The Dalai Lama would 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 would choose his successor. The Dalai Lama has said his successor would 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 would 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.
Photo: AP
“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 his followers yesterday 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 [of] 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 in March said 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.
The religious conference this week, being held for the first time since 2019, would be attended by more than 100 Tibetan Buddhist leaders and would feature a video statement from the Dalai Lama.
Hollywood star Richard Gere, a long-time follower of Tibetan Buddhism, would be among those attending, organizers have said.
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