Overview

• More than 100 Tibetan Buddhist leaders will convene in McLeodganj from July 2 to July 4 to discuss the Dalai Lama’s succession plan.
• He will outline a process that prioritizes traditional Buddhist rites and shields the selection from Chinese state interference.
• He has stated that his next reincarnation must occur in a free country to prevent Beijing from appointing a politically motivated candidate.
• Spiritual succession responsibilities fall to the Gaden Phodrang Foundation while the Central Tibetan Administration maintains temporal authority.
• Beijing’s 2007 rules grant the Communist Party approval over reincarnations but have been rejected by the Dalai Lama and international supporters of Tibetan autonomy.