By Arun Anand News18
The town of Dharamshala in India鈥檚 Himachal Pradesh is bustling with celebration and anticipation as the 14th Dalai Lama is set to turn 90 on July 6. Although, as the spiritual and political head of Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama鈥檚 birthday is in itself a hugely significant event, this time, it holds far-reaching importance as His Holiness is expected to share details of his successor. This is not just going to be a spiritually or religiously loaded revelation, but something that the future of the Tibetan people, who have been resisting Chinese control for decades, depends on.
Since the Dalai Lama鈥檚 exile to India in 1959, along with thousands of others, in the wake of the Chinese occupation of the Tibetan plateau, he has emerged as a globally recognised and revered embodiment of Tibetan resistance, cultural distinction, and humanitarian values. A Nobel laureate, the Dalai Lama, or Tenzin Gyatso, was born as Lhamo Dhondup in 1935 in northeastern Tibet, and in two years, he was identified by sacred religious search parties as the incarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama. This is a centuries-old practice within Tibetan Buddhism wherein the reincarnation of top spiritual leaders is decided after their death based on visions and signs interpreted by senior Lamas. This process could take years, resulting in a spiritual and political vacuum of leadership during that time.
However, the current Dalai Lama has made a few critical departures in this tradition鈥攆irstly, he has suggested that he might give indications regarding his successor while he is alive, a method known as 鈥渆manation鈥, and secondly, in his March 2025 book Voice for the Voiceless, he has stated, 鈥淪ince the purpose of a reincarnation is to carry on the work of the predecessor, the new Dalai Lama will be born in the free world.鈥 By 鈥渇ree world鈥, he is suggesting that his successor will be found outside China, which, again, is a divergence from convention.
The reasons behind these deviations have to do with the relentless and overwhelming Chinese interference and suppression of Tibetan cultural traditions. The Chinese state, which officially identifies as atheist, has repeatedly declared that it reserves the right to decide on the Dalai Lama鈥檚 reincarnation, a practice that it claims to trace to imperial China under the Qing dynasty. To that end, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wants to determine the next Tibetan Buddhist leader through the 鈥済olden urn鈥 process (wherein the names of all possible reincarnations are drawn from a golden urn), and to preside over it, it has convened a committee comprising government-selected Tibetan monks and CCP officials.
This is, in no way, the first time that the CCP has attempted to directly intervene in Tibetan Buddhist affairs. In Tibetan Buddhism, the second-highest spiritual seat is accorded to the Panchen Lama, who also plays a crucial role in identifying the Dalai Lama鈥檚 reincarnation. In 1995, the current Dalai Lama named the 6-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the reincarnated Panchen Lama. Within days of the announcement, the boy and his family were abducted, never to be seen again, while the Chinese state propped up their own Panchen Lama, who parrots the party line and endorses Beijing鈥檚 sovereignty over Tibet. Therefore, the vital significance of the Panchen Lama in deciding the succession of the Dalai Lama was a chief motivation for the CCP to intercept this seat, which raises anxieties about the future of the figure of the Dalai Lama itself.
As the Dalai Lama gets older, the apprehension that there might be two Dalai Lamas, one based on suggestions by the current Dalai Lama and another projected by the CCP, becomes more and more severe. Despite the Dalai Lama鈥檚 repeated assertion of fighting for Tibetan autonomy through peaceful means, as opposed to separatism, the CCP has always painted him as a violent secessionist and a threat to Chinese nationhood. As early as 1996, China formally prohibited the display and possession of the Dalai Lama鈥檚 images in Tibet, construing it as solidarity with Tibetan secessionism.
Over the years, China has intensified its efforts at reshaping Tibetan society, severing the next generation from their language, culture, ways of life, and, most importantly, aspiration for autonomy. From uprooting thousands of Tibetans by forcefully relocating their villages to separating around one million Tibetan children from their families and coercing them into mandatory residential schools designed for their assimilation into the majority Han culture, the CCP has been bent on the cultural and demographic restructuring of Tibet. In fact, since 2023, China has begun referring to Tibet as the 鈥淴izang Autonomous Region鈥 in all official communications, demonstrating its fixation on the cultural erasure of the Tibetan identity.
From this perspective, the Dalai Lama鈥檚 90th birthday, around which he is expected to reveal details on his spiritual inheritance, goes far beyond being an event of spiritual/religious significance. It is also a critical determinant of regional geopolitics and the direction of the Tibetan movement. As thousands of Tibetans, representatives of several other faiths, celebrated figures such as Richard Gere, and big political names congregate in Dharamshala, all eyes will be on the Dalai Lama, or 鈥渢he protector of the Land of Snows鈥, as he is hailed by his followers. The world will listen carefully, as his words will shape one of the most resilient, enduring, and inspiring struggles of our times.
The writer is an author and a columnist. His X handle is @ArunAnandLive. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18鈥檚 views.