Golden Urn

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In Tibet, on several occasions, children believed to be the reincarnations of the Dalai Lama or the Panchen Lama have been identified by a lottery method, in which names of competing candidates are written on folded slips of paper placed in a golden urn.

This method originated in a decree issued by the Chinese emperor Qianlong in 1792, and was used in the selection of the 10th, 11th, and 12th Dalai Lamas. After defeating the Gurkha invasion in 1792, Emperor Qianlong issued The 29-Article Royal Decree for Better Governing in Tibet, in which Article One ordered the new protocol for deciding the reincarnations of Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama^[1]. It states: Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama are the heads of the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Traditionally their reincarnations are decided by divination in front of the Four Protectors, and that has found to be inaccurate due to human errors. To promote Gelugpa Buddhism, the Emperor grants the Golden Urn (to Tibet)... Since Dalai Lama is the mentor for Panchen Lama, and vice versa, therefore each side should find the reincarnation of the other party by divination with the Golden Urn^[2].

Melvyn C. Goldstein recorded the procedure for using the Golden Urn in his book The Snow Lion and the Dragon: the names and dates of birth of each candidate were to be written in the Manchu, Han, and Tibetan languages on metal slips and placed in a golden urn provided by the Manchu emperor. After prayers before the statue of the Buddha in the Jokhang temple in Lhasa, a slip was drawn, the Buddha ensuring that the correct slip was selected^[3].

There are two Golden Urns issued by Qianlong. One is enshrined in Jokhnag Temple in Lhasa for choosing Dalai and Panchen Lama reincarnations, the other is in Yonghe Palance, or Lama Temple, in Beijing for choosing Mongolian Khutughtu reincarnations^[4]. The 7th Panchen Lama, Palden Tenpai Nyima, used the Golden Urn for the first time in 1822 to choose the 10th Dalai Lama, Tsultrim Gyatso.

Most recently, in November 1995 the Golden Urn was controversially used to name Qoigyijabu (Gyancain Norbu) as the 11th Panchen Lama. This action was approved by the PRC government, but opposed by the Government of Tibet in Exile. In May of the same year, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso had named Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th Panchen Lama.

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