Will the Tibetan spiritual leader reveal a succession plan, being 90 years old?

Hundreds of Dalai Lama disciples gathered in northern India for the 90th anniversary of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, in the middle of the increasing anticipation that he could give an idea of ​​his possible successor.

The Dalai Lama is expected to publish a video message and a statement on Wednesday, his office told the BBC, although there is no clarity on what he will say.

The Dalai Lama fled through the border to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese domination in Tibet.

He created a government in exile in the northern city of the Indian hill of Dharamsala and was considered an alternative source of power for those who want the close control of Beijing in Tibet.

The anniversary of the stage on Sunday will be preceded by the 15th three -day Tibetan religious conference, from Wednesday morning. The celebrations started on Monday – the birthday of Dalai Lama according to the Tibetan lunar calendar.

The celebrations will be assisted by more than 7,000 guests, including a number of Indian ministers. The photos showed on Monday that the Dalai Lama Blessing Hollywood Actor Richard Gere, a long -standing follower.

The Dalai Lama, who had previously declared that he would release details on his succession around his 90th anniversary, told a rally on Monday that “there will be a kind of framework in which we can speak of the continuation of the Dalai Lamas institution”. He did not develop.

In the past, the spiritual leader winner of the Nobel Peace Prix for Tibetan Buddhism was torn between the opportunity to continue with the 600 -year or not institution. A few years ago, he said that his successor could be a girl, or that there could be no successor.

But in recent years, he has also said that if there has been a large support among the Tibetans in exile for the position – what there is – then it would continue and his office would choose a successor.

He always insisted that his successor was born outside China, which made Beijing angry.

Even if the Dalai Lama has always recommended a “median way” to resolve the status of Tibet – authentic autonomous in China – Beijing considers it as a separatist. He indicates that the standard of living of people in Tibet has improved considerably during his reign.

Youdon Aukatsang, a deputy for the Tibetan parliament in exile, said that he did not expect “a clear procedure would be established” this week.

“I think everyone anticipates a kind of revelation of his holiness about his reincarnation. But I do not expect a kind of very specific revelation,” he told the BBC.

The current Dalai Lama, he said, “is a binding and unifying force for the Tibetan movement” and some Tibetans feel that someone should soon be recognized as their successor because it fears that there is an impact on the community and the movement in the future.

“The institution of the Dalai Lama is very important for the Tibetan struggle. It is also a symbol of Tibetan identity and a lighthouse of our spiritual refuge. This will continue. I think there will be a void, but we must continue, we have no choice,” he said.

“We have very, very big shoes to fill, but we have to fill them, right? I think many people will have to play this role, a person will not be enough.”

Experts, however, say that if he announces a successor, China should also name its own Dalai Lama.

“China will say that only the Chinese Communist Party based in Beijing has the power to find the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama,” Dibyesh Anand, professor of international relations at the University of Westminster, told BBC.

“After a period of a few months or a few years, they will have their own protégés identify a little boy like the next Dalai Lama and impose it. Of course, a majority of Tibetans will reject him and the majority of people in the world will have fun.

Mr. Aukatsang says that “despite all these years of trying to control the heart and mind of the Tibetan people inside Tibet”, Beijing “completely failed”.

A Dalai Lama chosen by China, he says, “will not be recognized, not only by the Tibetans, but the world will not recognize it because China does not have legitimacy to find the future Dalai Lama”.

“We are worried, but we know that, whatever our concern, China will offer their own Dalai Lama, we will call it the Dalai Lama recognized by Chinese. I do not worry that Dalai Lama has credibility in the Tibetan world or the Buddhist world.”

Tibetan Buddhists believe that their senior monks are reincarnated and that a Dalai Lama is chosen by Buddhist officials if they are convinced that the one they choose to welcome the soul of its predecessor.

The present – 14th – Dalai Lama was born on July 6, 1935 in a small Tibetan village in a family of farmers and was appointed Lhamo Dhondub. At the age of two, a part of the research of Buddhist officials recognized him as the reincarnation of the 13 preceding Dalai Lamas.

According to his official biography, the elements of proof of the shortcut came when the officials showed him a certain number of goods which had belonged to his predecessor. The toddler has correctly identified elements belonging to the 13th Dalai Lama saying: “It’s me. It’s mine”.

Industrial before he was four years old, he studied in a Tibetan monastery and has a doctorate in Buddhist philosophy.

But in 1950, when he was 15 years old, the troops of the newly installed communist government of Mao Zedong walked in Tibet. A year later, China wrote an agreement of 17 points legitimizing the incorporation of Tibet into China.

A Tibetan revolt in 1959, seeking the end of Chinese domination, was crushed and thousands of demonstrators were killed.

The Dalai Lama fled to India on foot with 10,000 subscribers and settled in Dharamsala, leading a government in exile. In 2011, he abandoned his political role but remains the best spiritual leader in Tibetan Buddhism.

Some of those who fled next to him always dream of going home to Tibet.

“My faith is that I will come back to Tibet. If it is not me, my young generations will come back,” said Lobsang Choedon, 84, who attended the celebrations on Monday.

The girl and the grandchildren of Choedon were all born – and spent all their lives – in India. Nevertheless, his 15-year-old grandson, Ngawang Lhundup, feels deeply linked to his ancestral homeland.

He has listened to stories about Tibet since he was a child and says he would plan to visit Tibet even if it is under Chinese domination.

“But if it was free from the Chinese invasion, I would be more than delighted to return to Tibet.”