Will Tibetan spiritual leaders reveal succession plans at the age of 90?

Hundreds of followers of the Dalai Lama gathered in northern India to participate in the 90th birthday of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, because he was increasingly looking forward to him being able to provide clues to his ultimate successor.

The Dalai Lama will release a video message and statement on Wednesday, his office told the BBC, although what he said is unclear.

The Dalai Lama fled to India’s border in 1959 and failed to oppose China’s rule in Tibet.

He established an exiled government in the northern Indian mountain town of Dharamsala and was seen as an alternative source of power for those with close control of Beijing over Tibet.

Sunday’s milestone birthday will be held on Wednesday morning the 15th Tibetan religious meeting. The celebration begins on Monday – according to the Tibetan calendar, the Dalai Lama’s birthday.

More than 7,000 guests will attend the celebration, including many Indian ministers. On Monday, the photos showed the Dalai Lama wishing Hollywood actor Richard Gere, a longtime follower.

The Dalai Lama had earlier said he would release details about his inheritance around his 90th birthday, and he told a party on Monday that “there will be a framework in which we can talk about the continuation of the Dalai Lamas institution”. He did not elaborate on it.

In the past, the head of the Nobel Peace Prize Spirit of Tibetan Buddhism was torn between whether to continue using the 600-year-old institutions. A few years ago, he said his successor might have been a girl, or had no successor at all.

But in recent years, he also said that if there is widespread support among Tibetans, then the support for the position – there will be – that will continue and his office will choose a successor.

He has always insisted that his successor will be born outside China, which has angered Beijing.

Even though the Dalai Lama has been advocating a “middle way” to address Tibet’s status – China’s true self-rule – Beijing sees him as a separatist. It said that the living standards of the people in Tibet have been greatly improved under their rule.

Tibetan MP Youdon Aukatsang said he did not expect “a clear procedure will be established” this week.

He told the BBC: “I think everyone can produce some revelation from his holiness of his reincarnation. But I don’t expect a very specific revelation.”

He said the current Dalai Lama “is a binding and unified force of the Tibetan movement” and some Tibetans believe that someone should be recognized as his successor soon because they fear that it may have an impact on the community and that the movement may have an impact.

He said: “The Dalai Lama organization is very important to the struggle of the Tibetan people. It is also a symbol of Tibetan identity and a beacon of our spiritual refuge. This will continue. I think there will be a vacuum, but we must continue, we have no choice.”

“We have very, very big shoes to fill, but we have to fill them, right? I think a lot of people have to play this role, and one person will not be enough.”

But experts say that if he does announce his successor, China is also expected to name its own Dalai Lama.

“China will argue that only the Chinese Communist Party living in Beijing has the right to find the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama,” Dibyesh Anand, professor of international relations at the University of Westminster, told the BBC.

“After a period of months or years, they will have their own protein, identify a little boy as the next Dalai Lama, and impose that. Of course, most Tibetans will reject it, and most people in the world will make fun of it. But remember that China has great authority in resources, so they will try to impose this interest.”

Mr Aukatsang said, “Although they have tried to control the minds of Tibetans within Tibetan figures over the years,” Beijing has remained “completely failed.”

He said that the Dalai Lama chosen by China is not only recognized by Tibetans, but the whole world will not recognize it because China has no legitimacy to find the future Dalai Lama.”

“We are worried, but we know that regardless of our concern, China will propose its own Dalai Lama, which we call China recognized. I am not worried about any credibility in the Tibetan world or the Buddhist world.”

Tibetan Buddhists believe that if Buddhist officials are convinced that the person they chose the port is the soul of his predecessor, their senior monks will be reincarnated and the Dalai Lama will be chosen by Buddhist officials.

Now – 14th – Dalai Lama was born on July 6, 1935 in a small Tibetan village in a peasant family and was named Lhamo Dhondub. When he was two years old, a Buddhist official’s search party admitted that he was the reincarnation of the top 13 Dalai Lamas.

According to his official biography, evidence was snatched when officials showed him many of the property belonging to his predecessor. The toddler correctly identified the items belonging to the 13th Dalai Lama and said, “This is mine. This is mine.”

He ascended the throne before he was four years old, and he received his education in Tibetan monastery and holds a Ph.D. in Buddhist philosophy.

But in 1950, when he was 15 years old, the troops of the Communist government that Mao Zedong had just installed marched into Tibet. A year later, China proposed a 17-point agreement to legalize the establishment of Tibet into China.

In 1959, a Tibetan uprising seeking to end Chinese rule was crushed and thousands of protesters were killed.

The Dalai Lama fled to India on foot with 10,000 followers and settled in Dharamsala, from which he developed an exiled government. In 2011, he gave up his political role, but remains the supreme spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism.

Some people who fled with him still dreamed of going home to Tibet.

“My belief is that I will return to Tibet. If it weren’t for me, my younger generation would definitely be back.” Lobsang Choedon, 84, participated in Monday’s celebration.

Choedon’s daughter and grandson were both born in India – and spent his whole life in India. Nevertheless, her 15-year-old grandson, Ngawang Lhundup, has a close connection with his ancestors’ homeland.

Since he was a child, he had been listening to stories about Tibet and said that he would consider visiting Tibet even under Chinese rule.

“But if it gets rid of the Chinese invasion, I will be happy to return to Tibet.”