Who was the authority before the Dalai Lama? The previous Dalai Lama, of course. Him, and the Panchen Lama, I think. There's also another Lama, but I forget the name. They're all reincarnations of various Bottisatvas, I believe. One of the Lamas has a very sad story - he died in the 80s or so, and there were two claimants for "reincarnation": one chosen by the Tibetans, the other by the Chinese, each claiming to be the one true reincarnation. The Chinese one (he's not even of age, yet, I think) is technically the youngest political prisoner in the world. :(