Selection
Following the death of the 10th Panchen Lama in 1989, both the Tibetan government in exile and the Chinese government started parallel processes in the six year long search for the 11th Panchen Lama.
The head of the Chinese government's Panchen Lama search committee at the time, Chadrel Rinpoche, was able to secretly communicate with the Dalai Lama. He planned to submit the Dalai Lama's favored choice to the government. When the government learned of this conspiracy, they arrested Chadrel. The Dalai Lama moved to pre-empt China's choice, and proclaimed his own preferred candidate, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, as the 11th incarnation of the Panchen Lama. Four days later, Chinese security forces escorted him from his home in Lhari County, stating that he "was at risk of being kidnapped by Tibetan separatists". China rejects Nyima as being "arbitrarily" chosen, while the Tibetan government in exile similarly insists on its candidate's legitimacy.
Chadrel was replaced on the search committee by Sengchen Lobsang Gyaltsen. The new committee decided to choose the Panchen Lama from a list of finalists by drawing lots from a Golden Urn. The Chinese custom of using the Golden Urn had been introduced in the year 1792 by the Qianlong Emperor and used to select the 10th, 11th, and 12th Dalai Lamas. Four days before his death, the China Tibet Information Center reports, the 10th Panchen Lama requested that the Golden Urn process be used to select his successor. According to Arjia Rinpoche, an important lama who attended the ceremony, Ye Xiaowen, the central government official in charge of the Panchen Lama issue, stated privately that the selection had been rigged in favor of Gyaincain Norbu.
Six-year old Gyaincain Norbu was selected on 8 December 1995 with the religious name Qoigyijabu. Exiled Tibetan abbot Arjia Rinpoche, alleges that an official told him that the ceremony, which he attended, was rigged in favor of Norbu. Gyaincain Norbu was enthroned at Tashilhunpo Monastery and has since assumed the full functions of Panchen Lama.
Read more about this topic: Gyaincain Norbu, Biography
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