Dalai Lama set to reveal succession plan as China watches

DHARAMSHALA, India - 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 July 6 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.

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