▏What is it?

Name: Golden Urn (gser-bum) of the System of Drawing Lots from the Golden Urn

Historical Period: In the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty

Height: 34 cm (The Golden Urn)

Housed in: Xizang Museum

▏What's the story?

The Golden Urn, also known as "gser-bum," is used for the selection of the reincarnations of Living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism. It is a historical witness to the system of "drawing lots from the golden urn" in the Qing Dynasty (1616–1911). The implementation of this system has improved the transparency and fairness of the Living Buddha reincarnation system and has been widely accepted by the Buddhist community, upper-class noble families, and the believers.

The Imperially Approved Ordinance for Better Governance in Xizang (The 29-Article Ordinance)

After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, the central government steadily strengthened and consolidated its governance of Xizang.

In 1653, the Qing emperor officially granted honorific title to the 5th Dalai Lama. The successive Dalai Lamas during the Qing Dynasty were selected and granted their titles according to the same procedure.

In 1713, the Qing envoys were sent to Xizang to confer the title "Panchen Erdeni" upon the 5th Panchen Lama, Lobsang Yeshe, officially establishing the title of Panchen Erdeni.

In 1717, court officials of Qing were directly sent to Xizang, starting the tradition of the ministers stationed in Xizang.

In 1720, the Qing army defeated the Junggar troops that invaded Xizang. In the following year, several Kalons (ministers) were appointed to collectively manage the political affairs of Xizang. In addition, the Kham region was incorporated into Sichuan Province.

In 1727, the Qing government formally stationed principal and deputy ministers in Xizang, who led a troop of two thousand from Sichuan and Shaanxi to garrison the region, marking the first time since the Yuan Dynasty that the central government had stationed troops in Xizang. From then on, the Qing court established the post of grand minister resident in Xizang to supervise local administration on behalf of the central authorities.

In 1750 the Qing government pacified the rebellion, abolished the system under which the various commandery princes held power, and formally appointed the 7th Dalai Lama and the grand minister to administer the local government of Xizang, and set up the Kashag (cabinet) composed of four Kalons (ministers), known as the Ordinance for Governance in Xizang (The 13-Article Ordinance).

In 1788 and 1791, the Qing government dispelled Gurkha invaders twice. In 1793, the Qing emperor promulgated the Imperially Approved Ordinance for Better Governance of Xizang (The 29-Article Ordinance), marking the establishment of a comprehensive governance system of the Qing Dynasty.

Among the aforementioned major historical milestones, The 29-Article Ordinance is the most important because it is considered the basic law of the Qing government's rule over Xizang. It contains detailed provisions on religious affairs, foreign affairs, military affairs, administration and justice, with Article 1 stipulating that the reincarnation of Dalai Lama and other Living Buddhas must follow the system of drawing lots from the golden urn.

The origin of drawing lots from the golden urn

In the early stage of the reincarnation system of Living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhism, the methods of "foretelling," "heavenly judgment" and "designation" were used to determine the reincarnations. Because these reincarnations not only inherited important religious positions but also possessed immense political power, the selection of these reincarnations was often controlled by the secular aristocracy and the religious upper classes, who often falsified the oracle and engaged in fraud.

In the reign of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, Sangye Gyatso, the fifth regent (desi) of the 5th Dalai Lama, kept the secret of the death of the Dalai Lama and covertly decided the reincarnation of the Dalai. This came to light until 1719, when the Qing troops arrived in Xizang to put down the riot of Junggars. To the Qing court, the long-standing practice of Tibetan reincarnation system proved imperfect.

In the 56th year of Emperor Qianlong's reign (1791), the Gurkha army invaded Xizang, and the Qing court sent troops to expel the Gurkha. The Gurkha army sacked the Tashilhunpo Monastery and attacked the Xigaze Castle. Emperor Qianlong wisely appointed the famous general Fu Kang'an as Grand General, who led the Qing troops to Xigaze. The Qing army marched southward, drove out the Gurkha army, and arrived at Kathmandu, the capital of Gurkha. The king of Gurkha surrendered to Qing, on condition that Gurkha would never invade Xizang and would pay tribute to Qing every five years.

Emperor Qianlong took the opportunity to thoroughly rectify Xizang affairs. After his return to Lhasa, Fu Kang'an negotiated with the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama and mapped out the 29-Article Ordinance for Better Governance of Xizang under the order of Emperor Qianlong, which covered various aspects of the political system, economy and trade, diplomatic relations and border defense, military affairs, official administration, temple management, etc., and emphasized the system of drawing lots from the golden urn.

According to the system, the names and dates of birth of several candidates are written in the three languages of Manchurian, Tibetan and Chinese on one side of three ivory slips. Then, in front of the public, the slips would be put into the golden urn, from which one would be drawn. The chosen candidate would then be subject to the approval of the central authorities of China. In the Qing Dynasty, five Dalai Lamas were selected in this way, but two did not go through the lot-drawing procedure as approved by the Qing emperors. The Qing emperors deposed the 6th Dalai Lama, Tsangyang Gyatso, in 1706 and the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso, in 1904, and again in 1910.

The system of drawing lots from the golden urn was fully in line with the rituals and doctrines of Tibetan Buddhism and successfully guaranteed the continuity of religious leaders, and was therefore widely accepted by Tibetan aristocrats and Buddhists in Xizang.

Emperor Qianlong granted two golden urns in 1792, one placed in the Lama Temple in Beijing and the other in the Jokhang Temple of Lhasa. The reincarnation of all Living Buddhas must follow the procedure of "drawing lots from the golden urn."

Liu Xian /Editor    Chi Jianfeng /Translator

Yang Xinhua /Chief Editor    Ren Qiang /Coordinator

Liu Li /Reviewer

Zhang Weiwei /Copyeditor    Tan Yujie /Image Editor

The views don't necessarily reflect those of DeepChina.

Source: Becoming the Chinese Nation: The historical memories of multi-ethnic Chinese Nation in 100 cultural relics