Dalai Lama, a global symbol of Tibetan culture and resistance, turns 90 : NPR
The actor Richard Gere, on the right, embraces the hand of the Tibetan spiritual chief Le Dalai Lama during an event celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Dalai Lama in Dharamshala, India, Sunday.
Ashwini Bhatia / AP
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Ashwini Bhatia / AP
Dharamshala, India – Dalai Lama was 90 years old Sunday surrounded by thousands of disciples, who crowded in the Himalayan city of Dharamshala, where the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism has lived in exile since his Chinese fusion in Tibet in 1959.
Sitting in front of a crowded audience who included hundreds of monks and nuns in a red dress who braved the incessant rain to see it, he said: “When I think back to my life, I see that I did not waste it at all.”
“I live my life in the service of other sensitive beings,” he added.
Dressed in a traditional dress and a flowing yellow envelope, the Dalai Lama was escorted at the temple courtyard by a group of monks, while the Tibetan artists beat the drums and played bagpipes while the senior lamas struck cymbals in his honor. The democratically elected Tibetan government head of government, Penpa Tsering, raised the Tibetan flag while the musicians played the Tibetan anthem.
Recognized all over the world in his red dresses and his broad smile, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, describes himself as a “simple Buddhist monk”. But millions of Tibetan Buddhists adore him like living manifestations of Chenrezig, the Buddhist god of compassion.
Celebration crowned a week of birthday events
The birthday party crowned a week of celebrations, during which the Nobel Peace Prize winner said that he was planning to reincarnate after his death, ending years of speculation that he could be the last person to occupy the role. He also said that the next Dalai Lama should be and recognized according to past Buddhist traditions.
On Saturday, the Dalai Lama said that he hoped to live until the age of 130.
The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in a yellow dress, is helped by monks who arrive when he arrives to chair an event during which Tibetan exiles prayed for his longevity, one day before his 90th anniversary, in Dharamshala, India, Saturday July 5, 2025.
Ashwini Bhatia / AP
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Ashwini Bhatia / AP
In the past, the Dalai Lama said that his successor was born in the “free world” – outside of China. Many exiled Tibetans, however, fear that China appoints its own successor to the Dalai Lama to strengthen control of Tibet, a territory in which he paid troops in 1950 and has governed since.
China, which considers Dalai Lama as a separatist, said on several occasions that he had the power alone to approve the next spiritual leader in Tibetan Buddhism. He also indicates that he will reject any person chosen without the consent of Beijing.
World leaders and celebrities have sent wishes
Dignitaries, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, sent their wishes to the Tibetan chief.
Modi said that Dalai Lama was “a lasting symbol of love, compassion, patience and moral discipline”, while Rubio said that the Buddhist spiritual leader “continues to inspire people by playing a message of unity, peace and compassion”.
The celebration has also experienced hundreds of followers from around the world, including the Hollywood film star Richard Gere.
“He is the most extraordinary man to have ever worked on this planet,” said Gere, while the crowd burst into delighted applause.
In a birthday message on his website on Saturday, the Dalai Lama reiterated that he was “only a simple Buddhist monk” and that he “will continue to focus on my commitments to promote religious harmony of human values”.
The devotees of their traditional dress await the arrival of the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama to attend an event celebrating his 90th anniversary in Dharamshala, India, Sunday.
Ashwini Bhatia / AP
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Ashwini Bhatia / AP
Celebrations also took place in Kathmandu, Nepal, where hundreds of Tibetan refugees, monks and foreign diplomats marked the day with Buddhist prayers, songs and dances.
The Dalai Lama was pushed to the Tibetan throne in 1937. Shortly after, the Chinese troops swept his homeland in the 1950s and crushed a failed uprising, forcing him to escape with thousands of his disciples in India where he established a government in exile.
Since then, he has spent more than seven decades in exile and has supported a nation in exile by succeeding in building a community that has kept living culture and identity. The Dalai Lama has also become one of the most recognizable figures in the world while directing a Tibetan diaspora by their struggle for autonomy and the opposition of Chinese control of Tibet.
