The Dalai Lama said on Saturday that he hopes to live until he is over 130 years old, two decades more than his previous prediction, following his safety to the followers that reincarnario as the spiritual boss of faith after his death.
The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize spoke during a ceremony organized by his followers to offer prayers for his long life, before his 90th birthday on Sunday, and as China insists that he will choose his successor. Dalai Lama told him Reuters In December I could live at 110.
“I have been able to serve the Buddhadharma (the teachings of Buddhism) and the beings of the Tibet so far quite well,” he said among the prayers, clarifying his throat from time to time.
“And yet, I hope to live more than 130 years,” he said, causing applause and cheers among his followers.
The 14th Dalai Lama, and the head of the oldest Tibetan Buddhism, spent about 90 minutes in the prayers in its temple.
The ceremony was attended by thousands of followers from all over the world who gathered in the city of Dharamshala in the hill of northern India, where he has lived since he fled Tibet in 1959 following a failed uprising against the Chinese domain.
“We have lost our country and live in exile in India, but I have been able to benefit beings quite a lot. So, living here in Dharamshala, I intend to serve beings and Dharma as much as I can,” he said in Tibetan, who simultaneously translated into English and other languages.
China, anxious to consolidate its control over Tibet, see Dalai Lama as a separatist. Beijing insists that their leaders would have to approve their successor, in a legacy of the imperial era.
The Dalai Lama has said that he reincarnates in the “free world” outside China, and this week he told his followers that the only authority to recognize his reincarnation falls to his non -profit institution, Gaden Phodrang Trust.
The devotees transmit
The Dalai Lama is a charismatic figure whose next extends far beyond the millions of Tibetan Buddhists living throughout the world.
He won the 1989 Peace Prize, so the Nobel Committee said it was to keep the Tibetan cause alive and seek genuine autonomy to protect and preserve the unique national culture, religion and identity of the region without pressing for independence.
In Saturday’s prayers, he sat on a throne before a great statue of the Buddha, with dozens of monks sitting in front of him.
The scolding garlands hung pillars while their followers and journalists crowded around the main area of the temple. The oracles and other figures, trembling in trance, arrived to pay their reverence to their guru. The monks hit dishes and played long trumpets ornate in honor of the Dalai Lama and others.
The Dalai Lama said he prays daily to benefit all sensitive beings and feels that he has the blessings of the sponsoring deity of Tibet, Avalokitesvara.
“Looking at the many prophecies, I feel that I have the blessings of Avalokitesvara,” he said. “I have done my best so far. At least, I hope to continue living for 30 or 40 more years.”
His birthday celebrations will receive senior Indian ministers, as well as diplomats from the United States, along with thousands of their devotees.
