Beijing has spoken loud and clear: the next reincarnation of the Dalai Lama will be in China, and approved by the Chinese Communist Party. Tibet, however, has been silent. "That's just the way it is," the monk told us. "That's the reality."

The Dalai Lama has announced that he intends to reincarnate, paving the way for a successor to take on a mantle stretching back 500 years after his death.

On Wednesday, the 14th Dalai Lama, who turns 90 this Sunday, stated that the centuries-old institution of the Dalai Lama would continue and that the Gaden Phodrang Trust would have the “sole authority