Dalai Lama retires; China bans rebirth (video)

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China tries to control Dalai Lama's successor through reincarnation laws.

The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has announced that he will retire from political life within days. The Tibetan government in exile is set to change its constitution and elect a prime minister who will take over the political offices held by the Dalai Lama at the moment.

The 76-year-old Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 and China has taken a strong hold over Tibet.

"My desire to devolve authority has nothing to do with shirking responsibility," the Dalai Lama said. "It is to benefit Tibetans in the long run."

For hundreds of years, the Dalai Lama has been identified as a reincarnated person. So China banned reincarnation last month unless it followed specific government laws. By March 8, a Chinese official said that the Dalai Lama does not have a right to choose his successor any way he wants but must follow historical and religious traditions by reincarnating.

Reuters reported that, "The Chinese government says it has to approve all reincarnations of living Buddhas, or senior religious figures in Tibetan Buddhism. It also says China has to sign off on the choosing of the next Dalai Lama.

"Tibetan Buddhism has a history of more than 1,000 years, and the reincarnation institutions of the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama have been carried on for several hundred years," Padma Choling said. More>>

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