The Dalai Lama said on Wednesday that he will be reincarnated and that his non-profit institution will have the sole authority to identify his reincarnation, countering China’s insistence that it will choose the successor of the Tibetan Buddhist leader.
The remarks by the Dalai Lama, who turns 90 on Sunday, end speculation among millions of followers about whether there would be another Dalai Lama after his death. The Nobel peace laureate was speaking during a week of celebrations to mark his birthday which was expected to be closely watched by the U.S., India and China for clues about his successor for strategic reasons. There was no immediate comment from China.
“I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue,” the Dalai Lama said in a video message to a gathering in Dharamshala, a town in the foothills of the Himalayas in northern India, that was attended by more than 100 monks in maroon robes, journalists from around the world and long-time supporters including Hollywood star Richard Gere.
Beijing views the Dalai Lama, who fled to India from Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, as a separatist. The Dalai Lama has previously said his successor will be born outside China and urged his followers to reject anyone chosen by Beijing. In previous years, he had also said it was possible that there might be no successor at all.
The Dalai Lama added that the Gaden Phodrang Trust, the non-profit organization that he set up to maintain and support the tradition and institution of the Dalai Lama, has the sole authority to recognize his future reincarnation in consultation with the heads of Tibetan Buddhist traditions.
“They should accordingly carry out the procedures of search and recognition in accordance with past tradition … no one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter,” the Dalai Lama said.
Tibetan tradition holds that the soul of a senior Buddhist monk is reincarnated in the body of a child upon his death.
Born as Lhamo Dhondup on July 6, 1935, to a farming family in what is now Qinghai province, the 14th Dalai Lama was identified as such a reincarnation when he was just two years old by a search party on the basis of several signs, such as a vision revealed to a senior monk, the Dalai Lama’s website says.
He is now regarded as one of the world’s most influential religious figures, with a following extending well beyond Buddhism, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.
‘NO INSTRUCTIONS ON SUCCESSION’
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.
China says its leaders have the right to approve the Dalai Lama’s successor, as a legacy from imperial times. A selection ritual, in which the names of possible reincarnations are drawn from a golden urn, dates to 1793, during the Qing dynasty.
Chinese officials have repeatedly said the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama should be decided by following national laws that decree use of the golden urn and the birth of reincarnations within China’s borders.
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.
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
Dalai Lama says he will be reincarnated; his Trust will lead search for his successor
