Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday sparks concerns about his succession and the future of Tibetan Buddhism. His legacy of peace and compassion leaves a significant impact on millions globally, raising questions about the selection of his successor amidst geopolitical tensions

-By Claude Arpi 

In the midst of the present planetary chaos, one man preaches love and compassion to his fellow human beings. This man is Tenzin Gyatso, the Dalai Lama of Tibet, who turns 90 on July 6.

For the last 66 years, he has lived as a refugee in India, where he is considered the leader of all the Tibetans (including those in the Land of Snow), as well as of nearly one million Indian Buddhists in the Himalayan belt, from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh.

Following an uprising on March 10, 1959, the Dalai Lama left Lhasa in the dead of the night in dramatic circumstances. A week later, he reached Lhuntse Dzong, a couple of days’ march from the McMahon Line, the border between India and Tibet, from where he wrote to prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, seeking asylum in India.

Four days later, he reached the first Indian post at Chuthangmu, north of Tawang, then part of Kameng Frontier Division of the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA). A letter from Nehru was waiting for him: “We shall be happy to afford the necessary facilities for you, your family and entourage to reside in India. The people of India, who hold you in great veneration, will no doubt accord their traditional respect to your person.”

The fact that the Dalai Lama has recently announced that his successor will be from outside China makes Beijing extremely nervous; the Communist regime fully ...