The Dalai Lama is 85 years old now and the issue of his successor has gained prominence in the last couple of years due to his advanced age.
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama (centre) waves to the crowd during a series of teachings in Bodhgaya last year. File pic/AFP
China on Friday said that any successor to the present Dalai Lama should be approved by it, ruling out recognition to any heir nominated by him or by his followers. The reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and other grand Living Buddhas has been subjected to approval by the central government since the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), claimed an official white paper issued by the Chinese government here. The document has also asserted that Tibet was an inseparable part of China since ancient times.
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“In 1793, after dispelling Gurkha invaders, the Qing government restored order in Tibet and promulgated the Imperially Approved Ordinance for Better Governance of Tibet, improving systems by which the central government-administered Tibet,” the white paper titled ‘Tibet Since 1951: Liberation, Development and Prosperity’ said.
The ordinance stipulated that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and other grand Living Buddhas had to follow the procedure of “drawing lots from the golden urn” and that the selected candidate would be subject to approval by the central government of China, the document said.
The 14th Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 following a Chinese crackdown on an uprising by the local population in Tibet. India granted him political asylum and the Tibetan government-in-exile has been based in Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh since then. The Dalai Lama is 85 years old now and the issue of his successor has gained prominence in the last couple of years due to his advanced age.
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