Tibetans then returned to Kumbum and chose a local boy (Blo-bzang bstan-pa’i rgyal-mtshan, 1916–1990), who as Gyayag Rinpoche was later a sutra teacher of the 10th Panchen Lama, and the head of the search party for the 11th Panchen Lama, this search resulting in choosing Gyaincain Norbu as the Panchen Lama.
A close associate of Viktor Zhirmunsky and Lev Karsavin, as a prisoner of Gulag he was also an informal philosophy tutor and supporter of Buddhist writer Bidia Dandaron.