Dalai Lama may appoint successor or allow election

THE Dalai Lama says he may appoint a successor, or rely on an election before his death in a break with tradition, a newspaper reported yesterday, following recent orders that China must approve Tibet’s spiritual leaders.

According to centuries of Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the search for the reincarnation of spiritual leaders, or lamas — including the Dalai Lama — has been carried out by Tibetan monks following the leaders’ deaths.

“The Tibetan people would not support a successor selected by China after my death,” the Dalai Lama was quoted as saying on a trip to Japan by the Sankei Shimbun, a national daily.