“As long as sentient being remain, Until then, may I too remain, to dispel the miseries of the world” said the 14th Dalai Lama addressing the faithful on his 90th birthday.
For many young Tibetans who have gathered in Dharmshala from all over the world, those words struck a chord: to them the Dalai Lama is much more than a spiritual leader; he is the embodiment of Tibetan identity, resilience, and hope in exile.
“His 90th birthday is a powerful reminder of his lifelong commitment to the Tibetan people, preserving culture, advocating compassion, and keeping the Tibetan cause alive on the global stage” said a young man dressed in traditional Tibetan attire.
Whether born in India or across the diaspora, many young Tibetans have grown up under his moral and cultural guidance.
A young boy who came all the way from New York to to celebrate this day said: “His Holiness is our guiding light. While his passing is inevitable, we will carry forward his legacy under his continued guidance, as well as that of the Sikyong and our senior monks”.
With the Office of Dalai Lama announcing the continuation of the institution of Dalai Lama and asserting that only the Gaden Phodrang Trust holds the sole authority to recognize his reincarnation, one cannot sideline the possibility that China may attempt to impose its own successor.
It means the world and the loyalties of Tibetan may be tested as China can be relied upon to bend every elbow, use every means at hand to push the cause of its own Dalai Lama. It has already done so in the case of the Panchen Lama, even setting aside and disappearing the boy chosen by the Dalai Lama for that role.
As though on cue, China’s ambassador to India, Xu Feihong claimed that the Dalai Lama does not have the authority to decide whether the centuries-old reincarnation system will continue or be abolished. He wrote on X, “ The reincarnation of Dalai Lamas neither began from him nor will end due to him.”
“There is a possibility of another Dalai Lama from China,” a young Tibetan woman from Minnesota in the US admitted. “But we, the people of Tibetan diaspora around the world will only recognize the ones chosen by the Gaden Phodrang Trust.”
The Dalai Lama’s advancing age is a growing concern for many, felt deeply at an emotional level, but it also carries significant political weight.
“We fear there could be setbacks in the recognition of the Central Tibetan Administration, as well as in its funding and international support after the current Dalai Lama,” said a young Tibetan, voicing the concern of many others.
But Penpa Tsering, who is the Sikyong or head of the Central Tibetan Administration, vowed that “We will exert our fullest efforts in advocating among pro-democracy and freedom loving communities around the world.”
Sikyong Tsering admitted that budget cuts by the US government had hit the exiled Tibetan government, but they were working through Congress, the US State Department and US embassies to restore the funding.
He also promised that the resolutions, statements and declarations made during meetings and conferences in the run up to the Dalai Lama’s birthday, would be compiled into a single publication and distributed worldwide. The publication will also include the widespread support expressed by Tibetans for the Dalai Lama’s decision that his successor would be by reincarnation.
