Dalai Lama Not Retiring After Hospitalization

NEW DELHI, Feb. 9, 2009— -- The Dalai Lama has been hospitalized several times since the summer, including a stay in Delhi last week for a pinched nerve, leading to speculation the aging spiritual leader may be ready for retirement.

Not true.

"Basically, he's better," said Tenzin Taklha, a senior aide to the Dalai Lama. "He's wearing a neck collar to give him a little bit of rest. He has resumed his schedule."

The self-proclaimed "semiretired" Dalai Lama, 73, has led the Tibetan people for the last 50 years and said that he has no intention of fully retiring any time soon.

Still, a confluence of factors in the last year -- the Buddhist leader's illnesses, the meeting of Tibetans in exile in November and unrest in Lhasa -- has forced many to examine what will happen after his death.

Historically, a reincarnated dalai lama has been chosen after the death of the previous leader. A group searches for the new dalai lama, looking for signs of a reincarnation.

"They find several candidates who are tested," said Taklha, who explained that the testing procedure is different each time.

The search team sometimes offers items belonging to the previous incarnation to see whether the child has any connection to them.

"It's very flexible," Taklha said.

The current dalai lama was found in a rural area outside of Tibet. He was born to farmer parents far from his future as Nobel Peace Prize winner and arguably the world's most recognized spiritual leader.

China invaded Tibet in 1950 and the Dalai Lama fled Chinese rule nine years later. He helped establish the Tibetan government-in-exile in the tiny mountainous town Dharamsala. Tens of thousands of Tibetans have followed him there and to Tibetan enclaves around India.