NEW DELHI - The Dalai Lama is stoking a debate on who will succeed him as the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, throwing out ideas that have angered China but keeping his options very much open.
Among them: that he should choose his own successor before his death, that senior lamas elect one of their number to succeed him like the choice of a new Pope, or that Tibetans might want to do away with the institution altogether.
"These are options which His Holiness is throwing out in the air, so people can think about them, but nothing is certain right now," spokesman Tenzin Taklah told Reuters by telephone in India, where the Dalai Lama lives in exile.
Traditionally, the death of a Dalai Lama provokes a search for his reincarnation among children born in Tibet at the same time.
But many Tibetans fear the death of the current, 72-year-old Dalai Lama would be a major setback in their fight for more autonomy within China or independence, creating a leadership vacuum that Beijing is expected to exploit.
In a bid to circumvent this, the Dalai Lama has long suggested his reincarnation would be found outside China.
More controversially, he also suggested in Japan this month that his successor could be chosen before his death.
This week, he told the BBC and other reporters that Tibetan people could be given the choice to do away with the institution of the Dalai Lama itself.
"Whether the institution of the Dalai Lama continues or not is up to the Tibetan people to decide," said Taklah. "One possibility is to hold a referendum."
But Taklah acknowledged a referendum might be difficult given that many Tibetans live under Chinese rule.
"If this possibility was chosen, how to carry out this referendum, that's another issue that would have to be addressed," he said. "It's just an idea, nothing concrete."
CHINESE IRE
China has condemned the Dalai Lama's latest proposals, saying similar remarks earlier this month "violate religious rituals and historic conventions".
Critics say that is ironic coming from an atheistic government long accused of suppressing Tibetan Buddhism.
China has considered the Dalai Lama a traitor since he fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule. The selection of lamas has since become a sore point.
In 1995, the Dalai Lama and Chinese authorities chose rival reincarnations of the 10th Panchen Lama, who died in 1989.
The six-year-old anointed by the Dalai Lama disappeared from public view, and is thought to be living under house arrest.
In September, China introduced a law saying reincarnations of "living Buddhas" who did not have government approval would be illegal and invalid.
"His Holiness said that, if he were to die tonight, he said very clearly this would be a setback," Taklah said.
"In that situation, personally, I feel the Tibetan people would choose to select the next Dalai Lama according to the traditional way of finding a reincarnation."
Not to worry, though.
On Tuesday, the Dalai Lama said his regular medical check-ups suggested he was "good for another few decades".
