Update | 'Let's finish with a popular Dalai Lama': Tibetan spiritual leader says no need for successor

The Dalai Lama has told a German newspaper that he should be the last in his line of Tibetan spiritual leaders, ending a centuries-old religious tradition from his Himalayan homeland.

“If a weak Dalai Lama comes along, then it will just disgrace the Dalai Lama,” he said, according to a transcript of the interview, which was conducted in English.

“Tibetan Buddhism is not dependent on one individual,” he reportedly said. “We have a very good organisational structure with highly trained monks and scholars.”

A spokesman for the Dalai Lama did not immediately answer emailed questions about the interview’s accuracy.

Robert Barnett, director of the Modern Tibetan Studies Program at Columbia University said it was important to distinguish between the Dalai Lama’s political and religious roles. “It’s more likely that in this interview he was being categorical that there will be no return to the political role of the Dalai Lamas ("the institution"), while expressing conventional modesty and uncertainty about returning as a spiritual figure,” he wrote in an email.