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 in a move that could irk China.
Beijing views the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, as a separatist and says 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 hold that 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 at this time to share possible clues on where his successor, a boy or a girl, could be found following 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 as 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, the 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 still alive but things are different now mainly because the "Chinese government is interfering".
Beijing said in March that 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 recognizes that Tibet and Taiwan are inalienable parts of China, a proposal the Tibetan government in exile has rejected.
'AS IF HE'S NOT THERE'
The religious conference this week, 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 organizers.
He will speak at the celebrations for about half an hour. India's parliamentary affairs minister, Kiren Rijiju, and some other Indian officials are expected to attend.
Tibetans have been praying for his long health, especially since knee surgery in the U.S. last year, although the Dalai Lama told Reuters in December that he could live until he was 110. The previous Dalai Lama died earlier than expected at 58.
The Dalai Lama and Tibetan officials say 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 and recognize the next Dalai Lama.
The current 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, especially through his 2011 decision to hand his political role to a democratically elected government, ending a 368-year-old tradition of being both spiritual and temporal head of Tibetans.
"Since he has come in the form of a human, we have to agree that there will be a moment when he is not with us," said Teykhang. "His Holiness has really prepared us for that day, he made us act as if he's not there."
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
18 Comments
Login to comment
TaiwanIsNotChina
Peking already has some puppets lined up to try and claim they own the next Dalai Lama.
Some dude
I'd love it if the Dalai Lama really trolled Beijing by announcing that the successor will be found in Taiwan or Hong Kong... or any other of the many places China seems to consider that it somehow owns.
Peter14
Religious leaders are chosen by the religion, not the state. Anyone picked by the CCP will be ignored by the true faithful, and only those few within the CCP who are Buddhist may defer to the Chinese puppet.
Absolutely correct. Beijing can complain from the tallest peaks in China, but true Buddhist's will follow the chosen one that is found by Buddhist officials outside of China.
The CCP trusts nobody, no religion, no companies, no people that they do not control or believe that they directly and completely control.
Religions are based on faith, not on political parties no matter how they are arranged.
elephant200
He is an American puppet disguised as a holy man but his collaboration with the CIA waging sabotaged and guerrilla war in Tibet throughout the 1960s and early 70s until Nixon sold out the Tibetans.
Tibet is Chinese soil and it doesn't matter who is to be his successor. The Tibetans were secular people now and educated to be Chinese. Tibet is gold, all the drinkable water came from the glaciers melted. We will never let it go !
elephant200
Religions are based on faith, not on political parties no matter how they are arranged.
The above were the spiritual opium used to sell to the Chinese but we rejected it always !
deanzaZZR
No kidding?
"In 1792 the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty published The Discourse of Lama, in which he questioned the reincarnation of Buddhas because they are not supposed to have births or deaths according to fundamental teachings of Buddhism. On the other hand, without reincarnated tulkus, many Tibetan Buddhists would lose their spiritual support. Qianlong explained that choosing reincarnated lamas with the Golden Urn, as opposed to private designation or one person's choice, would be more fair[38] and could also prevent greedy families from acquiring multiple religious positions such as reincarnated rinpoches or lamas. The first article of 29-Article Ordinance for the More Effective Governing of Tibet states that the purpose of Golden Urn is to ensure the prosperity of Gelug and to eliminate cheating and corruption in the selection process.
Since the creation of the Golden Urn, its confirmation or exemption has been required for multiple Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas. In 1814 the registration process for all 167 Tulkus in Tibet, Kham, and Inner Mongolia was completed." - Wiki
The position of the Dalai Lama has usually held both spiritual and political powers.
isabelle
Another reminder to the world of the terrible injustices suffered by the Tibetan people at the hands of the brutal Chinese Communist Party.
Shame on everyone related to the CCP, including their chest-thumping cheerleaders on JT.
He is a Tibetan, whose country was stolen by the CCP.
The Tibetans are religious people, and no amount of "re-education" by the CCP has changed that, despite decades of horrific repression.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Peking is detaining the legitimate 11th Panchen Lama and his family for 30 years since he was six. Just let that sink in.
Some dude
"The Monk and the Philosopher" is a great book to get some genuine insight into Buddhism, the Tibetan version in particular, as well as some ideas of the kind of things that Tibetans had to go through at the hands of the Chinese regime.
I feel conflicted by China in many ways. Used to do (and still do, sometimes) a lot of tai chi and chi gung, which is excellent stuff, and some of the old ink-brush art from China is magnificent. Also like the Taoist philosophy, and I think the world could do well to read up on it, especially the warmongers. But that's a different country from a different era...
deanzaZZR
I do find it ironic that most liberals that make up the majority of posters here at JT look down upon most religious leaders yet gush glowingly about the 14th Dalai Lama who has chosen exile from Tibet for more than 50 years.
It certainly is a complicated issue.
I have twice visited the monastery were the young Dalai Lama studied in Qinghai. I traveled around Tibet when it was abjectily poor, yet the people were friendly and warm of heart. A much younger and more idealistic me had scores of small photos of the Dalai Lama that I gave to Tibetans which were received with pleasure.
Materially Tibet today is leaps and bounds more developed, offering more opportunities to Tibetans of any age. How the institution of the Dalai Lama fits into Tibet going forward is yet to be determined.
elephant200
Whose country was stolen by the CCP.
Did the United Nation security Council ever condemned China over stolen someone else country ?
So far as I know the fact is the UNSC always condemned Israel for their actions in Gaza and US usually veto it.
I am sure nobody interested this kind of condemning China over her sovereignty soil Tibet !
isabelle
You conveniently avoid mentioning the reason he went into exile: because the CCP stole his country.
No amount of "development" is worth living under CCP repression.
No amount of parroting the Party line will mask the truth.
elephant200
Peking is detaining the legitimate 11th Panchen Lama.
Legitimate or illegitimate depends on the constitution of PRC. Because Tibet is in the jurisdiction of Chinese law !
M3M3M3
Have you ever wondered why the CCP was able to annex Tibet with so little opposition by the locals? Tibet wasn't exactly a peaceful paradise for ordinary people. Tibetans were serfs who served the land owning monks and would be horribly mistreated and have their ears or nose cut off for disobedience. This was all justified by Buddhism and the idea that serfs deserved their fate because they must have lived unpiously in a previous life to be reborn as serfs. The modern repackaging of Buddhism as some sort of enlightened new-age philosophy makes it difficult to imagine, but Tibet was basically a brutal religious dictatorship.
isabelle
No-one said it was. The CCP still stole it, paradise or not.
(FYI, the PRC is not, and has never been, a "peaceful paradise for ordinary people" either.)
Tibet is now a brutal CCP dictatorship.
Amazingly, the cheerleaders on here try to tell people that's a good thing. They don't seem to realize that Xi Jinping Thought doesn't apply in the real world.
Fighto!
elephant200 -
Your countrymen are greedy bullies and land thieves. Xi is a murderer. Your leaders ruthlessly oppress any dissent or opposition within China, no matter how small. The mere typing of the word "democracy" in Communist China - or a place (illegally) controlled by Communist China - sees innocent people being thrown in prison for a very long time.
Your people HATE the very idea of freedom.
Tibet is NOT Chinese. And by the way - you will never, ever take free Taiwan.
M3M3M3
Perhaps keeping an independent Tibet would have been nice, just like an independent Ainu Hokkaido, or the Kingdom of Hawaii, or an Australia governed by aboriginals. But for one reason or another these polities failed to remain independent and were consumed by larger powers. History marches on.
The idea that modern young Tibetans would choose to give up the economic/educational opportunities that come with being a Chinese citizen in exchange for independence in a small landlocked nation seems very unlikely to me.
isabelle
They were not, and are not, given any "choice." The CCP invaded and brutally annexed their country.
Yet again, the cheerleaders try to make out that the CCP has somehow "helped" the Tibetans, and that their life is "better" now.
No-one is fooled.