Dalai Lama says he is 84 or 85 years old and is quite well. (File photo)
Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama has played down the debate over his successor, saying it was too early to discuss it.
"All of you discussed a lot about my reincarnation. I am 84 or 85 years old and I am quite well. So why are you in a hurry about my reincarnation?" he was quoted as saying at a meeting of Tibetan religious leaders.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner was addressing them on the last day of the three-day 14th Tibetan Religious Conference, where a resolution on reincarnation was earlier adopted.
While China has been insisting that the tradition of reincarnation of the Dalai Lama should continue, many Tibetans are opposed to Beijing's apparent attempt to "impose" a successor.
The 14th Dalai Lama himself has said in the past that it is not necessary that the tradition should continue.
At the conference held at the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) headquarters in this Himachal Pradesh town, the Dalai Lama said monasteries must focus more on studies.
"Chanting mantras only is not enough. Knowledge and education should be the base," he said.
The participants adopted a resolution on the first day of the conference, saying that the Dalia Lama alone has the authority to decide how his reincarnation will occur.
It added that no government has the right to interfere in that process.
Karma Gelek, Religion and Culture minister in the Tibetan government in-exile, said the 14th Dalai Lama addressed a range of topics in his address.
"About his reincarnation, he said he is physically extremely well and mentally extremely happy so there is no hurry on talking about this subject," the minister said.
Addressing the inaugural session of the conference on Wednesday, CET president Lobsang Sangay also criticized "meddling" by China.
"China''s extreme hostility towards religious freedom in Tibet is totally unacceptable to us and likewise, we vehemently reject any advancement of China''s interferences in the process of the reincarnation system," the CET quoted him as saying.
If anything it should be for the Tibetans to decide, he added.
"Though China continues to put pressure on India, India''s consistent generosity and kindnesses towards Tibetans have always been the same," he said.