Dalai Lama puts Tibetan New Year celebrations on hold

The World

Today is the Tibetan New Year, but the Dalai Lama has put celebrations on hold. He’s called instead for a commemoration of those killed in a crackdown on demonstrators on this holiday last year. The ongoing conflict with China over autonomy for Tibet is complicating the question of who will succeed the Dalai Lama, who is 74, with the Chinese government insisting that it has the right to designate his next reincarnation. Robert Thurman, a professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies at Columbia University and author of Why the Dalai Lama Matters joins John and Jerome with a look at how this transition is likely to unfold.

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