In the 45th year of the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1780), Emperor Qianlong celebrated his 70th birthday. The Sixth Panchen Erdeni traveled east to pay tribute to the emperor and presented him with The Fearless Lion’s Roar, a text composed in the form of Buddhist verses that identified 11 previous lives for Emperor Qianlong. These previous lives fell into three main categories: accomplished Buddhist masters, teachers of the Kadampa and Gelug traditions, and kings who upheld and protected Buddhism. The text sought to place Emperor Qianlong within a religious lineage of reincarnation.
In response to this offering from the Sixth Panchen Erdeni, Emperor Qianlong adopted a strategy of remarkable political sophistication. He ordered the compilation of the Illustrated Biography of Qianlong’s Previous Lives, placing an image of Manjushri Bodhisattva before the 11 figures and his own imperial portrait after them. This innovation placed himself at the very origin of the entire narrative of reincarnation. As an embodiment of Manjushri Bodhisattva, he was presented as a figure transcending the cycle of rebirth and worthy of the reverence of Buddhist devotees.
For Emperor Qianlong, promoting his religious identity as the reincarnation of Manjushri Bodhisattva was far more than symbolic. He commissioned a large number of Thangkas depicting himself in Buddhist attire, in which he consistently appeared in the form of Manjushri Bodhisattva. In 1768, he ordered the construction of the Fanzong Building within the Forbidden City and the enshrinement of a statue of the wrathful form of Manjushri Bodhisattva, presenting Emperor Qianlong not only as the ruler of the earthly realm, but also as an incarnation of Manjushri Bodhisattva in the human world. This far-reaching political groundwork helped reduce religious obstacles to the establishment of the Golden Urn lot-drawing system.
In 1792, the Golden Urn lot-drawing system was introduced. The reincarnation system of Living Buddhas evolved from an internal practice of religious schools to a process subject to regulation by the central government, and was ultimately institutionalized through the Golden Urn lot-drawing system. Emperor Qianlong played a pivotal role in this historical process.
