Amitabha. He was
eighth in the series of incarnations, which henceforth were localized
at Tashilhunpo, but the first is said to have been Subhuti, a disciple
of Gotama, and the second Manjusrikirti, king of the country of
Sambhala.[950]

The abbot of Tashilhunpo became the second personage in the
ecclesiastical and political hierarchy. The head of it was the prelate
commonly known as the Grand Lama and resident at Lhasa.
Geden-dub,[951] the nephew of Tsong-kha-pa, is reckoned by common
consent as the first Grand Lama (though he seems not to have borne the
title) and the first incarnation of Avalokita as head of the Tibetan
Church.[952] The Emperor Ch'eng Hua (1365-1488) who had occasion to
fight on the borders of Tibet confirmed the position of these two sees
as superior to the eight previously recognized and gave the occupants
a patent and seal. From this time they bore the title of rGyal-po or
king.

It was about this time that the theory of successive incarnations[953]
which is characteristic of Lamaism was developed and defined. At least
two ideas are combined in it. The first is that divine persons appear
in human form. This is common in Asia from India to Japan, especially
among the peoples who have accepted some form of Hindu religion. The
second is that in a school, sect or church there is real continuity of
life. In the unreformed sects of Tibet this was accomplished by the
simple principle of heredity so that celibacy, though undeniably
correct, seemed to snap the thread. But it was reunited by the theory
that a great teacher is reborn in the successive occupants of his
chair. Thus the historian Taranatha is supposed to be reborn in the
hierarchs of Urga. But frequently the hereditary soul is identified
with a Buddha or Bodhisattva, as in the great incarnations of
Lhasa and Tashilhunpo. This dogma has obvious advantages. It imparts
to a Lamaist see a dignity which the papacy cannot rival but it is to
the advantage of the Curia rather than of the Pope for the incarnate
deity of necessity succeeds to his high office as an infant, is in
the hands of regents and not unfrequently dies when about twenty years
of age. These incarnations are not confined to the great sees of
Tibet. The heads of most large monasteries in Mongolia claim to be
living Buddhas and even in Peking there are said to be six.

The second Grand Lama[954] enjoyed a long reign, and set the hierarchy
in good order, for he distinguished strictly