{"id":348,"date":"2025-07-04T12:20:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T12:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=348"},"modified":"2025-07-04T12:20:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T12:20:10","slug":"dalai-lama-confirms-he-will-have-a-successor-after-his-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=348","title":{"rendered":"Dalai Lama confirms he will have a successor after his death"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has confirmed he will have a successor, putting to rest speculation over whether the 600-year-old institution will end when he dies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a video message keenly-awaited by his followers, he said only the trust that he founded could appoint his successor and &#8220;no-one else has any authority to interfere in this matter&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Asake - Organise (Official Video)\" width=\"980\" height=\"551\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/_u4_iWCvZ5c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Tibetan tradition, Dalai Lamas are &#8220;reincarnated&#8221; after they die. China annexed Tibet in 1950 and the current Dalai Lama lives in exile in India, making succession a highly contentious issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Beijing rejected the statement, saying his successor would be from inside China and must be approved by the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hundreds of followers gathered on Wednesday to hear the long-awaited announcement in the Indian town of Dharamshala where the Dalai Lama lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Dalai Lama Library and Archive centre, where the video message was broadcast, resembled a sea of maroon with monks from all over the world in attendance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue,&#8221;\u00a0the Dalai Lama&#8217;s statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He reiterated that &#8220;the Gaden Phodrang Trust, the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama&#8230; should accordingly carry out the procedures of search and recognition in accordance with past tradition&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dharamshala is holding the Dalai Lama&#8217;s milestone 90th birthday celebrations which began on Monday &#8211; his birthday according to the Tibetan lunar calendar &#8211; and will conclude on 6 July, his official birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Celebrations will be attended by more than 7,000 guests, including a number of Indian ministers. Hollywood actor Richard Gere, a long-time follower, is also taking part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the past, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism had been torn between whether to continue with the post of Dalai Lama or not. A few years ago, he said his successor might be a girl, or that there might be no successor at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But in recent years, he had also said that if there was widespread support among Tibetans-in-exile for the post &#8211; which there is &#8211; then it would continue and his office would choose a successor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He has always insisted that his successor must be born outside China and his reiteration of the same on Wednesday did not go down well with Beijing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said that the Dalai Lama&#8217;s reincarnation must comply with Chinese laws and regulations as well as &#8220;religious rituals and historical conventions&#8221; and would need to be approved by Beijing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even though the Dalai Lama has always advocated a &#8220;middle way&#8221; to resolve the status of Tibet &#8211; genuine self-rule within China &#8211; Beijing regards him as a separatist. It says the standard of living of people in Tibet has greatly improved under its rule and denies suppressing their human rights and freedom of expression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Dalai Lama&#8217;s message &#8220;affirming that the continuation of the institution&#8221; has been welcomed by his followers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tsayang Gyatso, a 40-year-old businessman, said that for most Tibetans, the announcement is &#8220;a great relief and a moment of happiness&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I always had a belief that the reincarnation will come. But having heard it from His Holiness, I feel elated,&#8221; he told the BBC in Dharamshala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr Gyatso, who had travelled from Delhi, said he felt &#8220;blessed to be here in person to witness His Holiness&#8217;s birthday&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said there was &#8220;a lot of propaganda from China on the appointment of the next Dalai Lama&#8221; which made him fear that the appointment process could be corrupted &#8220;but all that has been put to rest by His Holiness&#8217;s announcement&#8221;. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cpvjjd7xw8go\">(BBC)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has confirmed he will have a successor, putting to rest speculation over whether the 600-year-old institution will end when he dies. In a video message keenly-awaited by his followers, he said only the trust that he founded could appoint his successor and &#8220;no-one else has any authority to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[489,182,487,186,488],"class_list":["post-348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foreign","tag-buddhism","tag-china","tag-dalai-lama","tag-india","tag-tibet"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dalai Lama confirms he will have a successor after his death - Tona Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has confirmed he will have a successor, putting to rest speculation over w\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tona.today\/?p=348\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dalai Lama confirms he will have a successor after his death - 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