Since the establishment of the Dalai Lama reincarnation lineage, successive central governments have adopted effective policies and measures to ensure that the system has operated in a regulated manner under the governance of the central government. The requirement that the enthronement and succession of a Dalai Lama be approved and conferred by the central government has long been established as a historical convention. Then, what is the significance of the seals granted by successive central governments upon the recognition of the succession of the Dalai Lamas? 

The ivory seal with a lion-shaped knob, known as the “Dorje Chang” seal, granted to the Third Dalai Lama during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, is generally considered the earliest seal bestowed by a central government upon the Dalai Lama lineage. In 1652, the Fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lozang Gyatso, was invited to Beijing to meet Emperor Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty. On his return to Xizang, he was granted an official title, along with a golden edict and a gold seal. Historical records and surviving artifacts show that the Qing central government granted the Eighth Dalai Lama two seals. One was a gold seal with a cloud-shaped knob, presented in the 46th year of the reign of Emperor Qianlong, when representatives of the Qing central government held a conferral ceremony for the Eighth Dalai Lama at the Potala Palace. The other was a green-white jade seal with a double-dragon knob. It was the largest seal ever granted by successive central governments to the local government of Xizang since the Yuan Dynasty, and the only one honored with the title of “treasure seal.” After the Ninth Dalai Lama, successive Dalai Lamas continued to use the seals passed down from their predecessors. However, the principle that such inherited seals could only be used with approval from the central government has remained unchanged. Today, the seals displayed in the museum, which were granted by successive central governments to the Dalai Lamas, provide the strongest material evidence of the central government’s conferral of titles upon the Dalai Lama lineage and its exercise of sovereignty.