Dalai Lama affirms institution will continue after his death Today World News

The Dalai Lama has formally affirmed that the 600-year-old institution of the Dalai Lama will continue after his death, issuing a definitive statement on Wednesday (July 2, 2025) that ends years of uncertainty about the future of one of Tibet’s most sacred traditions. The announcement comes just days before the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader’s 90th birthday on July 6.

“In accordance with all these requests, I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue,” the 14th Dalai Lama declared in a comprehensive statement dated May 21 that was released on X.

The decision follows overwhelming appeals from Tibetan spiritual leaders, Buddhist communities worldwide, and crucially, Tibetans living inside Tibet.

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The decision represents a significant shift from the Dalai Lama’s previous position. “As far back as 1969, I made clear that concerned people should decide whether the Dalai Lama’s reincarnations should continue in the future,” he stated, referencing his long-standing uncertainty about the institution’s future. He had also previously said, “When I am about ninety, I will consult the high Lamas of the Tibetan Buddhist traditions, the Tibetan public, and other concerned people who follow Tibetan Buddhism, to re-evaluate whether or not the institution of the Dalai Lama should continue.”

Despite having “no public discussions on this issue” over the past 14 years, the Dalai Lama revealed he received consistent appeals from diverse groups. “Leaders of Tibet’s spiritual traditions, members of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile, participants in a Special General Body Meeting, members of the Central Tibetan Administration, NGOs, Buddhists from the Himalayan region, Mongolia, Buddhist republics of the Russian Federation and Buddhists in Asia including mainland China, have written to me with reasons, earnestly requesting that the institution of the Dalai Lama continue,” he stated.

Particularly significant were appeals from within Tibet itself. “In particular, I have received messages through various channels from Tibetans in Tibet making the same appeal,” the Dalai Lama noted. This support from Tibetans living under Chinese rule carries special weight, given Beijing’s attempts to control Tibetan religious practices and its claims of authority over the reincarnation process.

Succession process

The statement also definitively establishes the succession process. The Dalai Lama has insisted that his successor would be born outside China. Beijing, which regards him as a separatist, has said it alone has the authority to find the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.

“The process by which a future Dalai Lama is to be recognised has been clearly established in the 24 September 2011 statement which states that responsibility for doing so will rest exclusively with members of the Gaden Phodrang Trust, the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama,” he explained. The Dalai Lama emphasised that “the Gaden Phodrang Trust has sole authority to recognise the future reincarnation; no one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter.”

The announcement follows recent birthday celebrations where the Dalai Lama joined thousands of Buddhist followers in prayer ceremonies in the Himalayan town where he has lived in exile since 1959. He and thousands of other Tibetans fled to India after Chinese troops crushed an uprising in the Tibetan capital Lhasa, establishing a government-in-exile that continues to this day.