Dalai Lama confirms plans for a successor to be chosen before he dies
July 2 (UPI) -- The Dalai Lama announced on Wednesday that the foundation he established in exile in India will name his successor in due course, prompting China to insist that he had no role to play and that his replacement was a decision for the Communist Party alone.
Ahead of his 90th birthday on Sunday, the spiritual leader of the world's 200 million followers of Tibetan Buddhism said in a statement that the responsibility for recognizing a new, reincarnated Dalai Lama lies solely with members of the Gaden Phodrang Trust and that "no one else has any such authority to interfere."
He said that the decision to continue the institution of the Dalai Lama was in response to overhelming popular demand from the leaders of Tibet's spiritual traditions, members of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile, the Central Tibetan Administration, NGOs and ordinary Buddhists from across Asia, including in Chinese-controlled Tibet, China and Russian republics.
Trust members "should consult the various heads of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions and the reliable oath-bound Dharma Protectors who are linked inseparably to the lineage of the Dalai Lamas. They should accordingly carry out the procedures of search and recognition in accordance with past tradition," said the Dalai Lama.
"I hereby reiterate that the Gaden Phodrang Trust, the Office of the Dalai Lama, has sole authority to recognize the future reincarnation; no one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter."
The declaration sets the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese communist rule, on a collision course with Beijing, which has its own "official" Buddhist denomination and regards him as a separatist and does not recognize his claim to represent Tibetans.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that succession matters did not lie with a single individual and that the process must conform to Chinese laws and regulations, as well as "religious rituals and historical conventions."
Accordingly, the Dalai Lama's reincarnation would be selected using a centuries-old lot-drawing system under which nominees are drawn from a golden urn, subject to approval by the central government, said foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning.
At least three previous Dalai Lamas have been chosen by this method, but not the current one, who is the 14th holder of the position.
A so-called Panchen Lama is normally charged with searching out the next Dalai Lama, but the current holder of the post, Tibetan Gedhun Choekyi Nima, has not been seen since shortly after being named by the Dalai Lama as a six-year-old in May 1995 to replace the previous Panchen Lama, who had died.
Beijing has since named its own Panchen Lama.
The competing powers in Dharamsala in India and Beijing vying for control could lead to the undedifying spectacle of two rival Dalai Lamas, both claiming to be the legitimate leader of Tibetan Buddhism.
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