One of the most intriguing documented examples of reincarnation is that of the present Dalai Lama. This Buddhist leader, exiled from his homeland of Tibet, is known as the Fourteenth Incarnation of the Dalai Lama.

Shortly before the thirteenth Dalai Lama died, he prophesied to certain trusted emissaries circumstances that would surround his rebirth. About three years after the Dalai Lama’s death, the acting regent had a vision in which he saw a certain house where a child had been born as the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Much later, when the appropriate time had come, the regent quietly set out with search parties to find the place and the child. Eventually, the secret search led them out of Tibet and across the border into China. There, the house that the regent had seen in his vision was found. The servants and the lamas exchanged clothing. This gave the lamas the freedom to visit the kitchens and areas where the children might be found.

A four-year-old boy met the disguised lamas and correctly identified them and where they had come from. He also asked for the necklace the regent was wearing, saying that it had belonged to him (the child) when he was the Thirteenth Incarnation of the Dalai Lama. This was true.

The circumstances of his birth fulfilled the prophecies he had made. He also had certain physical characteristics that had been foretold. Later, he correctly identified his personal possessions from among many similar items, and successfully passed many stringent spiritual and physical tests that confirmed him as the Fourteenth Incarnation of the Dalai Lama.

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