Dalai Lama shuts out China, reveals when his successor will be chosen

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Wednesday confirmed that he will be reincarnated after his death, asserting that only the Gaden Phodrang Trust holds the sole authority to recognize his future reincarnation and that no one else has the right to interfere in the matter.

He said the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue, ending years of waiting by followers of the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader for details about his succession.

Dalai Lama on his Successor

Speaking at prayer celebrations ahead of his 90th birthday on Sunday, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism said in a recorded statement that the next Dalai Lama should be found and recognized as per past Buddhist traditions.

"I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue", he said.

ALSO READ: Will China be stumped by Dalai Lama on Sunday?

Tibetan Buddhists believe that the Dalai Lama can choose the body into which he is reincarnated, as has happened on 14 occasions since the creation of the institution in 1587.

The Dalai Lama has insisted that his successor would be born outside China. Beijing, which regards him as a separatist, has said it alone has the authority to find the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.

Most Tibetan Buddhists, inside Tibet and in exile, oppose China’s tight control of Tibet.

China reacts

Reacting to the Dalai Lama's statements, China’s Foreign Ministry stated that the succession of the Dalai Lama must comply with Chinese laws and regulations, along with religious rituals and historical conventions.

The ministry said the government upholds a policy of freedom of religious belief and that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama must follow procedures carried out within China, including search and identification, drawing lots from the Golden Urn, and final approval by the central government.

A selection ritual, in which the names of possible reincarnations are drawn from a golden urn, dates to 1793, during the Qing dynasty.

'No instructions on succession'

Meanwhile, Samdhong Rinpoche, a senior official of the Gaden Phodrang Trust told reporters that the Dalai Lama was in good health and he has not given any written instructions yet on the succession.

He said the successor can be of any gender and that their nationality would not be restricted to Tibet.

Penpa Tsering, leader of the Central Tibetan Administration, the Tibetan government-in-exile in India, said the Dalai Lama would be open to visiting Tibet if his health permits and if there were no restrictions from China.

He also said that the U.S. had lifted some restrictions on funds for Tibetans in exile and that the Tibetan government was looking for alternate sources of funding. The United States, which faces rising competition from China for global dominance, has repeatedly said it is committed to advancing the human rights of Tibetans. U.S. lawmakers have previously said they would not allow China to influence the choice of the Dalai Lama's successor.

Dalai Lama: A life in exile

With his famous beaming smile, the Dalai Lama has become a global symbol of peace whose message transcends religion. He is regarded by his many supporters as a visionary in the vein of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. However, the charismatic leader has long been a source of discomfort for China.

Born into a farming family in the Tibetan village of Taktser on July 6, 1935, he was chosen as the 14th incarnation of Tibetan Buddhism's supreme religious leader at the age of two. He was given the name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso -- Holy Lord, Gentle Glory, Compassionate, Defender of the Faith and Ocean of Wisdom -- and taken to Lhasa's 1,000-room Potala Palace to be trained to become the leader of his people.

He indulged a precocious scientific curiosity, playing with a watch sent to him by US president Franklin Roosevelt and repairing cars, one of which he crashed into a palace gate. But his childhood ended abruptly at age 15, when he was hastily enthroned as head of state after the Chinese army invaded Tibet in 1950.

Nine years later, as Chinese troops crushed a popular uprising, he escaped to India. When told the Dalai Lama had fled, Chinese leader Mao Zedong reportedly said: "In that case, we have lost the battle."

He was welcomed by India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who offered Dharamsala as a base for him and thousands of fellow Tibetan refugees. He set up a government-in-exile in the Himalayan town and launched a campaign to reclaim Tibet, evolving to adopt a "middle way" approach that relinquished demands for independence for calls for greater autonomy.

Throughout the Dalai Lama's life, he has been treated as an honoured guest in India -- an official policy stance that has been a source of tension with China.

It is unclear how, or even whether, his successor will be named, with his predecessors chosen by monks according to ancient Buddhist traditions.