金本巴瓶（复制品）

公元1792年

高35厘米

重2170克

金质

“本巴”，藏语“瓶”之意。清政府为革除活佛转世制度中的弊端，乾隆皇帝于乾隆五十七年（公元1792年）特赐金瓶两个：一个在北京雍和宫；一个在拉萨大昭寺，作为转世灵童掣签之用。指令：凡藏蒙大活佛如达赖、班禅、章嘉、哲布尊丹巴等转世时，必须按宗教仪轨将寻访到的数名“灵童”的姓名，用满、汉、藏文字写在象牙签上，置于瓶中，由驻藏大臣或清政府选派的高级官员主持仪式，当众掣签确定。金瓶掣签制度的实行，杜绝了确认活佛转世灵童过程中的弊端，从而将达赖、班禅等活佛的转世制度直接纳入中央政府对西藏的管理制度中。

BembaGolden Urn （Replica）

35 cm high, weighing 2,170 grams

gold

1792

Bemba means urn in Tibetan. To eliminate the drawbacks in the reincarnation system of Living Buddha, Emperor Qianlong bestowed two golden urns in 1792 or the 57th year of his reign,one to the Yonghegong Lamasery in Beijing and the other to the Jokhang Monastery in Lhasa, both used for lotdrawing to determine the reincarnated soul boy. According to the edict he issued, reincarnation of any Living Buddha in Tibet and Mongolia, such as the Dalai Lama, the Panchen Erdeni, Changkya and Tsebu Tsangdainba, should follow Buddhist rituals to seek several soul boy candidates, write their names in Manchu, Chinese and Tibetan on ivory lots, and place them in the urn. The High Commissioner stationed in Tibet by the Qing Court or senior officials appointed by the Qing Court would host the lotdrawing ceremony and one of the lots would be drawn in public. The implementation of the lot-drawing system removed all the previous drawbacks in determining the reincarnated soul boy of a late Living Buddha, and directly included the Living Buddha reincarnation system into the ministration over Tibet by the Central Government.

编辑短评：这就是传说中“金瓶挚签”用的金瓶，这一传统一直沿用至今。自乾隆皇帝起，中央政府通过这一仪轨，树立了中央权威：只有经过中央政府监督、册封，达赖、班禅在西藏发布文告、行使政教职权时才具有合法性和权威性。