July 6, 2009 Dalai Lama on his 74th birthday: My life has not been wasted Play video

(NECN/AP) - The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, celebrated his 74th birthday today in a typically jocular mood, remarking light-heartedly that the prayers being said for him by his followers might help him live at least 100 years.

Hundreds of Tibetan exiles and Indian Buddhists chanted prayers and sang

songs in the Indian capital New Delhi to mark his birthday amid worries

about the aging spiritual leader's successor.

The occasion also marks his 50th year in exile in India, having fled Tibet

following a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule over the Himalayan

region.

The Dalai Lama has had a number of medical problems in the last two years,

which have interrupted his busy schedule of international travel to teach

Buddhism and highlight the Tibetan struggle for more freedom under Chinese

rule.

As he gets older there are concerns about who will lead the Tibetan exiles

and push for their cause after his death.

Fears that China will appoint a new Dalai Lama after his death have led

Tibetan leaders to contemplate ideas that break with the centuries-old

system to choose their spiritual leader - including doing away with Dalai

Lamas or naming a successor before the current leader dies.

On Monday, however, the Dalai Lama, who traveled to New Delhi from his

residence in the northern town of Dharmsala, did not focus on worries about

the future.

"When

Opportunity, something to learn from other religious traditions, and also

from scientists, some new things," he said.

The Dalai Lama accepted gifts of scarves from his followers and watched a

musical performance.

The gift of a white or cream silk scarf is considered a sign of respect

among Tibetan Buddhists.

Meanwhile, in Dharmsala, the hill town that is the home of the Tibetan

government-in-exile, hundreds gathered to celebrate the Dalai Lama's

birthday, listening to speeches by religious leaders and attending cultural

shows and dance performances by school children and Tibetan artists.

The Dalai Lama has lived in Dharmsala since fleeing Tibet.