DHARAMSHALA: The spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, Dalai Lama, celebrated his 90th anniversary on Sunday after a week’s event that his followers had.
During the festivities, he once again defied China by talking about his desire to live beyond 130 and promised to return through reincarnation after his death.
The Nobel Prize winner is considered one of the world’s most influential religious leaders, with one that extends far beyond Buddhism – though not by Beijing, who feels him a separatist and has tried to bring faith under its control.
On the run from his original Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, the 14th Dalai Lama took along with hundreds of thousands of Tibetans shelter in India. Since then, he has submerged a peaceful “middle” approach to seeking autonomy and religious freedom for the Tibetan people.
Thousands of supporters from around the world, along with celebrities and officials of the US and India are expected to participate in his birthday feud in Dharamshala, the small Indian city at the foot of the Himalaya where the Dalai Lama lives.
The parties will include cultural performances and speeches, including one of long-term successor and Hollywood actor Richard Gere, as well as Indian federal ministers. The Dalai Lama itself is scheduled to tackle the collection.
The previous week of festivities was particularly important to Tibetan Buddhists when the Dalai Lama had previously indicated he would talk about his order on his 90 -year birthday.
On Wednesday, he eased their concerns by declaring that he would reincarners as leader of faith after his death, and that the street Phodrang Trust, his non-profit institution, has the only authority to recognize his successor.
However, China has insisted that any order be approved by its leadership.
The United States seeking to address China’s growing influence has called on Beijing to end what it calls interference in the order of the Dalai Lama and other Tibetan Buddhist Lamas.
