Editing Dalai Lama (section)

== Searching for the reincarnation ==
{{Main|Panchen Lama}}
[[File:DLHaus.jpg|thumb|The search for the 14th Dalai Lama took the High Lamas to [[Taktser]] in [[Amdo]].]]
[[File:Palden Lhamo, Tawang Monastery.jpg|upright|thumb|[[Palden Lhamo]], the female guardian spirit of the [[sacred lake]], [[Lhamo La-tso]], who promised Gendun Drup the 1st Dalai Lama in one of his visions that "she would protect the 'reincarnation' lineage of the Dalai Lamas"]]

By the Himalayan tradition, ''[[phowa]]'' is the discipline that is believed to transfer the mindstream to the intended body. Upon the death of the Dalai Lama and consultation with the [[Nechung Oracle]], a search for the Lama's ''yangsi'', or [[reincarnation]], is conducted.<ref name="sdpcnw">{{cite web|title=The Dalai Lama|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/people/dalailama_1.shtml|publisher=BBC|access-date=17 May 2008|date=21 September 2006|archive-date=4 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104192733/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/people/dalailama_1.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref> The government of the People's Republic of China has stated its intention to be the ultimate authority on the selection of the next Dalai Lama.<ref>{{cite web|work=[[The New York Times]]|title=China's Tensions With Dalai Lama Spill into the Afterlife|author=Buckley, Chris|date=11 March 2015|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/12/world/asia/chinas-tensions-with-dalai-lama-spill-into-the-afterlife.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/12/world/asia/chinas-tensions-with-dalai-lama-spill-into-the-afterlife.html |archive-date=2022-01-01 |url-access=limited}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

High Lamas may also claim to have a vision by a dream or if the Dalai Lama was cremated, they will often monitor the direction of the smoke as an 'indication' of the direction of the expected rebirth.<ref name="sdpcnw" />

If there is only one boy found, the High Lamas will invite Living Buddhas of the three great monasteries, together with secular clergy and monk officials, to 'confirm their findings' and then report to the Central Government through the Minister of Tibet. Later, a group consisting of the three major servants of Dalai Lama, eminent officials,{{who|date=May 2013}} and troops{{which|date=May 2013}} will collect the boy and his family and travel to Lhasa, where the boy would be taken, usually to Drepung Monastery, to study the Buddhist sutra in preparation for assuming the role of spiritual leader of Tibet.<ref name="sdpcnw" />

If there are several possible claimed reincarnations, however, regents, eminent officials, monks at the [[Jokhang]] in Lhasa, and the Minister to Tibet have historically decided on the individual by putting the boys' names inside an urn and drawing one lot in public if it was too difficult to judge the reincarnation initially.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dalai Lama's confirmation of reincarnation|url=http://www.tibettravel.info/tibetan-buddhism/confirmation-of-reincarnation.html|publisher=Tibet Travel info|access-date=17 May 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080331073155/http://www.tibettravel.info/tibetan-buddhism/confirmation-of-reincarnation.html|archive-date=31 March 2008}}</ref>

In his autobiography, ''[[Freedom in Exile]]'', the 14th Dalai Lama wrote that after he dies it is possible that his people will no longer want a Dalai Lama, in which case there would be no search for the Lama's reincarnation. "So, I might take rebirth as an insect, or an animal—whatever would be of most value to the largest number of sentient beings" (p.&nbsp;237).

The Dalai Lama is thought to be a type of "living [Buddhist] god".<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-08-25 |title=Tibet profile |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-16689779 |access-date=2024-05-01 |work=[[BBC News]] |language=en-GB}}</ref>

=== List of Dalai Lamas ===
{{Main|List of Dalai Lamas}}
{{Contains special characters|Indic}}

There have been 14 recognised incarnations of the Dalai Lama:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! !! Name !! Picture !! Lifespan !! Recognised !! Enthronement !! Seal of Authority from Central Government !! Approval from Central Government !! [[Standard Tibetan|Tibetan]]/[[Wylie transliteration|Wylie]] !! [[Tibetan pinyin]]/[[Chinese language|Chinese]] !! Alternative spellings
|-
|align="right"| 1 || [[1st Dalai Lama|Gendun Drup]] || [[File:1st Dalai Lama.jpg|60px]] || 1391–1474 || – || N/A<ref name="posthumous">The title "Dalai Lama" was conferred posthumously to the 1st and 2nd Dalai Lamas.</ref> || N/A || N/A || {{Bo-textonly|དགེ་འདུན་འགྲུབ་}}<br />''dge 'dun 'grub'' || Gêdün Chub<br />根敦朱巴|| Gedun Drub<br />Gedün Drup<br />
|-
|align="right"| 2 || [[2nd Dalai Lama|Gendun Gyatso]] ||[[File:Second Dalai Lama.jpg|60px]] || 1475–1542 || 1483 || N/A<ref name="posthumous" /> || N/A || N/A || {{Bo-textonly|དགེ་འདུན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་}}<br />''dge 'dun rgya mtsho'' || Gêdün Gyaco<br />根敦嘉措|| Gedün Gyatso<br />Gendün Gyatso
|-
|align="right"| 3 || [[3rd Dalai Lama|Sonam Gyatso]] || [[File:Цыбиков Далай-лама III.png|60px]] || 1543–1588 || 1546 || 1578 || Yes<ref name="ReferenceA"/> || || {{Bo-textonly|བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་}}<br />''bsod nams rgya mtsho'' || Soinam Gyaco<br />索南嘉措|| Sönam Gyatso
|-
|align="right"| 4 || [[4th Dalai Lama|Yonten Gyatso]] || [[File:4DalaiLama cropped.jpg|60px]] || 1589–1617 || 1601 || 1603 || Yes<ref name="Biography of the 4th Dalai Lama"/> || ||  {{Bo-textonly|ཡོན་ཏན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་}}<br />''yon tan rgya mtsho'' || Yoindain Gyaco<br />雲丹嘉措|| Yontan Gyatso, Yönden Gyatso
|-
|align="right"| 5 || [[5th Dalai Lama|Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso]] || [[File:5th Dalai Lama.jpg|60px]] || 1617–1682 || 1618 || 1622 || Yes<ref name="K309"/> || || {{Bo-textonly|བློ་བཟང་རྒྱ་མཚོ་}}<br />''blo bzang rgya mtsho'' || Lobsang Gyaco<br />羅桑嘉措|| Lobzang Gyatso<br />Lopsang Gyatso
|-
|align="right"| 6 || [[6th Dalai Lama|Tsangyang Gyatso]] || [[File:VI Dalai Lama.JPG|60px]] || 1683–1706 || 1688 || 1697 || No || Yes, in 1721 after death  || {{Bo-textonly|ཚངས་དབྱངས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་}}<br />''tshang dbyangs rgya mtsho'' || Cangyang Gyaco<br />倉央嘉措|| Tsañyang Gyatso<br />
|-
|align="right"| 7 || [[7th Dalai Lama|Kelzang Gyatso]] || [[File:7DalaiLama.jpg|60px]] || 1707–1757 || 1712 || 1720 || Yes || || {{Bo-textonly|བསྐལ་བཟང་རྒྱ་མཚོ་}}<br />''bskal bzang rgya mtsho'' || Gaisang Gyaco<br />格桑嘉措|| Kelsang Gyatso<br />Kalsang Gyatso
|-
|align="right"| 8 || [[8th Dalai Lama|Jamphel Gyatso]] || [[File:Jamphel Gyatso, 8th Dalai Lama - AMNH - DSC06244.JPG|60px]] || 1758–1804 || 1760 || 1762 || Yes<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.antiquekeeper.ca/?p=109828 | title=趟徉历史的长廊： 净心之旅 西行漫记 奔向世界屋脊西藏（6-2）布达拉宫和藏传佛教 – &#91;临渊阁&#93;天地一家春 | date=October 2023 }} 乾隆皇帝颁给八世达赖喇嘛的金印 གོང་མ་གནམ་སྐྱོང་གིས་ཏཱ་ལའི་བླ་མ་སྐུ་ཕྲེང་བརྒྱད་པར་གནང་བའི་གསེར་ཐམ། Golden seal conferred upon the Eighth Dalai Lama by Emperor Qianlong 金汉、藏、满、蒙文约清乾隆四十六年（1781）10.5×10厘米民族文化宫博物馆藏</ref> || || {{Bo-textonly|བྱམས་སྤེལ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་}}<br />''byams spel rgya mtsho'' || Qambê Gyaco<br />強白嘉措|| Jampel Gyatso<br />Jampal Gyatso
|-
|align="right"| 9 || [[9th Dalai Lama|Lungtok Gyatso]] || [[File:Lungtok Gyatso.jpg|60px]] || 1805–1815 ||1807 || 1808 || Yes<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ak3SQTVS7acC&pg=PA71 | title=The Historical Status of China's Tibet | isbn=978-7-80113-304-5 | last1=Wang | first1=Jiawei | author2=尼玛坚赞 | date=1997 | publisher=五洲传播出版社 }} The 9th Dalai Lama was allowed to use the seal of authority given to the late 8th Dalai Lama by the Emperor of China</ref> || Yes<ref name="ChenQingying">{{cite book|author=ChenQingying|title=The System of the Dalai Lama Reincarnation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=haMIsdC3iZwC&pg=PA80|year=2005|publisher=五洲传播出版社|isbn=978-7-5085-0745-3|pages=80–}}</ref> || {{Bo-textonly|ལུང་རྟོགས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་}}<br />''lung rtogs rgya mtsho'' || Lungdog Gyaco<br />隆朵嘉措|| Lungtog Gyatso
|-
| 10 || [[10th Dalai Lama|Tsultrim Gyatso]] |||| 1816–1837 || 1822 || 1822 || || Yes || {{Bo-textonly|ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་}}<br />''tshul khrim rgya mtsho'' || Cüchim Gyaco<br />楚臣嘉措|| Tshültrim Gyatso
|-
| 11 || [[11th Dalai Lama|Khendrup Gyatso]] ||[[File:The 11th Dalai Lama, mural in the Utse in Samye.jpg|85x85px]]|| 1838–1856 || 1841 || 1842 || Yes<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=haMIsdC3iZwC&pg=PA89 | title=The System of the Dalai Lama Reincarnation | isbn=978-7-5085-0745-3 | author1=陈庆英 | last2=Chen | first2=Qingying | date=2005 | publisher=五洲传播出版社 }} The soul boy worshipped to the east on bended kneeds on a cusion, accepted the golden sheets of confirmation and golden seal of authority awarded by the Emperor, reverently listened to the decree, and exchanged hada scarves with the High Commissioners.</ref> || Yes || {{Bo-textonly|མཁས་གྲུབ་རྒྱ་མཚོ་}}<br />''mkhas grub rgya mtsho'' || Kaichub Gyaco<br />凱珠嘉措|| Kedrub Gyatso
|-
| 12 || [[12th Dalai Lama|Trinley Gyatso]] ||[[File:Twelfth_Dalai_Lama,_Trinle_Gyatso.jpg|60px]]|| 1857–1875 || 1858 || 1860 || || Yes<ref>Biography of the 12th Dalai Lama</ref> || {{Bo-textonly|འཕྲིན་ལས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་}}<br />'''phrin las rgya mtsho'' || Chinlai Gyaco<br />成烈嘉措|| Trinle Gyatso
|-
| 13 || [[13th Dalai Lama|Thubten Gyatso]] || [[File:13th_Dalai_Lama_Thubten_Gyatso.jpg|60px]] || 1876–1933 || 1878 || 1879 || || Yes<ref name="Guangxu 1877"/> || {{Bo-textonly|ཐུབ་བསྟན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་}}<br />''thub bstan rgya mtsho'' || Tubdain Gyaco<br />土登嘉措|| Thubtan Gyatso<br />Thupten Gyatso
|-
| 14 || [[14th Dalai Lama|Tenzin Gyatso]] || [[File:Dalai Lama at WhiteHouse (cropped).jpg|60px]] || born 1935 || 1939<ref name=ohhdl>{{cite web|title=Chronology of Events|url=http://www.dalailama.com/biography/chronology-of-events|website=His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet|publisher=Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama|access-date=18 April 2015|archive-date=1 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170401120625/http://dalailama.com/biography/chronology-of-events|url-status=live}}</ref> || 1940<ref name=ohhdl /><br />(in exile since 1959)|| || Yes<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.antiquekeeper.ca/?p=109828 | title=趟徉历史的长廊： 净心之旅 西行漫记 奔向世界屋脊西藏（6-2）布达拉宫和藏传佛教 – &#91;临渊阁&#93;天地一家春 | date=October 2023 }} 《国民政府特准拉木登珠免予掣签继任十四世达赖喇嘛及拨发坐床大典经费令》The National Government's Decree on the Special Approval of Recognizing La mo don grub as the Fourteenth Dalai Lama with An Exemption of Drawing Lots and the Appropriation of the Expenditure for His Enthronement</ref>|| {{Bo-textonly|བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་}}<br />''bstan 'dzin rgya mtsho'' || Dainzin Gyaco<br />丹增嘉措|| Tenzin Gyatso
|}
There was also a non-recognised Dalai Lama, [[Yeshe Gyatso|Ngawang Yeshe Gyatso]], declared 28 June 1707, when he was 25 years old, by [[Lha-bzang Khan]] as the "true" 6th Dalai Lama. He was never accepted as such by the majority of the population.<ref name="Stein 1972, p. 85" /><ref>[[F. Spencer Chapman|Chapman, F. Spencer]]. (1940). ''Lhasa: The Holy City'', p. 127. Readers Union Ltd. London.</ref><ref name="Mullin276">Mullin 2001, p. 276.</ref>