Dharamshala, India – Dalai Lama said Wednesday that the Centennial Tiberian Buddhist institution will continue after his death, ending years of speculation that started when he said he could be the last person to occupy the role. His successor would mean that he would be reincarnated.
The spiritual leader of Tibetan buddhism winner of the Nobel Peace Prix said during prayer celebrations before his next 90th anniversary that the next Dalai Lama should be found and recognized according to past Buddhist traditions, while signaling that China should remain far from the process of identifying his successor.
Sanjay Baid / AFP via Getty Images
The Dalai Lama’s succession plan is politically consecutive for most of the Tibetans who oppose the tight control of China of Tibet and have had trouble keeping their identity alive, in their country of origin or in exile. It is also deep for Tibetan Buddhists who love him as a living manifestation of Chenrezig, the Buddhist God of compassion.
The decision, however, should irritate China, which has repeatedly declared that it alone had the power to approve the next religious leader. He insists that the reincarnated figure must be found in the Chinese Tibetan areas, giving the power of the communist authorities on which is chosen.
Many observers believe that there will be a Dalai Lamas rival – that appointed by Beijing, and one by senior monks faithful to the current Dalai Lama.
And China said on Wednesday that the reincarnation of Dalai Lama “approved by the central government,” said spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mao Ning during a regular drop, according to the French news agency AFP.
Tenzin Gyatso became the 14th reincarnation of Dalai Lama in 1940. He fled Tibet when Chinese troops crushed an uprising in the Tibetan capital Lhasa in 1959 and lived in the city of Dharamshala in India since then, helping to establish a democratic government in exile, while traveling to the world to defend autonomy.
Tibetan Buddhists believe that the Dalai Lama can choose the body in which it is reincarnated, as has happened 14 times since the creation of the institution in 1587. He reiterated in the past that his successor was born outside China.
The Dalai Lama presented its succession plan in a registered declaration which was televised during a religious rally of Buddhist monks in Dharamshala. He said that the process of research and recognition of his reincarnation lies only with the Gaden Phodrang Trust – a non -profit organization that he founded in 2015 which oversees the questions linked to the spiritual leader and the Dalai Lama Institute.
“No one else has such an authority to interfere in this case,” he said, adding that the search for a future Dalai Lama should be carried out in “in accordance with previous tradition”.
The Dalai Lama has often urged his disciples to reject any person chosen by Beijing. The Tibetan government self -proclaimed in exile which it led once before renouncing its political role in 2011 also supports this position.
Penpa Tsering, the president of the government in exile, said that Tibetans around the world made “serious demand with resolved devotion” that the position of the Dalai Lama should continue “for the benefit of all sensitive beings in general and Buddhist in particular”.
“In response to this overwhelming supplication, His Holiness showed infinite compassion and finally agreed to accept our appeal on this special occasion of his 90th anniversary,” he said at a press conference.
Tzering, however, warned China not to mix with the succession of Dalai Lama, saying that it is a “unique Buddhist tradition”.
“We do not only condemn the People’s Republic of China strongly, the use of reincarnation by their political gain and will never accept it,” he said.
The search for a reincarnation of a Dalai Lama begins only at the death of the holder.
In the past, the successor has been identified by senior monastic disciples, based on spiritual signs and visions, and he can take several years after the next Dalai Lama is identified as a baby and prepared to take the reins.