The Dalai Lama Announces His Reincarnation

The Dalai Lama announced on Wednesday that he will be reincarnated and that the institution of Tibetan Buddhism will continue.

“As far back as 1969, I made clear that concerned people should decide whether the Dalai Lama’s reincarnations should continue in the future,” the Nobel Peace Prize-winning spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism said in a recorded statement. “I hereby reiterate that the Gaden Phodrang Trust has sole authority to recognize the future reincarnation; no one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter.”

The Dalai Lama was speaking at prayer celebrations in advance of his 90th birthday in Dharamsala, India, home of the Tibetan government in exile.

The Dalai Lama previously predicted that he will live to be 113 years old and has insisted his successor will be born outside of China.

Tenzin Lekshay, spokesperson for the Tibetan government-in-exile, recently expressed concern about Tibet’s future, warning, “a big storm is coming.”

This year also marks the 60th anniversary of China’s establishment of the Tibet Autonomous Region in western and central Tibet. The eastern portions of Tibet are autonomous prefectures in several Chinese provinces. 

China has sought for decades to erase Tibetan culture and assimilate Tibetans under Communist rule. Many exiled Tibetans fear China will name its own successor to the Dalai Lama to tighten control over Tibet.

The Dalai Lama’s announcement in March that his successor will be born in the “free world” has pushed China to ramp up its efforts to cultivate a generation of Tibetans loyal to Beijing.

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, has visited Taiwan three times. The first was in 1997, when Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) welcomed the Dalai Lama for a 45-minnute “historic meeting.” Lee praised him as a “true pacifist,” the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) called Lee “Mr. Democracy” and the Dalai Lama “Peace Messenger.” 

In 2001 during his second trip to Taiwan, the Dalai Lama met President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) for an hour. Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) also hosted him, gifting him a city key and praising his “outstanding wisdom.”

But in 2009, Ma, now president, refused to meet the Dalai Lama during his third visit, which focused on prayers for disaster victims.

Beijing now is targeting Tibetan children as young as 4, sending them to boarding schools to limit exposure to Tibetan language and traditions, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Tibetan students learn Chinese patriotic songs and that Tibet was backward before China took control of the region in the 1950s, according to the report.

According to Reuters, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning (毛寧) said the country’s leaders had the right to approve the Dalai Lama’s successor, as a legacy from imperial times, and that China practices a policy of freedom of religious belief. However, this response was not recorded in their daily briefing and not available on Chinese websites. 

Tibet Party Secretary Wang Junzheng (王君正) met the Chinese-backed Panchen Lama, Gyaincain Norbu, in Lhasa on June 30, praising his role in advancing Xi Jinping’s (習近平) Tibet policy and sinicization of Tibetan Buddhism, according to CCP media Tibet Daily.

Wang also urged Gyaincain Norbu to promote unity and modernization in Tibet, while the Panchen Lama vowed to uphold Xi’s guidance and contribute to Tibet’s development.

The Panchen Lama, the second-highest spiritual figure in Tibetan Buddhism, plays a key role in recognizing the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, who then identifies the next Panchen Lama. Gyaincain Norbu was appointed to the position by the Chinese government after the Dalai Lama’s choice for Panchen Lama, a 6-year-old boy, was kidnapped in China and has not been heard from since.

“This figure is chosen by Beijing to manipulate the future reincarnation of the Dalai Lama,” said Karen Cheng (鄭凱榕), spokesperson for the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Taipei.

This story was updated on July 3, 2025 with the China Foreign Ministry’s comments, the meetup between the Tibet Party Secretary and the Panchen Lama, and comments on the Panchen Lama from a spokesperson for the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Taipei.