Only Dalai Lama and conventions established by him can decide successor: Rijiju

The Government of India made its position clear on the issue of the legitimacy and determination of the next incarnation of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhists, stating that it was only the current Dalai Lama (14th in that tradition) and the conventions established by him who could determine the next incarnation.

Union Minister for Minorities, Kiren Rijiju, himself a Buddhist, said this, in what is being seen as an apparent snub of the Chinese position on it.

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“The Dalai Lama is the most important and defining institution for Buddhists,” he said, adding that, “all those who follow the Dalai Lama feel that the Incarnation is to be decided by the established convention and as per the wish of the Dalai Lama himself. Nobody else has the right to decide it except him and the conventions in place.”

On Wednesday (July 2, 2025), the Dalai Lama had said that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue and only the Gaden Phodrang Trust will have the authority to recognise his future reincarnation. The statement was made in the run up to the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday that falls on July 6th and over which succession issues, especially in the context of China announcing a successor due to its control of Tibet loomed large. The Dalai Lama’s statement put to rest speculation that the institution of the Dalai Lama would end with him, or that China would have a free run to decide the next incarnation.

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The Chinese on their fumed at the Dalai Lama’s statement, with a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, stating that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, “must be chosen by drawing lots from a golden urn, and approved by the central government (of China).”

She added that the Chinese government which otherwise “implements a policy of freedom of religious belief,” reserved the right to impose “regulations on religious affairs and methods for managing the reincarnation of Tibetan living Buddhas.”

Mr. Rijiju’s statement is a clear snub to the Chinese position, and he will be attending the Dalai Lama’s birthday celebrations along with his Cabinet colleague Rajiv Ranjan Singh “Lallan” who is an MP from Bihar, a State which has the most important Buddhists sites in the world and is also home to Nalanda, whose Buddhist tradition is followed by the Dalai Lama.