India Thursday asserted that the successor to the 14th Dalai Lama has to be decided by established practices and that no one but the present Dalai Lama “has the right to decide”.
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Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju and Rajeev Ranjan Singh would be attending the 14th Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday in Dharamshala on Sunday.
“Reincarnation has to be decided by the established conventions and the desire of the present Dalai Lama. No one else has the right to decide on the next Dalai Lama. It is the most important defining institution for all the Tibetans and all those who follow the Nalanda tradition of Buddhism,” Rijiju, the Union Minister for Minority Affairs, said.
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The statement comes after China, which describes the Dalai Lama as a separatist, stated that the spiritual leader’s reincarnation must be approved by the Chinese Central government. On Wednesday, the Dalai Lama said that the 600-year-old institution of spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhists will continue after his death and a trust created by him will be the sole authority to recognize his reincarnation, effectively ruling out any role of China in recognising his successor.
China had reacted to it sharply with the ruling Communist Party insisting that its authorities will anoint the next Dalai Lama by pulling a name from a “golden urn”.
Rijiju, a Buddhist himself, said the birthday celebrations of the Dalai Lama in Dharamshala “is purely a religious event” not a “political issue.”
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