Dalai Lama set to reveal succession plan

TIBET – The Dalai Lama will address a major three-day gathering of Buddhist religious figures this week ahead of his 90th birthday as his followers wait for the Tibetan spiritual leader to share details about his succession.
The move could irk China. Beijing views the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, as a separatist and said it will choose his successor.
The Dalai Lama has said his successor will be born outside China and urged his followers to reject anyone chosen by Beijing.
Tibetan Buddhists believe enlightened monks are reborn to carry forward their spiritual legacy. The 14th Dalai Lama will turn 90 on Sunday and has said he would consult senior monks and others to share possible clues on where his successor, a boy or a girl, could be found after  his death.
“The rest of my life I will dedicate for the benefit of others, as much as possible, as extensive as possible,” the Dalai Lama told a gathering of his followers on Monday while they offered prayers for his long life.
“There will be some kind of a framework within which we can talk about the continuation of the institution of the Dalai Lamas,” he said, without elaborating on the framework.
He has previously said he could possibly reincarnate in India, where he lives in exile near the northern Himalayan town of Dharamshala. He was identified as the reincarnation of his predecessor when he was two.
Dolma Tsering Teykhang,  deputy speaker of the Tibetan Parliament-in-exile in Dharamshala, said it was important for the world to hear directly from the Dalai Lama on the issue because while China “tries to vilify him at every chance. It is trying to frame rules and regulations on how to have the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama in their hand”.
“China is trying to grab this institution for its political purpose,” she said.