Rev. Danny Fisher

Reuters reports that His Holiness the Dalai Lama recently “encouraged Tibetans in exile to embrace the democratic system of electing a leader, saying it was essential to keep step with the larger world and to ensure the continuity of their government.”

In a video clip shown to hundreds of monks, nuns and lay people in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamsala late on Saturday, the 73-year-old also said it was no longer essential to thrust spiritual and political leadership on one person.

“The Dalai Lamas held temporal and spiritual leadership over the last 400-500 years. It may have been quite useful. But that period is over,” the Nobel Prize winner said in the clip, according to a translated transcript.

“Today, it is clear to the whole world that democracy is the best system despite its minor negativities. That is why it is important that Tibetans also move with the larger world community,” he said.

The Dalai Lama has suggested before it is up to Tibetans whether they continue with the spiritual institution after he dies, and could order an election among Tibetans abroad.

The Dalai Lama could also choose a successor himself from members of his government-in-exile, or a college of senior lamas could pick someone from within its ranks, removing the mysticism of the traditional selection process.

“When we put the whole responsibility in the person of the Dalai Lama, it is dangerous … it is appropriate that a democratically elected leader lead a people’s movement,” he said.

“In reality, a change is happening in the responsibility of the Dalai Lama as the temporal and spiritual leader. This, I think, is very good … a religious leader having to assume political leadership, that period is over,” he said.

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[Photo by Jacky Naegelen for Reuters. "Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama listens after his arrival at Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris on June 6, 2009."]