Dalai Lama tells followers to reject successor chosen by China
What's the story
In his new book, Voice for the Voiceless, Tibetan Buddhism's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has said his successor would be born outside China.
This new Dalai Lama would also be born in the free world, he wrote.
"So that the traditional mission of the Dalai Lama—that is, to be the voice for universal compassion, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, and the symbol of Tibet embodying the aspirations of the Tibetan people—will continue," the Dalai Lama writes.
Clarification
Dalai Lama's new book clarifies successor's birthplace
Earlier, he had only hinted that he could be reincarnated outside Tibet, possibly in India where he lives in exile.
The spiritual leader says the new Dalai Lama's mission of being the voice for universal compassion, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, and the symbol of Tibet embodying the aspirations of the Tibetan people will be carried on from this free world.
Exile
Dalai Lama's exile and China's stance on succession
Earlier, he had hinted that he could only be reincarnated outside Tibet, possibly in India, where he lives in exile.
The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Mao Zedong's Communist regime.
China says it will choose his successor, but the Dalai Lama says any successor appointed by China won't be respected.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for keeping alive the Tibetan cause.
Response
China's response to Dalai Lama's statements
Following the Dalai Lama's book release, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson called him a political exile who is engaged in anti-China separatist activities under the guise of religion.
The spokesperson reiterated China's consistent and clear position on Tibet and stated that what the Dalai Lama says and does cannot change the objective fact of Tibet's prosperity and development.
Petitions
Dalai Lama receives petitions for lineage continuation
In his book, the Dalai Lama also wrote that he has received numerous petitions for more than a decade from a spectrum of Tibetan people. They include senior monks and Tibetans living in Tibet and outside, uniformly asking him to ensure the continuation of the Dalai Lama lineage.
Under Tibetan tradition, the soul of a senior Buddhist monk is reincarnated into the body of a child upon death.
At two, the present Dalai Lama was identified as his predecessor's reincarnation.