AFP, McLeod Ganj

The Dalai Lama yesterday said he dreamed of living for decades more, as the Buddhist spiritual leader prayed with thousands of exiled Tibetans on the eve of his 90th birthday.

Thumping drums and deep horns reverberated from the Indian hilltop temple, as a chanting chorus of red-robed monks and nuns offered long-life prayers for Tenzin Gyatso, who followers believe is the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.

Looking in good health, dressed in traditional maroon monk robes and a flowing yellow wrap, he led prayers, days after confirming that the 600-year-old Tibetan Buddhist institution will continue after his death.

“So far, I have done my best and with the continued blessings of Avalokiteshvara (a Buddhist spiritual protector), I hope to live another 30 or 40 years, continuing to serve sentient beings and the Buddha Dharma”, he said, referring to the teachings of the Buddha.

Followers of the Dalai Lama laud his tireless campaign for greater autonomy for Tibet, a vast high-altitude plateau about the size of South Africa.

But speaking at the main temple in the Indian Himalayan town where he has lived for decades -- after Chinese troops crushed an uprising in the Tibetan capital Lhasa in 1959 -- he offered teachings to a far wider audience.

“In my life, I have encountered people from all walks of life, those with faith in religion and others with no interest in it at all. This is only natural, as individuals have different mental dispositions”, he said, speaking in Tibetan.

“Yet, the common desire shared by all, including the Tibetan people, is the wish to avoid suffering and to experience happiness.”

He said responsibility for identifying the 15th Dalai Lama “will rest exclusively” with his office, the India-based Gaden Phodrang Trust.