Dalai Lama: “A Conclave for the choice of my successor”

Tenzin Gyatso will not be the last Dalai Lama. The Buddhist leader, who spoke on the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, has denied the contents of an interview earlier this month in a German newspaper in which he stated that his role was no longer move with the times. To locate his follower, however, should not be more reference to the prophecies but adopt a different procedure “I think more like a Conclave, similar to that used by the Catholic Church to elect the Pope – said the Dalai Lama – or written instructions to be read after death.

The risk that the Nobel Prize for Peace wants to avoid changing method for the selection of new Dalai Lama, is a possible interference on the part of China. “In 2011 I retired completely from political life, and in fact I deleted this responsibility for the office that I hold – explained Gyatso – In the past, Beijing was worried because the Dalai Lama was still a temporal leader, but now it is no longer like that. I also said several times that the decision on the future of my position is in the hands of the Tibetan people. ”

The secretary of the supreme Buddhist monk has also clarified the meaning of the statements made to the German press. “The Dalai Lama said that a tradition of 600 years could easily end up with a popular leader, and that it would be better that way rather than see it end up with an out of favor. But he never said that he would be the last. “