'Many lifetimes of commitment': Richard Gere vows to keep fighting for Tibetan cause

By Krishna N. Das

DHARAMSHALA, India (Reuters) -As the chair of the International Campaign for Tibet, Richard Gere is the best-known supporter of the Dalai Lama and his people. On Thursday, he vowed to keep fighting for the Tibetan cause even after the eventual death of the elderly Nobel laureate and as China seeks to impose its will on the community.

"This is many lifetimes of commitment," said Gere, who has been stationed in the northern Indian town of Dharamshala for week-long celebrations of the Dalai Lama's 90th birthday on Sunday.

"His Holiness has been very clear that at some point the body is going to fall apart for all of us,"  the 75-year-old movie star, who has been a devoted follower of the Dalai Lama for decades,  told Reuters on the sidelines of an event for Tibetan youth. "We all have to be aware that His Holiness can't carry us on his shoulders forever. We have to carry ourselves and we have to carry each other."

On Wednesday, the Dalai Lama assured millions of his followers that upon his death he would be reincarnated as the next spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism and spelt out a succession process that sets up a renewed clash with China. Beijing insists that it will choose his successor.

China brands the Dalai Lama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for keeping alive the Tibetan cause, as a "separatist" and prohibits displays of his picture or any public show of devotion towards him.

The Dalai Lama has lived in exile in Dharamshala since 1959, after fleeing a failed uprising against Chinese rule. He has since called for a "middle-way approach" that does not seek Tibet's independence from China but demands autonomy for Tibetans to protect and preserve their culture, religion and national identity.

"There's always a way to work through things, and everyone wins," said Gere. "The universe is not zero-sum. It's very expansive, and there's space for all of us."

Addressing 95 Tibetan youngsters from 15 countries, Gere said that on his deathbed, he would not be thinking about his movies but what he has been able to do in advocating the Tibetan cause in global capitals.

"And the conduit of me doing something meaningful in the world has really been through His Holiness, through the Tibetan cause, through the visionary possibilities of Tibetan culture," he said.

Tenzin Kunsel, a 26-year-old nurse in Sydney who moved from Dharamshala 12 years ago, said she hoped to use the teachings from the three-day event, including from Gere, to learn how to advocate and lobby for the Tibetan cause.

"It's up to us now," she said, wearing a traditional Tibetan ankle-length robe secured around the waist by a sash. "It's time for all Tibetan communities to come together and take it forward."

(Reporting by Krishna N. Das, additional reporting by Sunil Kataria; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)