Dalai Lama says he hopes to live beyond 130 years

The elderly Dalai Lama on Saturday said that he hopes to live until he is over 130 years old, days after he sought to allay speculation over his succession by saying he would reincarnate upon his death.

The Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader was speaking during a ceremony organized by his followers to offer prayers for his long life, ahead of his 90th birthday on Sunday.

The Dalai Lama previously told Reuters in December he might live to 110.

“I still hope to live for over 130 years,” the Dalai Lama told hundreds followers from around the world who gathered in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamshala, where he has lived after fleeing Tibet in 1959 in the wake of a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

“We have lost our country and we 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 the dharma as much as I can,” he said, referring to the teachings of the Buddha, according to a translation of his speech.

Beijing views the Dalai Lama as a separatist and has insisted that its leaders would have to approve his successor as a legacy from imperial times.

The Dalai Lama has previously said that he would reincarnate in the “free world” and this week told his followers that the sole authority to recognize his reincarnation rests solely with his non-profit institution, the Gaden Phodrang Trust.