In the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, when the senior monks and lamas of the Mongolian and Tibetan areas died, according to the method of reincarnation of the Gelug sect of living Buddhas, the usual practice was for the senior monks of the three major monasteries of Drepung, Gandan and Sera in Lhasa to invite professional religious personnel to visit the people, and after screening out several boys with spiritual abilities, the "blowing loyalty" (protector god) would play divination and séance and pray to identify the reincarnated spiritual children. However, this method has been practiced for a long time, and there are many drawbacks, and some mongolian and Tibetan upper-class magnates have seen the lofty political and religious status and rich economic interests of "Hubil khan" (reincarnation or incarnation), and in order to compete for power and profits, secretly pay bribes to "blow loyalty", pretend to be divine words, and "wantonly cheat", and many strange phenomena have appeared: "The Dalai Lama, Panchen Erdeni, and other relatives and relatives of the family have been handed down to the family"; the Mongol Khans, Gong and other families are similar to the Succession of Mongolian Princes and Eight Banners. The bizarre "coincidence" is that the six Panchen Lamas, the Khenpo of Tashilhunpo Monastery, the thirteenth Karma Kagyu Red Hat Living Buddha, and the second Sangding Monastery female living Buddha are in the same family. In view of such abuses in the search for and identification of reincarnated spiritual children, the Qianlong Emperor began to pay attention to the standardization of the reincarnation affairs of the living Buddha, the system of institutional regulations, and set up a golden vase signature system, aiming to put an end to the abuse of the reincarnation of the great living Buddha, prevent fraud, and even more to show the Qing Dynasty government's right to manage the affairs of the reincarnation of the living Buddha of Tibetan Buddhism, and highlight the sovereignty of the Qing Dynasty over Tibet.
In 1793, the Qing court ordered the rectification of the reincarnation system of living Buddhas, abolished the practice of "blowing loyalty" to identify reincarnated spiritual children, changed to the golden vase, and set up a "golden bemba bottle" at the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa. The golden vase signature system requires that when the reincarnated spiritual child is identified, the names and dates of birth of several reincarnated spiritual children are written on the ivory signs in Manchu, Chinese and Tibetan characters, put into the bottle, and the monks are selected to pray for seven days, and then presided over by the minister stationed in Tibet and others, and the selection is formally determined in front of the statue of Shakyamuni at the Jokhang Temple. If there is only one child found, a sign with the child's name and a sign without a name must be put into the bottle together, and if the sign without a name is drawn, the child who has been found cannot be identified, but must be found separately. In addition, the Qing government also set up another golden vase in the Lama Temple in Beijing, and when the senior monks of Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in the south of the desert, northern Mongolia and shengjing (Shenyang) in the northeast, Beijing in the central plains, Wutaishan, Chengde and other places were reincarnated, the process was signed by the Shangshu of the LiFanyuan, and the process was the same as above. After the signature was completed, the minister stationed in Tibet or the Shangshu of the Li Fan Yuan would promptly and accurately report the results of the name, age, family origin, etc. of the spirit child identified to the imperial court, and request the approval of the central government to canonize it, so that he could justifiably succeed to the throne and become the legitimate heir of the living Buddha of the predecessor. A grand ceremony for sitting on a bed was held, the minister stationed in Tibet or the Shangshu of the Li Fan Yuan presided over and delivered a congratulatory speech, and the living Buddhas from all over the world gathered in Lhasa or Beijing to pay their respects and celebrate and present gifts. The reincarnated spirit child ascends to the throne, receives pilgrimage, and officially adopts the name and golden seal of the living Buddha of the predecessor. Thereafter, the reincarnated child will receive a long period of scripture education and knowledge
After the establishment of the golden vase signature system, it was not only adhered to by successive central governments, but also supported by the vast number of monks in the Tibetan Buddhist circles, and became a historical customization for the reincarnation of the living Buddha in Mongolia and Tibet. It not only embodies the authority of the central government, but also embodies the historical fact that local Tibet is under the jurisdiction of the central government, and has played an important role in the stability of the country and the maintenance of the unity and ethnic unity of the multi-ethnic country.
In February 1936, the Mongolian and Tibetan Committee of the Republic of China government formulated and submitted it to the Executive Yuan for approval, and promulgated the "Lama Reincarnation Measures", which was the first special regulation promulgated by the central government on the management of the reincarnation of living Buddhas, which was of great historical significance. This method continues the spirit of the Qing central government's management of the reincarnation of the influential living Buddha, inherits the golden vase signature system and the provisions on the reincarnation of living Buddhas in the Qing Dynasty's "Rules of the Li Fan Yuan", emphasizing that after the death of the Dalai Lama, Panchen Erdeni, Jebtsundamba Hutuktu and other great living Buddhas must be reported to the Mongolian and Tibetan Committee for the record by the highest administrative organ in the local area, and the candidate spiritual children of the reincarnated spiritual children must be more than 2 people, and then confirm the spiritual children through the golden vase signature, emphasizing that the central special dispatch of the senior officer to preside over the Dalai Lama. Panchen Erdene sitting on the bed and other principles.
