The 14th Dalai Lama’s announcement in Dharamshala this week, asserting for the primary time that the road will proceed after him, was welcomed by followers of Tibetan Buddhism and followers of its Spiritual chief worldwide. However, it was his assertion that the succession can be determined by the Gaden Phodrang Trust, which might be the “sole authority” on the problem, that has sparked a pointy response from Beijing, which believes it have to be given the suitable to “approve” the candidate.
In an ironic twist for the Communist Party-led Chinese authorities in Beijing, it cites a Qing dynasty custom, used a couple of occasions, of selecting the Dalai Lama’s successor by means of heaps from a “Golden Urn”, as the tactic it hopes to comply with. For the Dalai Lama, who has lived in India since 1959, when he fled Lhasa years after the Chinese annexed Tibet in 1951, it will likely be the Gaden Phodrang belief he arrange in 2011, which he heads, together with an alternate Chairperson, who can also be one of probably the most revered lamas locally, Samdhong Rimpoche, that may take the decision.
While the belief was formally arrange and registered in Dharamshala within the earlier decade, the establishment of Gaden Phodrang Labrang goes again a whole lot of years, and refers back to the workplace of the Dalai Lama as a seamless establishment from the time of the fifth Dalai Lama. Gaden Phodrang was the title of the Tibetan authorities, established by the fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso or ‘the Great Fifth’, as each the Spiritual and Political head of a unified Tibet. It was coined from the title of the historic property of the Dalai Lamas on the Drepung Monastery, earlier than the long-lasting Potala Palace was constructed.
Separation of powers
In 2011, the 14th Dalai Lama arrange the Gaden Phodrang Trust as he determined to separate the Spiritual and Political powers of his put up. “I have now voluntarily brought this [unified power] to an end, proud and satisfied that we can pursue the kind of democratic system of government flourishing elsewhere in the world”, he stated, handing over the duty for the welfare and governance of the Tibetan neighborhood worldwide to the Sikyong, Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) and the Tibetan Parliament in Exile (TPiE) which might be elected each 5 years.
Within his personal workplace, the Office of His Holiness The Dalai Lama (OHHDL), he arrange the Gaden Phodrang Trust to make sure the continuity of religious and conventional points, and the Dalai Lama Trust that undertakes charitable and welfare initiatives. Another department, the Gaden Phodrang Foundation, was arrange as a “non-profit, tax-exempt institution registered in the Canton of Zurich and under the supervision of the Swiss Federal Department of Home Affairs” to advertise non-violence and improve synergies between faith and science. “There should be no confusion, the Gaden Phodrang Trust that His Holiness (Dalai Lama) referred to is an entity in India,” stated Dhundup Gyalpo, Secretary of the Bureau of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in New Delhi.
According to the Dalai Lama’s 2011 assertion, which he has now reaffirmed, officers of the Gaden Phodrang Trust would bear the duty to recognise the fifteenth Dalai Lama — by a course of he would depart written directions about. This would come with consulting numerous heads of Tibetan Buddhist traditions, searching for recommendation from them on the procedures required to seek for the following Dalai Lama, believed to be reborn or reincarnated from the current one.
“Bear in mind that, apart from the reincarnation recognised through such legitimate methods, no recognition or acceptance should be given to a candidate chosen for political ends by anyone, including those in the People’s Republic of China”, the Dalai Lama stated within the assertion dated September 24, 2011. In his newest assertion, dated July 2,2025 the pontiff hasn’t immediately named China, however repeated the mandate, saying unequivocally that the “Gaden Phodrang Trust has sole authority to recognize the future reincarnation; no one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter”.
In his newest guide, Voice for the Voiceless, the Tibetan chief has additionally stated that given the function the following Dalai Lama should fill, it’s vital that his successor be born within the “free world”, which means outdoors of the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) in China.
At a press convention in Dharamshala forward of the Dalai Lama’s ninetieth birthday that falls on July 6, Prof. Samdhong Rimpoche stated that the announcement has clarified the duty forward of the Gaden Phodrang Trust. Mr. Rimpoche added, nonetheless, that there could also be a while earlier than it must fulfil its mandate, notably because the pontiff, who he stated is in “good health”, himself has stated he expects to dwell to 110 years.
