Note 132 — LECTURE XI. Hierarchical Buddhism, especially as developed in Tibet and Mongolia.

In the Times newspaper for June 15, 1888, is the following: ‘How the Grand Lāma of Tibet is appointed.—A recent number of the Peking Gazette contains a memorial to the Emperor from the Chinese Resident at Lhāssa, stating that a certain Tibetan official called the Nominhan (see p. 286 of this volume) had reported to him that he had found three young boys of remarkable intelligence and acuteness, into one of whom beyond a doubt the spirit of the late Lāma of Tashi Lunpo (one of the two supreme pontiffs) had passed. Thereupon the Chinese Resident sent a report to Peking, asking that the ceremony of selecting one of these three children might be permitted. By the time the authority arrived, the Nominhan with the children had reached Lhāssa, and a lucky day was chosen for the ceremony. The golden vase in which the lots are cast was brought and placed before the image of the Emperor. Prayers were chanted before the assembled Lāmas, and the children were conducted into the presence of the Resident and Tibetan authorities in order that their intelligence and difference from other persons might be tested.’