"The institution of "reincarnating lamas" unique to Tibetan Buddhism and best known to the general public in the case of the Dalai Lama, is very widespread. The great teacher, considered to be an emanation of a celestial Buddha orBodhisattva, is successively incarnated, generation after generation, in the young child selected as his successor and trained almost from infancy for that role. No leaders in Tibetan Buddhism receive greater respect, devotion, and honour, or have greater power and influence than these ”incarnations”, especially those who are heads of major lineages in important monasteries"