As a spiritual and political leader, the Dalai Lama spent its life building a nation in exile, but potential disputes over its legitimate successor could mean the end of an independent Tibet.
Front burner26:56Will a “free Tibet” die with the Dalai Lama?
The Dalai Lama spent almost all of his adult life as a refugee from his homeland in Tibet. Fleeing Chinese persecution in the 1950s, he built a nation in exile, trying to preserve Tibetan culture as not only the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, but as a global ambassador for the cause of his people.
But he knows that a transition is coming. At his 90th birthday this week, the Dalai Lama announced his plans on how his successor will be chosen after his death. Given that this successor will be a child, it means years of empty power on which China is almost sure to capitalize, in particular by trying to appoint a Dalai Lama Rival.
Mujib Mashal is the head of the Southern Asian office of the New York Times. He explains what is at stake for the inhabitants of Tibet – and Asian geopolitics more broadly – in the fight to be able to come when the Dalai Lama passes.
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