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Al Jazeera
02-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Dalai Lama confirms he will have a successor after his death
The Dalai Lama has confirmed that he will have a successor chosen in accordance with 'past tradition', ending years of speculation about the centuries-old office. In a video message on Wednesday, just days before his 90th birthday, the Tibetan spiritual leader said the Gaden Phodrang Foundation, which he established to preserve the institution, will have the power to recognise his future reincarnation. Tibetan Buddhist leaders will search for his successor, he added, stressing that 'no one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter'. The 14th Dalai Lama said he had received many messages in recent years from Buddhists calling for the office's continuation. 'In accordance with all these requests, I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue,' he added. He made the comments during a three-day religious conference in Dharamshala, the northern Indian town where he has been based since 1959, when he fled Tibet for India after a failed uprising against China. Speaking to Al Jazeera, the Tibetan writer and activist Tenzin Tsundue described the Dalai Lama's announcement on Wednesday as a 'punch in the face' for China, which governs the Tibet Autonomous Region and which has claimed that it has the power to appoint his successor. The Nobel Peace Prize-winning Dalai Lama, whom China brands a 'separatist', has previously warned Beijing not 'to meddle in the system of reincarnation of lamas, let alone that of the Dalai Lama'. In response to his comments on Wednesday, China said the Dalai Lama's succession must be approved by the central government in Beijing. Thupten Ngodup, a spiritual adviser to the Dalai Lama, said that ordinarily there would not be talk of a successor during the current leader's lifetime. 'But this discussion is happening now mainly because the Chinese government is interfering with the reincarnation of His Holiness,' he told Al Jazeera. In Tibetan Buddhism, it is believed that the spiritual leader will be reincarnated in the body of a child. Born into a farming family on July 6, 1935, the current Dalai Lama was chosen for the role at the age of two. A search party sent by the Tibetan government picked him after he identified items belonging to his predecessor, according to his website. In the winter of 1940, he moved to Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, where he became his people's spiritual leader. His successor can be of any gender and does not have to hold Tibetan nationality, an official at the Dalai Lama's trust said on Wednesday. In 2011, the Dalai Lama handed political authority to a democratically elected Tibetan government-in-exile.
Hindustan Times
29-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Tibet groups call on Nepalese film festival to cancel Xizang Panorama
A coalition of 145 global Tibet-related organisations have called on the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF) to cancel 'Xizang Panorama' immediately, which they claim is China's 'propaganda'. 'Xizang Panorama' is a program under KIMFF's international category, featuring a selection of six short films, each approximately 15 minutes long. The country of origin listed for all the films is China. The organisations have maintained that KIMFF's 'Xizang Panorama' wrongly refers to Tibet with the name 'Xizang' which they said is a term that the Chinese government is promoting as a tool of imperial erasure and its use undermines the distinct historical and cultural identity of Tibet. Kathmandu is hosting the 22nd edition of the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival (KIMFF), from May 28 to June 1. The Dharamshala-based Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in the past also opposed the usage of 'Xizang' instead of Tibet – calling it Chinese propaganda. 'The programme – Xizang Panorama – is not only inaccurately named 'Xizang', but it also features propaganda films that showcase China's false narrative about the situation in Tibet. One such is 'Life of Buda' which promotes China's false narrative of the occupation of Tibet as a 'peaceful liberation' ,the organisations said in a statement. The organisations include India Tibet Friendship Society, Students for a Free Tibet, The Global Alliance for Tibet and Persecuted Minorities, US Tibet Committee, V-TAG United Kingdom, Tibetan Women's Association among others. Meanwhile, Dharamshala based Tibetan writer and activist Tenzin Tsundue said that it is unfortunate that a select group of Nepalese politicians are allowing the sacred land of Nepal for Chinese propaganda on Tibet. 'This is never the wish of the Nepalese people who are like brothers and sisters to the Tibetans inside Tibet, suffering under Chinese communist dictatorship. In the 7th century, Nepalese princess Bhrikuti Devi was offered as queen to emperor Songtsen Gampo of Tibet, not Xizang. Tibet may be under foreign occupation today, but tomorrow, when we re-established the entire country of 2.5 million km of land as Tibet, with what face will Nepal face the Dalai Lama?' he said.
