The Dalai Lama has long seen himself as 'semi-retired' from political leadership with an elected prime minister already in place in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala. He remains Tibet's spiritual leader.To paraphrase Dennis the Peasant, watery tarts lying about in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government. Same goes for identification of reincarnated lamas by committee.
Now that may come across as an insolent tone, but there are few leaders of any kind as committed to peace as this Dalai Lama has been and he deserves every bit of credit he gets for that commitment. He appears, from my outsider's perspective, to be a genuinely humble and wise, as his public image suggests. Doesn't change the fact selecting your leaders by identifying reincarnates is patently ridiculous.