Weeks before the Dalai Lama ruled out China's role in choosing his successor, President Xi Jinping met a Tibetan Buddhist monk installed three decades ago by Beijing as the faith's No. 2 leader, the Panchen Lama.

The Dalai Lama has announced that he intends to reincarnate, paving the way for a successor to take on a mantle stretching back 500 years after his death