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 sought to assuage rife speculation over his succession by saying he would reincarnate upon his death.
The Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader was speaking on Saturday during a ceremony organised by his followers to offer prayers for his long life, ahead of his 90th birthday on Sunday.
Leading thousands in the prayers as the sound of chanting, drums, horns rang out, he said: “So far, I have done my best and with the continued blessings of Avalokiteshvara (a Buddhist spiritual protector), I hope to live another 30 or 40 years, continuing to serve sentient beings and the Buddha Dharma”, he said, referring to the teachings of the Buddha.
The Dalai Lama previously told the Reuters news agency in December he might live to 110.
The Dalai Lama has confirmed that he will have a successor chosen in accordance with “past tradition”, ending years of speculation about the centuries-old office.
In a video message on Wednesday, he said the Gaden Phodrang Foundation, which he established to preserve the institution, will have the power to recognise his future reincarnation.
Tibetan Buddhist leaders will search for his successor, he added, stressing that “no one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter”.
The 14th Dalai Lama said he had received many messages in recent years from Buddhists calling for the office’s continuation.
“In accordance with all these requests, I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue,” he added.
He made the comments on Wednesday during a three-day religious conference in Dharamshala, the northern Indian town where he has been based since 1959, when he fled Tibet for India after a failed uprising against China.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, the Tibetan writer and activist Tenzin Tsundue described the Dalai Lama’s announcement on Wednesday as a “punch in the face” for China, which governs the Tibet Autonomous Region and which has claimed that it has the power to appoint his successor.
The Nobel Peace Prize-winning Dalai Lama, whom China brands a “separatist”, has previously warned Beijing not “to meddle in the system of reincarnation of lamas, let alone that of the Dalai Lama”.
In response to his comments on Wednesday, China said the Dalai Lama’s succession must be approved by the central government in Beijing and that it would be carried out “by drawing lots from a golden urn”, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters.
That urn is held by China, and the Dalai Lama has already warned that, when used dishonestly, it lacks “any spiritual quality”.
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