Dalai Lama turns 74, says should live to 100

The Dalai Lama celebrated his 74th birthday Monday in a typically jocular mood, remarking lightheartedly that the prayers being said for him might help him live to at least 100.

The Tibetan spiritual leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate has now spent 50 birthdays in exile in India.

Hundreds of Tibetan exiles chanted prayers and sang songs in New Delhi and Dharmsala, the northern town where he lives, to mark the birthday, setting aside nagging worries about their aging leader's successor.

The Dalai Lama has had a number of medical problems in the last two years, which have interrupted his busy schedule of international travel to teach Buddhism and highlight the Tibetan struggle for more freedom under Chinese rule.