The Dalai Lama has said his successor will be born outside China – but Beijing says it will choose the next spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism.
In a new book published on Tuesday, the 89-year-old reversed his previous position that he may be the last in the line of spiritual leaders.
It’s the first time the Dalai Lama, who fled the Himalayan country in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, has stated his successor would be born in the “free world”, meaning outside China.
He has previously said only that he could reincarnate outside Tibet, possibly in India where he lives in exile.
But Beijing has dismissed him as a “separatist”, who, according to a foreign ministry spokesperson, has “no right to represent the Tibetan people at all”.
In Voice for the Voiceless, which was reviewed by Reuters, he writes that Tibetans worldwide want the institution of the Dalai Lama to carry on after his death.
“Since the purpose of a reincarnation is to carry on the work of the predecessor, the new Dalai Lama will be born in the free world so that the traditional mission of the Dalai Lama – that is, to be the voice for universal compassion, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, and the symbol of Tibet embodying the aspirations of the Tibetan people – will continue,” he writes.
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His homeland, he writes, remains “in the grip of repressive Communist Chinese rule” and that the campaign for the freedom of the Tibetan people will continue “no matter what”, even after his death.
“The right of the Tibetan people to be the custodians of their own homeland cannot be indefinitely denied, nor can their aspiration for freedom be crushed forever through oppression.
“One clear lesson we know from history is this: If you keep people permanently unhappy, you cannot have a stable
society.”
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Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for keeping the Tibetan cause alive.
Beijing has insisted it will choose his successor, but the Dalai Lama has said any Chinese candidate would not be respected.
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Asked about the book on Tuesday, Mao Ning told reporters: “The lineage of the Dalai Lama living Buddha was formed and developed in China’s Tibet, and his religious status and name were also determined by (China’s) central government.”
The Dalai Lama has said he will release details about his succession around his 90th birthday in July.
