Nobody is going to be reincarnated as the new Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibet, after the current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, now 90, dies. The reason is that there’s no such thing as reincarnation. But many Tibetans believe in the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. And whether someone will be chosen as the next Dalai Lama, who will be chosen, and how he will be chosen are very important culturally and politically.
Tenzin Gyatso once suggested that he might be the last person to hold the Dalai Lama job. But he now says that “he plans to reincarnate, ensuring Tibet’s Buddhism institution continues” (Associated Press, July 2, 2025).
He announced: “Although I have had no public discussions on this issue, over the last 14 years leaders of Tibet’s spiritual traditions…have written to me with reasons, earnestly requesting that the institution of the Dalai Lama continue. In particular, I have received messages through various channels from Tibetans in Tibet making the same appeal. In accordance with all these requests, I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue.”
The Dalai Lama’s succession plan is politically consequential for most Tibetans who oppose China’s tight control of Tibet and have struggled to keep their identity alive, in their homeland or in exile.
The decision, however, is expected to irk China, which has repeatedly said that it alone has the authority to approve the next religious leader.
The self-proclaimed Tibetan government-in-exile also supports the Dalai Lama’s stance.
Penpa Tsering, president of the Tibetan government-in-exile, said Wednesday “we strongly condemn the People’s Republic of China’s usage of reincarnation subject for their political gain, and we shall never accept it.
The search for a Dalai Lama’s reincarnation begins only upon the incumbent’s death.
This announcement does settle one question. But it doesn’t settle what will happen after the death of the current Dalai Lama.
Many believe, though, that “there eventually will be rival Dalai Lamas—one appointed by Beijing, and one by senior monks loyal to the current Dalai Lama.”
The Panchen Lama
The Chinese Communist Party wants the next person called the Dalai Lama to be someone the Party can control—as it controls the person it calls the Panchen Lama. In 1995, Gendhun Choekyi Nyima, the one true Panchen Lama, was recognized by the Dalai Lama “as the reincarnation of the previous Panchen Lama. But just three days after this recognition, Chinese authorities kidnapped the child and his parents. The Panchen Lama has not been seen since.”
The fake Panchen Lama has not been welcomed by Tibetans. But he has reliably said the things that the Chinese Communist Party wants him to say and gone about posing as a spiritual leader.
One of the antireligious Party’s top propagandists, Liu Pengyu at the Chinese embassy in Washington, has spelled out how things are gonna go: “The reincarnation of Living Buddhas is unique to Tibetan Buddhism. It must comply with Chinese laws and regulations as well as religious rituals and historical conventions, and follow the process that consists of search and identification in China, lot-drawing from a golden urn, and central government approval.”
In short, the Chinese Communist Party will choose the Dalai Lama in accordance with the political requirements of the Chinese Communist Party.
The Tibetans won’t cooperate. The monks who choose the Dalai Lama’s successor will probably pick someone born outside of China, in a free country, making him harder to kidnap. Whether the CCP manages to abduct him or not, though, it will probably insist that someone else, their guy, is the real Dalai Lama.
