Dalai Lama’s 90th and Succession

Thousands of Tibetan Buddhists and supporters gathered in Dharamshala, India, to celebrate the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday despite heavy monsoon rains. The spiritual leader appeared in good spirits, saying he’s in strong health and predicting he could live to 130. Celebrations included prayers, traditional dances, and tributes from figures like Richard Gere, with birthday wishes from India’s PM Narendra Modi and former US President Barack Obama. The Dalai Lama also reaffirmed plans for a successor, insisting the reincarnation will occur outside China—prompting renewed tension as Beijing claims authority over the process, heightening fears among Tibetans of a China-backed successor.

Thousands gathered in Dharamshala, India, to celebrate the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday amid monsoon rains, with traditional performances, speeches by Indian officials, and support from figures like Richard Gere. The Tibetan spiritual leader emphasized compassion, human values, religious harmony, and preserving Tibetan culture, saying he remains in good health and aims to live to 130. In a key announcement, he affirmed there will be a successor after his death and asserted that his office has sole authority to recognize his reincarnation, rejecting any external interference—implicitly challenging China’s claim that it must approve the next Dalai Lama. The move highlights a looming succession battle as Beijing seeks to control Tibetan religious affairs, while many Tibetans insist the process follow Buddhist tradition and occur outside China. Despite a reduced global profile with age, the Dalai Lama received birthday tributes from global figures, including Barack Obama, underscoring his enduring moral influence.

Thousands of devotees, including actor Richard Gere, gathered in Dharamshala, India, to celebrate the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday after a week of events that began on his Tibetan-calendar birthday. Despite heavy rain, monks, nuns, and followers attended ceremonies where the Dalai Lama—who fled Tibet in 1959—expressed hopes to live to 130. He affirmed there will be a successor chosen according to Buddhist tradition, challenging China’s claim it should control the process. The U.S. has urged China not to interfere in the succession.

The Dalai Lama celebrated his 90th birthday in Dharamshala, India, amid thousands of followers, monks, and global dignitaries. He reflected on a life of service, reiterated he intends to reincarnate in accordance with Buddhist tradition, and suggested his successor should be recognized outside China—countering Beijing’s claim it alone can approve the next Dalai Lama. Leaders including India’s Narendra Modi and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent tributes; actor Richard Gere attended. Events also took place in Nepal. Exiled since 1959 after China’s takeover of Tibet, the Nobel laureate has sustained Tibetan culture and identity in diaspora and remains a global symbol of compassion and resistance, expressing hopes to live to 130 and continue promoting human values and interfaith harmony.

The article profiles the democratic institutions the Dalai Lama built in exile to sustain Tibetan identity and political cohesion as he approaches 90 and a fraught succession looms. After devolving and then relinquishing political power by 2011, he left a directly elected president (sikyong), a 45-member parliament, and a global voting system serving some 140,000 Tibetan exiles, centered in Indian settlements like Dharamsala and Bylakuppe. This “little mountain democracy” runs schools, clinics, monasteries, and social services on a tight budget and is designed to withstand Chinese pressure, including an expected duel over the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation—likely producing rival claimants backed by Beijing and the exile office. The system’s resilience is tested by geopolitics and funding: India treads carefully with China, and a recent U.S. aid freeze under the Trump administration disrupted roughly a quarter of the exile government’s $40 million budget before partial restoration. Inside the community, anxiety over the post-Dalai Lama era is palpable, as younger generations disperse globally and ties to Tibet weaken, but leaders argue that the democratic framework and cultural work can carry the cause through the interregnum.