The communist country has published the names, locations and photos of 870 “verified” buddhas on the State Administration for Religious Affairs’ website Xinhua reports.

One of the men on the list, Drukhang Thubten Khedrup, praised the move, saying: “As a living buddha, I feel genuinely happy about it.”

China has introduced the system to deal with the “fake” enlightened ones who are undermining Tibetan Buddhism by cashing in on their status.

But some who have said this is simply another way in which China controls Tibetan affairs also see it as a mechanism for the country to confirm the next Dalai Lama.

“This living Buddha database and the whole policy toward reincarnation is clearly a pre-emptive move by the government to control what happens after this Dalai Lama,” Amnesty International’s Nicholas Bequelin told Time magazine in December, after China announced the plans.

The current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, fled to India in 1959 following a failed uprising against the Chinese. He and China have each appointed a different Panchen Lama – the second most senior role in Tibetan Buddhism.