The Dalai Lama has offered hints that he might diverge from the customs. He has said that his successor will be born in a free country, indicating that the next Dalai Lama could come from among Tibetan exiles, who number about 140,000, half of them in India. He has also said that his successor could be an adult, and not necessarily a man.

The Dalai Lama says he'll have a successor, after all, ending years of speculation that he might be the last person to hold the role and meaning he'd be reincarnated.

Ahead of his 90th birthday, the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism signaled that China should stay away from the process of identifying his successor.