Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama talks with journalists at a Sino-Tibetan conference in Hamburg, northern Germany, on 27 August 2014. File photo/AFP/ Getty Images/Christian Charisius
AFP
BERLIN, Germany, 8 September 2014
The Dalai Lama has told a German newspaper that he should be the last Tibetan spiritual leader, ending a centuries-old religious tradition from his Himalayan homeland.
His comments to the Welt am Sonntag newspaper echo his previous statement that “the institution of the Dalai Lama has served its purpose”, but were even more explicit.
“We had a Dalai Lama for almost five centuries. The 14th Dalai Lama now is very popular. Let us then finish with a popular Dalai Lama,” he said.
“If a weak Dalai Lama comes along, then it will just disgrace the Dalai Lama,” he added with a laugh, according to a transcript of the English language interview.
He also said: “Tibetan Buddhism is not dependent on one individual. We have a very good organisational structure with highly trained monks and scholars.”
China has governed Tibet since 1951, a year after invading, and the Dalai Lama fled across the Himalayas to India after a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2011 retired from political duties and has upgraded the role of prime minister of the Tibetan exile community.
But he is still the most powerful rallying point for Tibetans, both in exile and in their homeland, and remains the universally recognised face of the movement.
Asked by the German newspaper how much longer he may carry on his advocacy duties, the 79-year-old said: “The doctors say I could become 100 years old. But in my dreams I will die at the age of 113 years.
“I hope and pray that I may return to this world as long as sentient beings’ suffering remains. I mean not in the same body, but with the same spirit and the same soul.”
On the question of whether he may ever be able to return to Tibet, he said: “Yes, I am sure of that. China can no longer isolate itself, it must follow the global trend towards a democratic society.”
HHDL’s wisdom-compassion gives me hope. He has explained a remarkably ethical way of life to the modern world. And I feel certain that the truth of equanimity, the power of emptiness which is not empty, and the beauty of loving kindness will continue to inspire and inform humanity. Long life and profound respect for HHDL.
This fits with Drunvalo Melchizadek’s teaching that the energetic spiritual center of the world has shifted from Tibet to Lake Titikaka. Traditionally the Dalai Lama is the same soul reincarnated, so I guess he feels that he will be more useful in an alternative role next time so he’s saying don’t come looking for me when I’m reborn. Appreciate his wisdom xx