The 14th Dalai Lama's birthplace lies under a swath of red hills in China's remote northwestern province of Qinghai.

Gonpo Tashi, 70, a nephew of the 14th Dalai Lama and his only close relative in China, has been taking care of the old residence where the Tibetan spiritual leader was born and spent his first years.

The shining refurbished compound has retained its original look with Tibetan decorative paintings, including Buddhas, monkey and elephant deities.

A simple temple-like building in the compound is the birthplace of the 14th Dalai Lama. The original shabby cottage was turned into a new hall thanks to Gonpo Tashi.

"It is right here that he correctly picked out objects used by the 13th Dalai Lama," he said.

That was in 1938. The 14th Dalai Lama was then a three-year-old boy called Lhamo Thonodup.

The place is Takster Village, Ping'an County, 50 km from Xining, capital of Qinghai Province.

REINCARNATION 

Tibetan Buddhism holds that the soul of a senior lama, or Rinpoche (living Buddha), is reincarnated in the body of a child upon death.

The first to implement the reincarnation system was not the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, to which the 14th Dalai Lama belongs.

Tibetan Buddhism has four main schools, Gelug, Nyingma, Sakya and Kagyu. Gelug is the most influential.

"The establishment of the reincarnation system is a contribution from the Kagyu school," said Chamdoi, head of the Tsurpu Monastery Buddhist College of the Kaguy school.

In 1284, Rangjung Dorje was selected as the reincarnation of his Kagyu predecessor, becoming the first reincarnated Rinpoche in Tibet.

Before then, Tibetan Buddhism relied on father-to-son and master-to-disciple transmission. "The reincarnation system is more stable and is better for the monastery's development," said Chamdoi.

While the first reincarnated Rinpoche was from the Kagyu school, it is the Gelug school that has made the system influential.

As marriage is not allowed for Gelug monks, monastery leaders could not continue their rule through bloodlines, so they borrowed the idea of reincarnation from the Kagyu school.

In 1546, Sonam Gyaco, the 3rd Dalai Lama, was brought to the Zhaibung Monastery and became the first reincarnated child in the Gelug school, according to historical documents.

Zhaibung Monastery, built in 1416, hosted the enthronement ceremony of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Dalai Lama.

"We treat all the Dalai Lamas with the same reverence, because they came from the same soul," said Ngawang Jambae, 55, a senior monk who sat cross-legged in a Buddha hall at the monastery.

"But I think the 5th and 7th Dalai Lama were the greatest," he added.

The 5th Dalai Lama was summoned to an audience with Qing Emperor Shunzhi in 1653, who officially conferred on him the title of Dalai Lama, establishing its political and religious status in Tibet.

The Dalai Lama's enthronement had to be confirmed by the central government since then.

In 1751, the Qing imperial government empowered the 7th Dalai Lama to administer Tibet, marking the establishment of a theocratic local authority.

LOOKING FOR THE DALAI LAMA 

After the 13th Dalai Lama passed away in 1933, the local government of Tibet followed historical convention and appointed a regent to search for the boy that held his soul.

The Regent Reting led the search team to Lhamo Latso Lake, where he saw in the water several Tibetan letters, a monastery with a golden tower-style roof, and a zigzag path to the east of the monastery leading to a small bungalow on the opposite hill.

Tibetans still frequently visit the lake for prayer.

"It is a sacred lake for us Tibetans," said Qoipei, a truck driver from Lhasa.

"Humans' previous life and future can be seen from the lake," said Qoipei.

Rinzin Quzhen, a 59-year-old woman, has come to Lhamo Latso Lake for the first time.

She put her palms together and chanted the scriptures after offering a hada, a piece of silk used as a greeting gift, to the direction of the lake.

"It is essential to observe the lake in the search for reincarnated Rinpoche," she said.@ One year after Reting saw the reflected image in the water, three teams left Lhasa and began their journey to find the next Dalai Lama.

"Looking for the Dalai Lama is not the same as looking for a low-level Rinpoche. They motivated many senior monks in Tibet and spent three years," said the grey-haired Gonpo Tashi.

"It has to follow historical conventions," he said.

It is said that the bungalow on the hillside at Takster Village looks like what Reting saw in the lake.

According to well-known tales in Tibet, the senior monks went into the room. Lhamo Thonodup grasped the prayer beads worn by the 13th Dalai Lama from a monk and hung them around his neck. Several daily articles of the 13th Dalai Lama were laid out before him. To their surprise, he exactly identified the items owned by the 13th Dalai Lama.

This led the search party to believe Lhamo Thonodup was the candidate for reincarnation. They brought him to Lhasa.

APPROVAL FROM CENTRAL GOVERNMENT 

The traditional selection process of "drawing lots from the golden urn" was established in the late 18th century by Emperor Qianlong to prevent Tibetan Rinpoches from fighting for wealth and power.

The urn contained several ivory lots of the same size. Names of competing candidates were written on folded slips of paper placed in the urn.

"The lot-drawing process combines the Qing Empire's right to rule with Tibet's god-judging customs, which effectively prevents malpractice in the reincarnation system," said Zhukang Tubdankezhub, the 7th Zhukang Rinpoche and head of the Buddhist Association of China Tibet branch.

The urn is now enshrined at the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa. The urn only appears during the lot-drawing ceremony in front of the Sakyamuni statue.

A biography of the 10th Dalai Lama mentioned the lot-drawing process.

"Officials and senior monks sat in front of the emperor's portrait. Three slips of names were put in the urn," it said.

The reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama should have followed the process, but Lhamo Thonodup was exempted from the drawing through a concession by the central government. Similar situations have happened twice in history, both approved by the central government after the high commissioner stationed in Tibet reported to the emperor.

"Whether to approve or exempt lot drawing lies with the central government, which reflects the authority of the central government in Rinpoche reincarnation," said Chen Qingying, researcher with the China Tibetology Research Center.

On Feb. 22, 1940, the five-year-old Lhamo Thondup was enthroned as the 14th Dalai Lama at the Potala Palace.

Wu Zhongxin, chairman of the Commission for Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs of the central government at the time, presided over the ceremony. Wu's seat faced south, as did that of the Dalai Lama, to the east of the throne, marking the sovereignty of the central government over Tibet.

ONE MAN DOES NOT COUNT 

The Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism's highest spiritual authority, has been reincarnated in an unbroken line for nearly five centuries since the 3rd Dalai Lama Sonam Gyaco, according to religious belief.

The 14th Dalai Lama fled China in March 1959 in the wake of a failed coup to resist the slave abolition reform. Since then, he has lived abroad. His chances of returning to his homeland seem to be growing slim. The Chinese government has accused him of attempting to split the country.

Since 1959, the Dalai Lama and his followers have masterminded a series of seriously violent incidents, including the March 14 riots in Lhasa in 2008, when 18 innocent civilian were killed.

The current 14th Dalai Lama, who turned 80 earlier this month, said he may be the last Dalai Lama.

On at least four occasions since 2008, he said he would end the system. He has even said he is not certain whether he has the same soul as his predecessors.

At the same time, he appears to be inappropriately playing tricks with the Buddhist tradition. He said on several occasions that his reincarnation could be an Indian, a Mongolian, a Kalmykia, a European, a bee or even a "mischievous blonde woman."

In a recent interview with the New York Times, the 80-year-old monk hinted that he would hold some kind of referendum among Tibetan exiles, and consultations among Tibetans within China, about whether a new Dalai Lama should succeed him.

He also commented that "the Chinese Communist Party is pretending that they know more about the reincarnation system than Dalai Lama".

"He (The 14th Dalai Lama) is treating the sacred reincarnation system as a child's game," said Lian Xiangmin, a researcher with the China Tibetology Research Center.

"It's not the first time he has pejoratively and arbitrarily trampled Tibetan Buddhist rituals," he said.

The 14th Dalai Lama's attempt to end the reincarnation system is meant to abolish the central government's jurisdiction in historical convention and religious ritual in order to achieve his political goals, said Cedain Zhaxi.

"It is a dual betrayal, both politically and religiously," said Zhu Weiqun, head of the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, the national political advisory body.

"The reincarnation of the Dalai Lama has to be endorsed by the central government, not by any other side, including the Dalai Lama himself," said Zhu.

The 14th Dalai Lama's attempt to end the reincarnation system is meant to mislead the central government and the public in order to retain the title within the clique and serve their separatist purposes, said Zhu.

"The heritage and development of Tibetan Buddhism cannot succeed without the Rinpoche reincarnation system," said the 7th Reting Rinpoche, 18, who was enthroned as the reincarnation of the 6th Reting Rinpoche in 2000.

"I hope the system will last forever," he said.

The system, which Tibetans have believed in for centuries, cannot be ended by a single person, said Qin Yongzhang, a researcher with the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

A Rinpoche title represents power and status in politicians' eyes, but for common Tibetans, belief in the reincarnation of Rinpoches is a central part of life.

Tashi, a 48-year-old herder in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, could not say when his daughter's birthday is, but remembers clearly the birthday of the Sakyamuni Buddha.

Tashi lives a humble life. He digs for Chinese caterpillar fungus 40 km from his home every year to support his family. He has a Buddha hall where he lights butter lamps and prays every day.

"Should the Rinpoche not reincarnate, my Buddha hall would collapse," said Tashi.