LHASA AND CENTRAL TIBET. 741 



The Dialai Lamas attained their spiritual importance at tlio time of 

 the Lama Gedun-Gyamtso, the superior of the Brebung monastery, 

 who lived from 1475 to 1542. He was the superior simultaneously 

 of the two monasteries Brebung- and Sera, and during his life ac- 

 quired such fame that he began to be regarded as the incarnation of 

 his countryman, the famous organizer of the monaster}' of Tashi- 

 Ihunpo, Gedun-dru. But the custom of finding incarnates in youths 

 begins after his death, and one oflicer of the castle proclaimed his 

 son as this prophet's incarnation. This is evidently the tirst instance 

 of the proclamation of an incarnate, and when he succeeded to the 

 rig'hts of his predecessor it was his fortune, worshiped almost from 

 the cradle, to be invited by the Mongol, Altan-Khan, who gave him 

 the title " Vajra-daradalai-lama," which was sanctioned l)y the " Ming" 

 Emperor of China. The signiticancc of the Dalai Lama in Tibet, how- 

 ever, was at ilrst not very great, which explains the recognition of 

 the son of a Mongol prince as the fourth incarnate, wdio, it is true, 

 was killed in the twenty-eighth year of his life in Tibet. The Mon- 

 gols claim that the Tibetans killed him out of race hatred, and that 

 they even cut him open as the Mongols kill sheep. His successor, 

 Ag-vang lo-sang-(i3amtso, now called simply " Na-va-chenbo" — that 

 is, the Fifth, the great — succeeded in acquiring the secular power, 

 which at tirst was still only nominal. This Dalai Lama, in combina- 

 tion with the tirst '' banichen,'' did not hesitate to invite ^Mongol arms 

 to his country in order to conquer the detesta))le secular governors. 

 Although they succeeded in accomplishing it, Tibetan atiairs began to 

 be interfered with either by Mongol princes, or those recognizing the 

 superiority of the Manchu dynasty, or those who struggled for inde- 

 pendence. After the death of the fifth Dalai Lama, for a period of 

 forty years, the Dalai Lamas became the pretense of political intrigue 

 of various power lovers until a series of historical events destroyed 

 the power in Tibet of the Mongol and native princes, and until finally 

 in the year 1751 the Dalai Lama was accorded the dominating power 

 in matters religious and secular. The election of the Dalai Lama, 

 up to the year 1822, the year of the election of the tenth incarnate, 

 was based upon the prophecies of the highest Lamas and decision of 

 the prophets, which is equivalent to an election by influential persons. 

 But when the tenth incarnate was elected the system of the Emperor 

 Tsien-lung, the casting of the vote by means of the so-called '' serbum," 

 or ''the golden urn,*" was first applied. In this system the names of 

 three candidates, determined by the former arrangeniimt, are written 

 upon separate tickets and placed in the golden urn. This urn is set 

 before the statue of Jovo-Sakyanuuii, and services are held there by 

 deputies from the monasteries, praying for a righteous election. It 

 is then carried over to Potala, to the palace of the Dalai Lama, and 



