Dalai Lama says he plans to reincarnate - but how is a successor chosen and why is it controversial?

The Dalai Lama says he will have a successor after his death, ending years of speculation over whether he would be the last Tibetan spiritual leader.

Tenzin Gyatso, who became the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama in 1940, made the announcement at prayer celebrations on Monday, which marked his 90th birthday in the Tibetan calendar. His birthday in the Gregorian calendar is this Sunday.

He said the next Dalai Lama should be found in line with Buddhist traditions, signalling that China should stay away from the process of identifying his successor. But China's communist authorities have long insisted they should be the ones to select the next reincarnated figure.

Here, we look at the tensions with China, how a successor is chosen and what the spiritual leader's role is. Tensions since Dalai Lama fled Tibet The Dalai Lama and thousands of other Tibetans fled to India after a failed uprising against Chinese Communist rule in 1959.

He has been living in the town of Dharamshala in India since then, helping establish a democratic government-in-exile while also travelling the world to advocate autonomy for the Tibetan people. Beijing has campaigned for decades to counteract the international influence of the Dalai Lama, whose world travels draw attention to the Communist government's often harsh 60-year rule over Tibet.

How is the next Dalai Lama chosen? To understand why there is anxiety over the next Dalai Lama, it's important to understand how the next one is chosen - or rather, identified. Tibetan Buddhists believe the Dalai Lama can choose the body into which he is reincarnated.

The search for a Dalai Lama's reincarnation begins only upon the incumbent's death, and it can take several years. In the past, the successor has been identified by senior monastic disciples while they are still a baby, based on spiritual signs and visions, and they have been groomed to take the reins.

Tenzin Gyatso was identified as a baby in 1937, and formally recognised as the 14th Dalai Lama two years later before being enthroned in 1940. The searchers from the Tibetan government were convinced when the toddler identified belongings of the 13th Dalai Lama with the phrase, "It's mine, it's mine".

What is the Dalai Lama's succession stance? He said in 2011 that the institution of the Dalai Lama did not necessarily have to continue, and that he would leave it up to the Tibetan Buddhist community. Then in his book Voice For The Voiceless, which was published earlier this year, he wrote that his successor would be born in the "free world.