offered prayers for his long life.

"There will be some kind of a framework within which we can talk about the continuation of the institution of the Dalai Lamas," he said, without elaborating on the framework.

He has previously said he could possibly reincarnate in India, where he lives in exile near the northern Himalayan town of Dharamshala. He was identified as the reincarnation of his predecessor when he was two.

Dolma Tsering Teykhang,  deputy speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile in Dharamshala, said it was important for the world to hear directly from the Dalai Lama on the issue because while China "tries to vilify him at every chance. It is trying to frame rules and regulations on how to have the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama in their hand".

"China is trying to grab this institution for its political purpose," she said.

"We want the incarnation of the Dalai Lama to be born not only for the survival of Tibet as a distinct culture, religion and nation, but also for the well-being of the whole humanity."

Thupten Ngodup, Tibet's chief state oracle, said typically such discussions on the reincarnation do not take place when a monk is alive but things are different mainly because the "Chinese government is interfering".

Beijing said in March the Dalai Lama was a political exile who had "no right to represent the Tibetan people at all". China has said it is open to discussing his future if he recognises Tibet and Taiwan are inalienable parts of China, a proposal the Tibetan government in exile has rejected.

This week's religious conference, being held for the first time since 2019, will be attended by more than 100 Tibetan Buddhist leaders and will feature a video statement from the Dalai Lama.

Hollywood star Richard Gere, a long-time follower of Tibetan Buddhism, will be among those attending, organisers have said.

The Dalai Lama will attend prayers called by the Tibetan government in exile on July 5 and participate in his birthday celebrations a day later, according to a schedule shared by the organisers.

He will speak at the celebrations for about half an hour. India's parliamentary affairs minister, Kiren Rijiju, and other Indian officials are expected to attend. Tibetans have been praying for his long health, specially since knee surgery in the US last year, though the Dalai Lama told Reuters in December  he could live until he was 110. The previous Dalai Lama died earlier than expected at 58.

The Dalai Lama and Tibetan officials said there is a system in place for the government-in-exile to continue its political work while officers of the Dalai Lama's Gaden Phodrang Foundation search for and recognise the next Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama set up the foundation in 2015 and its senior officers include several of his aides.

Teykhang and other Tibetan officials said the Dalai Lama has been preparing his people for the day when he is gone, specially through his 2011 decision to hand his political role to a democratically elected government, ending a 368-year-old tradition of being spiritual and temporal head of Tibetans.

He said: "Since he has come in the form of a human, we have to agree there will be a moment when he is not with us. His Holiness has prepared us for that day, he made us act as if he's not there." 

Reuters