BY BARBARA O'BRIEN

The government of China is in possession of a particular golden urn. This urn, it is alleged, is essential to choosing the tulku, or rebirth, of a Dalai Lama. You may be hearing a lot about the urn within the next few years. The Fourteenth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, is 87 years old. With all sincere wishes for his good health and long life, it must be acknowledged that he doesn’t have a lot of years left. And the government of China will very likely choose someone they can call the Fifteenth Dalai Lama after he’s gone.

In 2007 China’s State Administration of Religious Affairs released Order No. 5, which covers “the management measures for the reincarnation of living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism.” The order provides “application and approval procedures” for the proper reincarnations of “living Buddhas,” which is what the Chinese call Tibetan lamas. Applicants for reincarnation must apply to various parts of the bureaucracy of the People’s Republic of China to be approved and recognized. In short, a lama needs a permit to reincarnate.  As ridiculous as this may sound to us, Beijing is deadly serious about this. Its aim is to be sure all religious authority within Tibetan Buddhism is under government control.

The Golden Urn in Chinese Regulations

Here is what Order No. 5 says about the golden urn.

Living Buddhas which have historically been recognized by drawing lots from the golden urn shall have their reincarnating soul children recognized by drawing lots from the golden urn.

Requests not to use drawing lots from the golden urn shall be reported by the provincial or autonomous regional people’s government religious affairs departments to the State Administration of Religious Affairs for approval; cases with a particularly large impact shall be reported to the State Council for approval.

The next question is, where did the golden urn come from, and is it really part of the traditional process of choosing rebirths of high Tibetan lamas? The answer to the second question is “not really.” This is clarified in the answer to the first question, the history of the golden urn.

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/thereligioushistorynerd/2023/02/the-golden-urn-and-the-succession-of-dalai-lamas/