For the charismatic Nobel Peace Prize-winning leader, his landmark birthday will be a time to encourage people to plan for an eventual future without him and address whether there will be another Dalai Lama.

The answer, at least according to his translator of nearly four decades, is clear: yes.

“I know for a fact that he has received petitions from across the Tibetan Buddhism communities, including some from inside Tibet,” said Thupten Jinpa, 66, a Buddhist scholar who helped produce the leader’s latest book, “Voice for the Voiceless”.

Jinpa believes the post, which he likens to a Buddhist “papal institution” not only for Tibet but also encompassing the Himalayan regions of India, Bhutan and Nepal, as well as Mongolia and some Russian republics, will continue.

“My hope is that before his birthday, July 6, he will issue a final statement,” Jinpa said, speaking in India, where the Dalai Lama has been based since fleeing into exile in 1959.

“If my guess is right, and he says that the continuity of the institution will remain, that means then there will be a new Dalai Lama.”

Many exiled Tibetans fear China will name a successor to bolster control over a land it poured troops into in 1950.