The Dalai Lama is willing to return to Tibet and end nearly half a century of exile in India if China allows him to go back to his homeland "without preconditions".
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader said he was ready to return to the capital, Lhasa, which he fled in 1959, as soon as he got the "green light" from Beijing. He said China's communist government had stopped him visiting Tibet, most recently in 1984, and prevented him from travelling to sacred Buddhist sites inside China.
"I'm hopeful to visit Tibet, to see my old place with my own eyes, and try to cool down the situation," he added.
"You ask under what circumstances? China should give me the green light, without preconditions."
The Dalai Lama's offer follows a thaw between China and Tibet's exiled leadership, and came on the eve of his three-week trip to the US, which began yesterday. He is likely to discuss his possible return to Tibet with President George Bush, whom he is to meet next week.
Speculation that the Dalai Lama is secretly preparing to make a deal with China has been growing since two of his envoys made a trip to Beijing last September. They visited China again in late May, in the first direct contact between both sides since 1993.
The visits, together with the release of several Tibetan political prisoners and government tours to Tibet for foreign journalists, including one last week, have prompted hopes of an end to Beijing's decades-long impasse with Tibet's exiled government.
The Dalai Lama told the Guardian that negotiations with China had been "positive", and stressed that the only way of finding a solution to the Tibet problem was through "dialogue".
But he said meaningful negotiations with China had not yet taken place, with Beijing unwilling to make any concessions. "We have not yet started serious discussions," he said. "For the moment I believe it is very essential to develop confidence. This is the moment to try and build confidence and understanding."
In the meantime the situation in Tibet had not improved, he said. He also reiterated his demand for Tibet to be given a degree of self-rule, the so-called "middle way approach" he has pursued since the 1970s, after renouncing independence.
"Our position is not seeking independence for Tibet, but genuine autonomy, which the Chinese constitution mentions," he said.
The Dalai Lama fled from Tibet in 1959, after a failed uprising against China's occupation. Since then he has lived in Dharamsala, a hill station in northern India, where hundreds of Tibetan monks wearing maroon robes trek up and down the steep, potholed roads alongside foreign backpackers.
The Dalai Lama said there was "no point in guessing", why the Chinese had decided to talk to him now. But he said communist totalitarian systems had disappeared from most of the world over the past 15 years and that a "confused" China was in a state of flux while aggressively pursuing a western capitalist model.
"I think the majority of Communist party members don't have any genuine belief in communist ideology," he said. "They join the Communist party simply for a job.
"In the 1950s when I was in China I found those party members were really dedicated. They were fully convinced of their ideology."
He added: "China is changing. Chinese intellectuals now begin to realise their policy regarding so-called minorities is not working. It's in China's own interest to be critical about the current policy. Therefore I'm very optimistic."
He also gave his strongest hint so far that he believes Tibetans will discover another Dalai Lama after his death and that he expects the Chinese to come up with a rival. He said his reincarnation, the 15th, would be born to a Tibetan family outside China.
"We are still carrying on a struggle," he said. "Under those circumstances my reincarnation will logically be outside in a free country because the very purpose of the reincarnation is to fulfil the task started by the previous life."
In 1995 the Chinese authorities whisked away a six-year-old boy whom the Dalai Lama had identified as the Panchen Lama - the second most powerful figure in Tibetan Buddhism. He has not been seen since, though Chinese officials insist he is in good health. They tried to install another boy as Panchen Lama.
The Dalai Lama said the Chinese might appoint a successor to him, "a young lucky boy", but Tibetans would reject him. "They will not respect him. He will not have any influence," he said.
He admitted that his death would be a "serious setback" for Tibetans and that things would be "a little chaotic for a few months".
But he pointed out that since the election of Tibet's first prime minister in exile two years ago, he was in a state of "semi-retirement".
"When I die that's permanent retirement," he added jokingly.
Concern over what might happen after the Dalai Lama's death was prompted by rumours last year that he had stomach cancer. He said he did not have cancer but admitted he had been seriously ill with pains in his intestine. He was now in good health, he said.
Earlier this summer he admitted that being Dalai Lama meant that he had "missed out" on sex. He told the Guardian that while sex was undoubtedly pleasurable, it brought complications in the long run.
"Of course for a short moment people ... are very happy. But generally speaking I think [sex brings] too many ups and downs."
The Dalai Lama said he had avoided sexual desire by embarking on serious study of Buddhist texts from the age of 15 or 16 and by not eating solid food after lunch. Pointing to his groin he said: "So my instrument is useless. It has no purpose, no meaning."
Born again and banished
· The current Dalai Lama was born on July 6 1935, in a small village called Taktser in north-east Tibet. He was recognised as the Dalai Lama at the age of two after identifying the previous Dalai Lama's rosary. His parents were poor farmers who grew potatoes
· Originally known as Lhamo Dhondrub, the Dalai Lama was renamed Tenzin Gyatso. He is the 14th Dalai Lama - a centuries-old Tibetan institution - and is also a manifestation of the bodhisattva (divine being) as well as Tibet's spiritual leader
· He became the political head of the Tibetan people in 1950 after 80,000 Chinese soldiers invaded Tibet
· In 1954 he travelled to Beijing for peace talks with Mao Zedong and other Chinese leaders, including Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping. The talks failed
· In 1959 the Chinese brutally suppressed a popular uprising in Tibet against Chinese rule. The Dalai Lama escaped to India. He has not been back to Tibet since
· Since 1960 he has lived in Dharamsala, a hill station in north India known as Little Lhasa. Some 80,000 Tibetans went with him into exile; around 120,000 Tibetans now live there as refugees
· He still leads the life of a Buddhist monk. He lives in a small cottage in Dharamsala, and gets up at 4am to meditate. He spends the rest of his day in meetings, private audiences, religious teachings and ceremonies
· He has met many heads of state, political leaders, and pontiffs. They include the current Pope (five times), Nelson Mandela, John Major, Tony Blair, the Queen, and the prime minister of Mongolia
· The Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. He has also received 47 honorary degrees and awards, and numerous other prizes.