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JANUARY 02, 2026 | The Indian Eye 38

SPIRITUAL LEADER OF 2025

At 90, the Dalai Lama and

the World’s Test of Conscience

As the Dalai Lama turned 90 in 2025, his life’s milestone becomes a global referendum on

religious freedom, moral authority, and the future of a threatened civilization.

he 90th birthday of the 14th a ‘Year of Compassion’ in his honor,
Dalai Lama on July 6, 2025, Beijing continues a systematic cam-
Twas not merely a person- paign to diminish the Dalai Lama’s
al milestone for one of the world’s influence and to bring Buddhist in-
most recognizable spiritual figures. It stitutions under state control, even
marked a critical juncture for Tibet- beyond China’s borders.
ans and a moment of consequence for These efforts intersect with a
the international community, touch- wider global environment marked
ing questions of religious freedom, by expanding techno-authoritarian-
cultural survival, and the resilience of ism, geopolitical rivalry, and growing
moral authority in an unsettled global pressures on democratic norms.
order. Over 65 years of exile, the Dalai
This significance was underlined Lama has safeguarded Tibet’s na-
by the Dalai Lama’s latest reaffirma- tional, cultural, and religious identity
tion of his 2011 statement on succes- during the most perilous period in
sion. Speaking during a three-day its two-millennia history. He trans-
gathering of senior Tibetan Buddhist formed Tibetan Buddhist values into
leaders in Dharamsala, he made a force that speaks both spiritually
it unequivocally clear that only his and secularly, and became the first
Gaden Phodrang Trust—the Office Union Minister Kiren Rijiju with Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama at his 90th birth anniversa- Dalai Lama to relinquish political
of His Holiness the Dalai Lama— ry celebrations, at Dharamshala in Kangra (@RijijuOffice X/ANI Photo) power in favor of democratic gov-
will have exclusive authority over the ernance in exile. Despite sustained
recognition of his reincarnation. Em- ence. UN human rights experts have through traditional means during attempts to isolate Tibet, his moral
phasizing the spiritual foundations of objected to Beijing’s claims, the US a period when Tibet was indepen- authority continues to inspire Tibet-
the process, he said the search and State Department has described Chi- dent. Since annexing Tibet, Chinese ans inside Tibet and new generations
recognition must follow centuries-old na’s plans as “meritless,” and the US authorities have alternated between across the world.
tradition, in consultation with the Congress has passed legislation pro- banning, ignoring, and tightly con- The challenge ahead is unprec-
heads of Tibetan Buddhist schools viding for sanctions against Chinese trolling religious practices, causing edented. Traditional Tibetan gov-
and oath-bound Dharma Protectors officials who interfere in the process. lasting damage to Tibetan Buddhism. ernance and succession are deeply
linked to the Dalai Lama lineage. The European Union has similarly The abduction in 1995 of the 11th tied to sacred landscapes—mountain
The clarity of this declaration reaffirmed that the selection of the Panchen Lama, then a six-year-old pilgrimage sites and oracle lakes—
was deliberate. In recent years, Chi- Dalai Lama must occur without gov- child, made unmistakably clear that now inaccessible to Tibetans in exile.
na’s officially atheist government has ernment interference and in accor- Beijing was willing to intervene di- Succession planning must therefore
asserted that the reincarnation of the dance with religious norms. rectly in the heart of Tibetan reli- be reimagined under conditions of
Dalai Lama must comply with Chi- The stakes are global because gious life. displacement, geopolitical competi-
nese Communist Party laws. Beijing’s Tibetan Buddhism is global. Once Against this backdrop, the Dalai tion, and sustained pressure from a
claim to authority over a deeply spir- largely confined to Tibet, Mongolia, Lama’s 90th birthday assumes histor- powerful state intent on imposing its
itual and religious process not only Bhutan, the Himalayan regions of ic importance. He had indicated as own candidate.
disregards Tibetan Buddhist tradition India and Nepal, and parts of Russia, early as 2011 that he would consult As the Dalai Lama turns 90,
but also violates the universal princi- Tibetan Buddhist communities today senior lamas, the Tibetan public, and the moment tests the internation-
ple of religious freedom. The Dalai live across Europe, North America, other concerned individuals around al community’s resolve. It asks
Lama’s statement makes clear that and much of Asia. China’s attempt this milestone to offer clear guidance whether pluralism can be defended
any successor identified outside the to control the succession is therefore on succession. That moment has now against transnational authoritari-
prescribed religious process would be not an internal matter, but an assault arrived, even as China frames control an strategies that employ coercion,
illegitimate. on the religious freedom of believers over the reincarnation process as a disinformation, and control over
This issue has already drawn sus- worldwide. “protracted war,” central to main- belief itself. In that sense, his birth-
tained international concern. Gov- The background to this confron- taining its grip over Tibet, a region of day is not only a celebration of a re-
ernments and institutions including tation is long and painful. The tradi- deep strategic value. markable life, but a reminder that
the United Nations, the European tion of recognizing reincarnate lamas For Tibetans, this birthday co- the struggle for freedom of con-
Union, and the United States have evolved over centuries. The 14th incides with a broader existential science remains unfinished—and
repeatedly rejected Chinese interfer- Dalai Lama himself was identified struggle. As they prepare to observe profoundly global.

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