THE TULKU SUCCESSIONS in Tibet are a bureaucratic approach to the succession problem, which all governments seem to be afflicted with.
The succession problem, briefly, is this: in systems were there is someone “in charge,” how do you prevent that slot from being occupied by a clunker of some sort? A dummy, a maniac, a tool of some hidden manipulator.
The tulku succession system in Tibet is still in place. When the current Dalai and Panchen Lamas die, they will be replaced in the normal manner, by a committee. The current Panchen Lama was approved by Beijing. Beijing does not approve of the current Dalai Lama, but it has not attempted to replace him, as previous Chinese governments have occasionally tried to do. Tibetans never accepted the Beijing-imposed Dalai Lamas, though in each case they had to put up with them for a while.
In the tulku system a bunch of senior level men go out looking for a male baby with the characteristics they want, take him back to Lhasa, raise him to be what they want him to be. Over time, to some extent, they have gotten what they wanted, which was a well-educated, intelligent leader who believed in the system.
The British had invaded Tibet in 1904, and their presence got
