DHARAMSHALA, India (AP) — Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Wednesday said the centuries-old Tibetan Buddhist institution will continue after his death, ending years speculation that started when he indicated that he might be the last person to hold the role.

Speaking at prayer celebrations ahead of his 90th birthday on Sunday, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism said in a recorded statement that the next Dalai Lama should be found and recognized as per past Buddhist traditions.

Tibetan Buddhists believe that the Dalai Lama can choose the body into which he is reincarnated, as has happened on 14 occasions since the creation of the institution in 1587.

Tenzin Gyatso became the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama in 1940. He fled Tibet when Chinese troops crushed an uprising in the Tibetan capital Lhasa in 1959 and has been living in exile in the town of Dharamshala in India since then.

The Dalai Lama has insisted that his successor would be born outside China. Beijing, which regards him as a separatist, has said it alone has the authority to find the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama.

He said “the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue” and the search for a future Dalai Lama should be carried out in “accordance with past tradition.”

Most Tibetan Buddhists, inside Tibet and in exile, oppose China’s tight control of Tibet.