On 17 December 2008, after months of speculation, the Dalai Lama announced his semi-retirement. He said that the future course of the movement he had directed for nearly five decades would now be decided by the elected parliament-in-exile with the Prime Minister, Samdhong Rinpoche.
The then 73-year-old Nobel laureate, who had undergone surgery, told reporters in Dharamsala:
I have grown old…. It is better if I retire completely and get out of the way of the Tibetan movement.
His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, has stated that there is a chance that he will not be reborn.
In his autobiography, Freedom In Exile, he states that after he dies it is possible that his people will no longer want a Dalai Lama, in which case there would be no need to search for his reincarnation.
“So, I might take rebirth as an insect, or an animal – whatever would be of most value to the largest number of sentient beings.”
His Holiness often describes himself as a simple Buddhist monk. However, to the world over, His Holiness is highly regarded as an icon of peace – a Living Buddha of compassion.
Today, more than ever before, life must be characterized by a sense of Universal responsibility, not only nation to nation and human to human, but also human to other forms of life.
