In 1793 Ch’ien-Lung issued a remarkable edict regulating the appearance of incarnations which, as he observed, had become simply the hereditary perquisites of certain noble Mongol families.  He therefore ordered that when there was any question of an incarnation the names of the claimants to the distinction should be written on slips of paper and placed in a golden bowl:  that a religious service should be held and at its close a name be drawn from the bowl in the presence of the Chinese Agents and the public.  The child whose name should be drawn was to be recognized as the true incarnation but required investiture by an imperial patent.

A period of calm followed, and when the Grand Lama died in 1804 the Tibetans totally neglected this edict and selected a child born in eastern Tibet.  The Chinese Court, desirous of avoiding unnecessary trouble, approved[968] the choice on the ground that the infant’s precocious ability established his divine character but when he died in 1815 and an attempt was made to repeat this irregularity, a second edict was published, insisting that the names of at least three candidates must be placed in the golden urn and that he whose name should be first drawn must be Grand Lama.  This procedure was followed but the child elected by the oracle of the urn died before he was twenty and another infant was chosen as his successor in 1838.  As a result the Lama who was regent acquired great power and also unpopularity.  His tyranny caused the Tibetans to petition the Emperor; and His Majesty sent a new Agent to investigate his conduct.  Good reason was shown for holding him responsible for the death of the Grand Lama in 1838 and for other misdeeds.  The Emperor then degraded and banished him and, what is more singular, forbade him to reappear in a human reincarnation.

The reigns of Grand Lamas in the nineteenth century have mostly been short.  Two others were selected in 1858 and 1877 respectively.  The latter who is the present occupant of the post was the son of a Tibetan peasant:  he was duly chosen by the oracle of the urn and invested by the Emperor.  In 1893 he assumed personal control of the administration and terminated a regency which seems to have been oppressive and unpopular.  The British Government were anxious to negotiate with him about Sikhim and other matters, but finding it impossible to obtain answers to their communications sent an expedition to Lhasa in 1904.  The Grand Lama then fled to Urga, in which region he remained until 1907.  In the autumn of 1908 he was induced to visit Peking where he was received with great ceremony but, contrary to the precedent established when the fifth Grand Lama attended Court, he was obliged to kneel and kotow before the Empress Dowager.  Neither could he obtain the right to memorialize the throne, but was ordered to report to the Agents.  The Court duly recognized his religious position.  On the birthday of the Empress he performed a service for her long life,