The reincarnation of a spirit child has long been a legend in Buddhism. Master Xuanzang, who passed down the scriptures in the Tang Dynasty, was the reincarnation of the golden cicada, the former boy of the Western Heavens, and the living Buddha of Jigong who was rumored to be the incarnation of the Fuhu Arhat. But since the Ming Dynasty, this argument has begun to disappear. However, it was carried forward in Tibetan Buddhism, and the conditions for the spirit child became more and more abundant, and developed into real life, the fundamental meaning of which was actually to strengthen the ruling power. The requirements of the current Lingtong are: the time of birth must be the time of the old living Buddha's death, be interested in the artifacts of the old living Buddha, and be able to satisfactorily answer the questions of the visiting lama.

The institutionalization of the reincarnation of eminent monks and great virtues, which is still recognized by society as the reincarnation of a living Buddha, is a special cultural phenomenon produced in the land of Tibet. Living Buddha is commonly known in Han China, the Tibetan name is "Zhugu", and the Mongolian translation is "Hubilhan", which means "incarnation" and "reincarnation", which refers to the reincarnation of a monk who has attained the cultivation of high monks after his death, or reincarnated in the human body as an incarnation. The social essence of this system is to use the belief in the free rebirth of high monks to solve the problem of inheritance rights of the heads of religious orders and monasteries.

The reincarnation of a living Buddha is based on the Buddhist doctrine of the Mahayana Bodhisattva's wish to incarnate into life and death to transform sentient beings, and the theory that esoteric yoga achievers are free to be reborn and incarnate. It is said that this began in the Indian lineage of the Mahamudra of Light, which was originally used within the Order as a method of proving attainment of spiritual attainment, and had nothing to do with secular society. The reincarnation of the living Buddha in Tibet began with the second patriarch of the Karma Kagyu lineage, Karma Pakhi (1204-1283), who is said to have been so powerful that he was offered by Möngke of the Yuan Xian sect and given a gold-rimmed black monk's hat. After his death, his disciple Wu Jianpa presided over the teaching affairs, and found Dorjee as the reincarnation of Karma Pakshi, and brought him into the Zupu Monastery to cultivate talents and inherit the throne, and said that Karma Pakhi was the reincarnation of the founder of the Karma school and the famous "Knowing the Third World" Juniper Shampa (1110-l193), who was also the incarnation of Guanyin Bodhisattva. In the future, the Karma Dharma throne was inherited by the reincarnation method, which was divided into two major reincarnation systems of living Buddhas: black hats and red hats. The fifth living Buddha of the black hat is Yin Xieba (1384-1415), who was named "the Buddha of the Great Treasure of the West Heaven" by the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty. After the establishment of the Gelug school, it inherited the reincarnation system of the living Buddha of the Karma Kagyu school, and first established the two major reincarnation systems of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. Later, the monasteries of Tibetan Buddhism generally adopted the reincarnation system of living Buddhas, and were recognized and managed by the Qing Dynasty government.

The procedure for confirming the reincarnation of the spirit child is generally based on the clues such as the foreshadowing and testament of the living Buddha, through séance, divination, and viewing the holy lake, etc., to occupy the direction and location of his reincarnation, and then send someone to secretly search for the spirit child in makeup, and then observe and test the young children found for screening and decision.

The prophecies and omens of the living Buddha in the previous life, known as "Longdan" in Tibetan, are an important basis for searching for the reincarnated spirit child. For example, the reincarnation of Karma Pashi, according to his prophecy to his disciple Wu Gyenpa before his death: "On the side of Lado, there will be a bearer of the black hat, and until he is in the future, you will act as the agent of everything." According to his prophecy, Wu Jianba found the reincarnated spirit child in Houzang Gongtang. Before the death of the 3rd Panchen Lobsang Tedrup, he prophesied to his eldest disciple Kezhu Sang Jie Yixi that he would soon be reborn in the place of Hou Zang Beiwa, and Kezhu Sang Jie Yixi also had a dream with the same content. Kezhu lived in the village of Zhubeiwa in Houzang for a month, and after careful observation and investigation, he found the reincarnation of the third Panchen Lama, Lobsang Qujie ("The Legend of the Stages of the Path to the Path of the Path"). The largest living Buddha in Outer Mongolia, the first Taranatha of the city of Tsundampa I Taranatha (1575-1634), prophesied before his death: "The son born of the marriage of Prince Durhan to the daughter born to Shen Nian is the second Jebtsundampa." Khalkha Shetu Khan gave birth to a son, and he was recognized as the reincarnation of Taranatha. There are many ways to foreshadow the reincarnation of a living Buddha. For example, in the 13th century, on his way back to Tibet in 1908, the Dalai Lama passed through Xiaqiong Monastery in Qinghai Province, and after leaving a pair of boots in the monastery, he praised the village where the monastery is located as a beautiful auspicious place. After his death, the incident became an important clue to find his reincarnated spirit child. When a living Buddha passes away, he or she can know the direction of rebirth according to the direction of his face and fingers, or by lighting a fire on his roof and looking at the direction of the smoke.

If there is no foreshadowing of the living Buddha's death, after his death, the monk who specializes in séance prays to the Dharma protector god and séances to possess the body to indicate the direction of rebirth. Another method is for a monk to observe the scene in the lake after praying in Ramola, which is considered to be a sacred lake, in order to predict the place where the living Buddha will be reincarnated. There are also divination divinations to determine the direction and place of reincarnation of the living Buddha.

After occupying the direction of the reincarnation of the living Buddha through the above methods, he sent people to make up and sneak to find it. Generally, a number of young children who are consistent with the direction of knowledge, landform and the time of the death of the living Buddha will be found, and there will be auspicious children at the time of birth, and then various methods will be used to test them, from which the evidence is conclusive and the quality of all aspects is good. Among the evidence on which it is based, the most convincing is the fateful pass, which is tested and identified by whether the spirit child can remember the living Buddha and the objects he used in his previous life (mixed with fake), the people he knows, the scriptures he recites, etc. Indeed, there are those who clearly remember their past lives and have conclusive evidence.

As recorded in the "Vulgar Records", the third Dalai Lama pointed to the current Songmu Taiji residence during the lifetime of Lama Sonam Gyatso and said: "There will be a Buddha in this place after a few years. Soon after his death, less than a year (1588), Songmu's wife became pregnant, and after giving birth to a child, the son said to himself: "I am also a former Dalai Lama." In the past, the Dalai Lama's horse and the sutras he recited, as well as other items made him identify, and the young boy pointed to the Dalai Lama's horse and said, "This is my horse." Among the items, the prayer beads are taken alone, saying: "This is my old thing." He was then recognized as the Fourth Dalai Lama (Yunden Gyatso). On his way to Qinghai in the 53rd year of the Kangxi Reign (1714), the Seventh Dalai Lama met people known to him in his previous life. In the third year of Qianlong (1758), Zhuo Ni Luosang took the relics of the Fifth Panchen Lama, in the name of bathing, to visit the spirit boy in Zahi, and when the spirit boy saw him, he called his Dharma name and said: "Luo Sang Zaba." "In the previous life, the Panchen Lama tried it, and the spirit boy took it and did not give up, that is, he was considered the sixth Panchen.

In the notes of the Han Dynasty, there are also occasional stories of the reincarnation of living Buddhas. For example, Yuan Mei's "Zi Buyu" volume 23 "Lama" said: The king of Tibet Molgu Lama died, and his disciple Bu Qi was born in a certain place in Weixi, and in the eighth year of Qianlong, the lamas visited him with his old instruments. There are some sons of the head, seven years old, the name of Daji, suddenly invited his parents to welcome the lama, invited to the home, Daji sat upright, for the monks one by one, try to use old things, pseudo and other things, Daji identified correctly. The lamas begged their parents and took them to the Dharma Cave Monastery for three days and went to Tibet. Da Ji said that his parents: don't worry about it, they will have a son next year, and the expected result is as said. In the same book, Volume 17 "Cool Old Man" article, the monk of Wutai Mountain is a cool old man, and he is known in Hubei Xiangguo with Zen principles. Yongzheng died in the fourth year. Tibet gave birth to a son, until he was eight years old, he shaved his hair one day, and suddenly said: "I am a cool old man, please inform Hu Xiangguo as soon as possible." "Summoned, try the things of the previous life, all are true, see the acquaintances in the previous life, can know, know their names, and then ordered to be the abbot of Wutai Mountain. However, because of the occasional obscene paintings, when he grew up, he was impeached, and the old man knew that he was sitting upright and died at the age of twenty-four.