Golden Urn
The Golden Urn is a method for selecting Tibetan reincarnations by drawing lots or tally sticks from a Golden Urn introduced by the Qing dynasty of China in 1793. After the Sino-Nepalese War, the Qianlong Emperor promulgated the 29-Article Ordinance for the More Effective Governing of Tibet, which included regulations on the selection of lamas. The Golden Urn was introduced ostensibly to prevent cheating and corruption in the selection process but also to position the Qianlong Emperor as a religious authority capable of adducing incarnation candidates. A number of lamas, such as the 8th and 9th Panchen Lamas and the 10th Dalai Lama, were confirmed using the Golden Urn. In cases where the Golden Urn was not used, the amban was consulted. Golden Urn was exempted for Lhamo Dhondup to become the 14th Dalai Lama in 1940.
| Golden Urn | |||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 金瓶掣籤 | ||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 金瓶掣签 | ||||||||
| Literal meaning | Drawing Lots from the Golden Vase | ||||||||
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| Tibetan name | |||||||||
| Tibetan | གསེར་བུམ་སྐྲུག་པ | ||||||||
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| Part of a series on |
| Tibetan Buddhism |
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