It has been speculated on the succession plan for the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader.
The Dalai Lama has said that he hopes to live for another 40 years until he is 130 years old, on the eve of his 90th birthday, days after he tried to calm abundant speculations about his succession by saying that he will reincarnate after his death.
The Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader was talking on Saturday during a ceremony organized by his followers to offer prayers for his long life, before his 90th birthday on Sunday.
Leading thousands of prayers while the sound of songs, drums and horns rang, said: “So far, I have done my best and with the continuous blessings of Avalokiteshvara [a Buddhist spiritual protector]I hope to live another 30 or 40 years, continue to serve the Senient Beings and the Dharma Buddha, ”he said, referring to the teachings of the Buddha.
Dalai Lama previously told the Reuters news agency in December that he could live at 110.
The Dalai Lama has confirmed that he will have a successor chosen according to the “past tradition”, ending years of speculation about the centennial office.
In a video message on Wednesday, he said that the Gaden Phodrang Foundation, which he established to preserve the institution, will have the power to recognize his future reincarnation.
Tibetan Buddhist leaders will seek their successor, he added, emphasizing that “nobody else has such authority to interfere with this matter.”
The 14th Dalai Lama said he had received many messages in the last years of Buddhists who requested the continuation of the office.
“According to all these requests, I am stating that the institution of Dalai Lama will continue,” he added.
He made the comments on Wednesday during a three -day religious conference in Dharamshala, the city of northern India, where he has had its headquarters since 1959, when he fled Tibet for India after a failed uprising against China.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, the writer and Tibetan activist Tenzin Tsundue described the announcement of the Dalai Lama on Wednesday as a “blow to the face” for China, which governs the autonomous region of Tibet and that he has affirmed that he has the power to name his successor.
The winner of the Nobel Peace Award, Dalai Lama, whom China marks a “separatist”, previously warned Beijing that he did not “know the system of reincarnation of Lamas, much less that of Dalai Lama.”
In response to his comments on Wednesday, China said that the succession of Dalai Lama must be approved by the central government in Beijing and that it would be carried out “taking lots of a gold urn,” the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told reporters.
That urn is in the hands of China, and the Dalai Lama has already warned that, when used dishonestly, it lacks “any spiritual quality.”
