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Dalai Lama hopes to live beyond 130, days after declaring plans to reincarnate

Dalai Lama hopes to live beyond 130, days after declaring plans to reincarnate

Time of India4 hours ago
Days after declaring that he intends to reincarnate after his death, the
Dalai Lama
said he hopes to live beyond the age of 130, as thousands of followers gathered in India's Dharamshala to offer prayers ahead of his 90th birthday.
'I have been able to serve the Buddha dharma and the beings of
Tibet
so far quite well, and I hope to live over 130 years,' the Dalai Lama said Saturday during a long life ceremony organised by his followers.
The Tibetan spiritual leader, who fled to India in 1959 following a failed uprising against Chinese rule, has lived in exile in Dharamshala since. He has led efforts to keep the Tibetan cause alive and push for autonomy under Beijing's rule.
On Wednesday, the Dalai Lama made global headlines by confirming his intent to reincarnate, reviving a centuries-old tradition that allows the Tibetan spiritual head to choose the body into which he returns. His announcement ended years of speculation after earlier remarks had suggested he might be the last to hold the title.
The Dalai Lama emphasized that his successor would be found according to traditional Buddhist processes and that his own office would oversee the search, a statement seen as a direct message to Beijing, which has claimed it holds the sole authority to approve the next Dalai Lama.
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Tibetan Buddhist Phuntsko Tsering, based in Dharamshala, said the comments were meant to counter China's attempts to interfere in the succession process. 'What he is trying to do is signal China that it shouldn't meddle in the process of reincarnation,' Tsering said.
Meanwhile, celebrations are underway in Dharamshala, home to over 20,000 exiled Tibetans, as preparations intensify for the Dalai Lama's birthday on Sunday. Giant posters and billboards have been put up across the town, with followers and Buddhist leaders from around the world expected to attend.
Barbara Weibel, a US citizen and longtime follower of Buddhism, said, 'I want this long life ceremony to keep him alive as long as possible… I had to be here for this.'
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Dalai Lama issue: India can't be compliant to China or seen as insensitive to Tibetans, says Robert Barnett
Dalai Lama issue: India can't be compliant to China or seen as insensitive to Tibetans, says Robert Barnett

Time of India

time31 minutes ago

  • Time of India

Dalai Lama issue: India can't be compliant to China or seen as insensitive to Tibetans, says Robert Barnett

. STRAP: Just days before his 90th birthday on July 6, the Dalai Lama — the revered spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism — declared that he would have a successor. The announcement is more than a theological decision since China has long sought control over the succession process. Neelam Raaj spoke to Robert Barnett, a leading Tibet scholar at SOAS, London, for insights into this high-stakes contest between faith and power. As someone who has studied Tibet closely, were you surprised by the Dalai Lama's recent announcement regarding his succession, especially given his earlier remarks suggesting he might be the last incumbent? For many years, the Dalai Lama has been reminding the public that he can choose from innumerable options and alternatives in terms of his succession. Sometimes he expressed this in a light-hearted way, such as saying he might come back as a butterfly, while at other times he referred to not returning at all, or he listed little-known theological alternatives, such as transmitting his consciousness to another adult through a process called 'trulwa' or emanation. But all of these alternatives were reminders that in Tibetan Buddhism it is the individual lama, and the karma of that individual lama, which decides how or whether a lama returns. Of course, these have all been messages to China and its rulers that their claim to have the sole right to control reincarnations makes little sense in the religious context. The Dalai Lama had also always said that the decision about whether he returns would depend on the wishes of his followers, and his officials spent the last year or more getting written opinions from the wider Buddhist community about that request. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 5 Books Warren Buffett Wants You to Read In 2025 Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo This process was partly ceremonial – it reflects a very traditional understanding that a lama reincarnates only if his or her followers request for him or her to do so. So, no one doubted that the community would ask the Dalai Lama to return, and his decision to reincarnate is not a surprise. But here again the Dalai Lama seems to be sending a message to China, namely that, unlike Beijing, his decisions and his legitimacy are not based on the use of force or the resort to traditional authority, but on processes of consent and consultation. Tell us about the history of this contentious golden urn method of picking a successor. Contemporary Chinese officials say that in 1792-3 an order was given by the then emperor of China requiring Tibetans to use a golden vase or urn as the final stage in deciding between three children identified as candidate reincarnations of a high lama. After reciting appropriate prayers, the winning name would be drawn from the urn. This claim is correct, and , , the golden urn system was used scores of times in Tibet and Mongolia and other areas to select reincarnations up until the early 1900s. The current Chinese government claims that it is thus merely invoking a long-running legal precedent that requires Tibetans today to only use the same system and at the same time to recognise that only the Chinese government can authorize and select reincarnations. However, there are major weaknesses in this claim. Firstly, there had been scarcely any mention or use of the golden urn system for nearly 100 years before Beijing abruptly reintroduced it in 1995. Secondly, the emperors in the past who were involved with reincarnations and the golden urn were not Chinese and their governments were not Chinese – they were Manchus and were Buddhist believers, and were regarded by Tibetans at the time in many cases as emanations of the Buddha. Thirdly, it is not clear that use of the urn had meant in the past that the government in Beijing was seen by Tibetans as a sign of imperial sovereignty; according to the pioneering work of the historian Max Oidtmann, the process seems to have been more one of cooperation between Tibetans and the Manchus rather than one imposed on the former by the latter. And fourthly, the Manchu involvement in reincarnations seems to have been often understood by Tibetans as a kind of available option at times of dispute, rather than a law they were required to follow. And in general, religions and their believers tend to give priority to traditions and beliefs, rather than state laws. So, Beijing's invocation of 18th-century Manchu-Tibetan religious relations as proof of Chinese sovereignty today describes a world that seems vastly different from the contemporary situation. How do you anticipate Beijing will respond to this announcement? If China proceeds to name its own successor, are we looking at the possibility of two Dalai Lamas? It seems very likely, now that the Dalai Lama has announced that there will be a 15th Dalai Lama, that China will feel required to assert its sovereignty in these matters by naming its own Dalai Lama. So we are looking at a future, after the lifetime of the present Dalai Lama, where there will be two competing Dalai Lamas. But this will not be like a medieval competition between two rival popes, because only one of these Dalai Lamas will have been selected according to religious traditions and with the imprimatur of the previous Dalai Lama – the one who will be selected by the exiles. The Chinese candidate will have been selected by the Chinese state, whose rulers are by definition atheists if not, at times, outright enemies of religion. So, the Chinese candidate is at risk of having limited credibility among the Buddhist community and worldwide. Yet we might want to keep in mind that everything we are reading about is at some level a process of signalling to China. So the Dalai Lama's announcement is also an indirect reminder that if China wished to, it could still offer him a settlement. That settlement is actually easy to imagine, in theory: the Chinese could simply return to the position they took on reincarnation in the 1980s and the early 1990s, when they claimed only the right to confirm the choices made by the relevant lamas and did not claim any role in the reincarnation process or selection itself. But few people currently expect today's Chinese leaders to make concessions. The Dalai Lama has suggested that his reincarnation could be found outside China. If that successor emerges from the Tibetan diaspora in India, what kind of diplomatic and political challenges might this pose for New Delhi? The succession of the Dalai Lama has become a controversy because of Beijing's claim in 1995 to have sole authority over that process. Why did it make that claim, which is clearly one that would lead to conflict and dispute? One theory is that Chinese foreign policy strategists see an advantage in using this issue to advance China's aims abroad. According to this theory, the succession issue provides a new opportunity for China's diplomats to seek compliance from other governments – it provides an entry-point for China to call on those governments to support its claims and to denounce any claims or actions by the Tibetan exiles. If so, it's a clever move, because most governments have few exiles and few Buddhists in their population. Such governments might feel it less costly to comply with China's request than to refuse on what for them will seem a minor or obscure issue. But this is not, of course, the case for India, for whom such a request would have major implications in terms of soft power, international diplomacy, religious respect and even border negotiations. Whatever happens, India will be the chief focus among all nations of China's strategic interests in this matter, and will likely come under significant Chinese pressure. India's policy makers and diplomats will certainly be deploying all their skills and resources in order to find a way to respond to those pressures without seeming compliant to China or insensitive to Tibetan or religious priorities. How do you interpret China's recent efforts in Tibet — including large-scale infrastructure projects, population resettlements, and the campaign to re-educate Tibetan children? It used to be rather difficult for outside analysts to characterise Chinese policies in Tibet – they varied, being sometimes extremely harsh and in other ways and at certain times less so. But since 2014 a new policy has emerged under Xi Jinping which is clear: minorities, including the Tibetans and others, are to be gradually 'integrated' (jiaorong in Chinese) into the larger Chinese 'community' or nation (Zhonghua minzu). It has also become clear that Xi Jinping has ordered this process to begin from early childhood, because since 2021 his government has required all kindergartens – and kindergarten attendance is more or less compulsory these days for children aged 3-5 or so – to teach primarily or solely in the Chinese language. These schools and preschools increasingly teach children about Chinese or Communist history and values, rather than Tibetan ones. So there are serious concerns about the extent to which the next generation of Tibetans, Uyghur, Mongols and others within China will have substantive knowledge of their mother-tongue or their culture. At the same time, China has been moving many thousands of rural and nomadic Tibetans to settlements in or near towns, or to remote border regions, sometimes for very unclear reasons, and this too is likely to have a dramatic impact on cultural traditions and identity. There will be practical benefits for some of these relocated people, in terms of work, medical access and knowledge of Chinese, but there is much uncertainty about the overall effect of what is an ongoing process of massive social and cultural engineering.

India-US trade deal: India says reserves WTO right to hit back at US on auto tariffs; adds move won't impact bilateral agreement talks
India-US trade deal: India says reserves WTO right to hit back at US on auto tariffs; adds move won't impact bilateral agreement talks

Time of India

time32 minutes ago

  • Time of India

India-US trade deal: India says reserves WTO right to hit back at US on auto tariffs; adds move won't impact bilateral agreement talks

India has officially reserved its right to impose retaliatory duties on the United States for placing a 25 per cent tariff on imports of Indian auto parts. However, an official has clarified that this step will not impact ongoing talks for a trade deal between the two countries, and is a procedural move under the WTO agreement on safeguards. On Friday, India proposed the move under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, treating the US tariff action as a 'safeguard measure.' A notification circulated at the WTO stated that India could raise tariffs on selected American goods in response. An official was quoted as saying in a PTI report, "The notification in WTO is an essential step to reserve India's right, in accordance with the provisions of the agreement on safeguard and does not prejudice ongoing discussions, deliberations, negotiations for finalizing tranche one or subsequent tranches of India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA) in any way." The US had imposed the tariff on 26 March 2025 under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, 1974. In response, India had earlier requested consultations under the WTO's Agreement on Safeguards. With the 30-day consultation period now over, India has taken the next procedural step. "India treated it as a safeguard measure and gave a notice for consultation under the WTO agreement earlier. Now, as per the provisions of that agreement, after completion of 30 days period for consultation, as a next step, India has notified that it is reserving its right to suspend concession on equivalent US exports to India as a response to enhanced tariff of 25 per cent imposed by the US on Indian exports of auto components," the official said. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Providers are furious: Internet access without a subscription! Techno Mag Learn More Undo Talks between India and the US aim to conclude the first phase of the BTA by September or October, with the goal of increasing bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030 from the current $191 billion. Before that, both sides are also discussing an interim trade agreement, expected before 9 July, the deadline marking the end of the 90-day suspension period of the so-called Trump tariffs. US President Donald Trump has said he has signed letters informing 10–12 countries about new import duties, and these letters will be sent on Monday. However, sources indicate that there is uncertainty around whether the interim deal will be announced between the two nations before the July 9 deadline. Earlier on Friday, commerce minister Piyush Goyal said that India will not rush into any deal just to meet a deadline. He said that any deal will be accepted with the US only when it is completely finalized, properly concluded and is in the national interest. He further added that FTAs or free trade agreements are possible only when both the nations are benefitted and are in a win-win agreement. India and the US are both signatories to the WTO's Agreement on Safeguards, which allows any member country to withdraw or suspend tariff concessions if another member imposes safeguard measures on its imports. Stay informed with the latest business news, updates on bank holidays and public holidays . AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now

India's rights in WTO to retaliate on US auto tariffs won't affect trade deal talks: Official
India's rights in WTO to retaliate on US auto tariffs won't affect trade deal talks: Official

Time of India

timean hour ago

  • Time of India

India's rights in WTO to retaliate on US auto tariffs won't affect trade deal talks: Official

India's decision to reserve its rights to impose retaliatory duties on the US over imposition of tariffs on auto parts is a procedural move under the WTO agreement on safeguards and it will not affect ongoing negotiations on the proposed trade pact between the two countries, an official said. India on Friday proposed imposing retaliatory duties under the WTO (World Trade Organisation) norms against the US over American tariffs on imports of the country's auto parts in the name of safeguard measures. The proposed suspension of concessions or other obligations would take the form of an increase in tariffs on selected products originating in the US, according to a notification of the WTO being circulated at the request of India. Play Video Pause Skip Backward Skip Forward Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration 0:00 Loaded : 0% 0:00 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 1x Playback Rate Chapters Chapters Descriptions descriptions off , selected Captions captions settings , opens captions settings dialog captions off , selected Audio Track default , selected Picture-in-Picture Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like War Thunder - Register now for free and play against over 75 Million real Players War Thunder Play Now Undo "The notification in WTO is an essential step to reserve India's right, in accordance with the provisions of the agreement on safeguard and does not prejudice ongoing discussions, deliberations, negotiations for finalizing tranche one or subsequent tranches of India-US bilateral trade agreement (BTA) in any way," the official told PTI. The two countries have aimed to conclude the first phase of the BTA by fall (September-October) this year. The agreement is aimed at more than doubling bilateral trade to USD 500 billion by 2030 from the current USD 191 billion. Live Events Both India and the US are signatories to the Agreement on Safeguard at the WTO which empowers a WTO Member to suspend its tariff concessions to another member who introduces safeguard measures on its imports. On 26 March 2025, the US announced a 25 per cent ad valorem tariff on the import of automobiles and on certain automobile parts, including, from India under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, 1974. "India treated it as a safeguard measure and gave a notice for consultation under the WTO agreement earlier. Now, as per the provisions of that agreement, after completion of 30 days period for consultation, as a next step, India has notified that it is reserving its right to suspend concession on equivalent US exports to India as a response to enhanced tariff of 25 per cent imposed by the US on Indian exports of auto components," the official said. Before the first phase, India and the US are negotiating to finalise an interim trade agreement before July 9, which marks the end of the 90-day suspension period of the Trump tariffs imposed on dozens of countries including India. US President Donald Trump on Friday reportedly stated that he has signed tariff letters to 10-12 countries to inform them about import duties to be levied on various products, and these would be sent on Monday. Meanwhile, sources have stated that there are uncertainties over the announcement of the interim trade agreement between India and the US before July 9. India does not enter into any trade agreement based on deadlines and will accept the proposed trade deal with the US only when it is fully finalised, properly concluded and in the national interest, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has said on Friday. FTAs are possible only when both sides get benefitted and it should be a win-win agreement, he has said.

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