DEHRADUN, India – Tibetans in exile celebrate the 90th birthday of spiritual leader the Dalai Lama next week, an occasion overshadowed by uncertainty about the future of the role and what it means for their movement.
The charismatic Nobel Peace Prize-winning Buddhist — who Tibetans say is the 14th reincarnation of the 600-year-old post — will reveal if there will be another Dalai Lama after him.
The inevitable change ahead brings wider concerns for Tibetans over the struggle to keep their identity alive after generations in exile, following a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.
There is widespread support among Tibetans in exile for the Dalai Lama role to remain, said Dawa Tashi, once jailed in Tibet for his criticism of Beijing.
The Dalai Lama has said the institution will continue only if there is popular demand.
“I strongly believe the reincarnation of the 14th Dalai Lama will continue,” said Tashi, of the India-based Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy.
“This hope is not only shared by Tibetans inside and outside Tibet, but by thousands who are connected to the Dalai Lama across the world,” he told AFP.
The leader, who turns 90 on July 6, and thousands of other Tibetans have lived in exile in India since Chinese troops crushed the uprising in the Tibetan capital Lhasa.
