I don’t know anything about Tibetan Buddhism and my goal is not to learn comprehensively about it, even less to (in)-validate anyone’s religious notiions (but I’m putting this in GD just because it’s subjective AND involves religion).
At random I came across the web profile of a Western born individual who took to Buddhism like a duck to water. To be fair, the person seems to have gone about this with the zeal of a, well, convert – no dilletante here, the person went the whole nine, learned the language, etc. (You’ll notice I’m being vague here about the person’s prior background as it’s not my goal to ridicule or embarrass any individual).
So in addition to taking on a Tibetan name on a daily basis (leaving behind their presumably-prosaic Western name), the individual identifies on the web bio as “Tulku [insert Tibetan name].” My anemic Google research indicates that this honorific corresponds to a lama who is identified as the reinicarnation of some now-decesased prominent religious leader, and that there are only a few thousand “known” (we’ll get to that in a minute) Tulkus. Tulkus are also thought to be able on their deathbed to pick their reincarnation identity (Wiki is shaky on whether they pick a living or future-born person to “transfer” to). Wiki’s also thin on detail as to who the, I don’t know, authenticating body is (it mentions that dying Tulkus might leave hints or riddles for their acolytes to be on the watch for the attributes that at some future point identify their successor – it implies then that his surviving monks have an affirmative obligation to do the Tulku search).
Now, I’m lacking a key detail here – whether this person was named a Tulku by acclamation of legitimate accredited religious leaders with this task in their job description or whether at the other extreme they arrogated the title to themselves just on their say-so or gut feeling – or something in between.
Even so – and depending on the factual background – how likely is it that “real” (okay, native-born) Tibetan Buddhists would look askance at such a person? Do Tibetans generally welcome Western spiritual seekers who’ve been fascinated by their faith since at least the '60s, or are they kind of annoyed with them as cultural mis-appropriators/mysticism tourists? Is there a particular aversion to or skepticism of newbies who just so happen to discover that they merit an especially holy/exalted status, or can it be rationalized that, well, obviously only the most spiritual types would be motivated to make the journey from the West?
I’m being a bit skeptical because the remainder of the web bio is packed with a fairly long list of what sound like some pretty un-Dharma-esque resume polishing items. That tends to make me suspect the person might not be in Buddhism for all the right reasons (but it’s also not inconsistent with their being defensive if in fact they’ve historically gotten excessive skepticism or even hostility from native Buddhists or others).
I doubt the SDMB gets much readership in Tibet for any number of reasons, but I’d also welcome input from any knowledgeable Western converts or others.