Does the Dalai Lama have the spiritual authority to refuse to be the next Dalai Lama after he dies?

Here is him mentioning that he may not want to
Based on other quick research I did, it seems that yes, he has the authority to refuse. He is the highest spiritual authority so I think he has all the authority.

as a side note (not related), I’m reading a book called “The Art Of Happiness” that was written by Howard C Cutler, M.D and the Dalai Lama. Is a very interesting read so far

He can. He’s indicated that he may not reincarnate. Honestly, I kinda get the feeling that he doesn’t truly believe in such things himself, and that had it been up to him he’d rather have been a simple mechanic or something, and not a spiritual leader. Still, he plays the role his people need him to play.

What are they going to do? Point a gun at his head and force him to choose someone? What if he had intended to choose someone but died before he had a chance to make a selection.

I strongly suspect that if the current Dalai Lama resigned without choosing a successor, some committee would choose the new Dalai Lama. Tibetan Buddhism would not come to a grinding halt.

The Dalai Lama doesn’t choose his successor. Before his death he indicates the region his next incarnation will be born in. A few years after his death monks will be sent out to that region to find a suitable candidate. The candidate must be a young child, old enough to communicate, but not old enough to have been alive while the previous Dalai Lama was living.

Once a candidate has been found the child is taken before the Panchen Lama, who determines if the child is the true reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. The current Dalai Lama, Tenzen Gyatso (birth name: Lhammo Thondrup), was selected at the age of 2.

Part of the present conundrum is that the Dalai Lama is traditional the one who determines the current incarnation of the Panchen Lama. In May 1995 the Dalai Lama named the new Panchen Lama. A few months later the child disappeared and the Chinese have claimed their own successor to the Panchen Lama. They are doing this in an attempt to control the next Dalai Lama. So since the proper Panchen Lama has not been seen for more than two decades it is unlikely that he will ever been seen again (if he’s even still alive). And the only candidate Dalai Lama, picked by China’s “Panchen Lama”, will be an impostor.

Thus the current Dalai Lama has indicated that he may be the final, and suggest that the time of the Dalai Lamas has more or less passed.

Sure he can. If it actually makes a difference is another story…