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A Tibetan gomchen speaks on reincarnation

From Immortality and Reincarnation – Alexandra David-Neel

Those wishing to convince themselves of their own immortality by basing it on reincarnations and the memories they have – or claim to have - of their past lives are off course.  They believe that their I  is a homogenous block, whereas it is, as taught in Buddhism, an aggregation whose constituent elements are essentially transitory in nature and have only a momentary existence that is dependent on multiple causes.

It is absurd to say that I am a reincarnation of Tsong Khapa, Srong bstan Gampo or any other person. However, the groups that have lived under the name Tsong Khapa, Srong bstan Gampo, or any other individual were made up as we are of sensations, perceptions, and consciousnesses.

The activity of these elements, like all other physical and mental activities, engenders forces (energies). These radiate outward and encounter propitious conditions and receptive groups (individuals) that they incorporate themselves into. Thus, they reincarnate and continue their existence.

Therefore, you shouldn't say, "I have been Tsong Khapa" or "I have been Srong bstan Gampo," but you are permitted to think that such a perception, such a sensation, or such a leap of awareness that you are currently experiencing could have been experienced by either one of these individuals among others. Currently, they are manifesting the persistence of their own existence through the intermediary of the group that I call I. 

Moreover, we don’t inherit our predecessors exclusively as guests within us.  Perceptions, sensations, conscious awareness travel throughout the world and are not truly the property of any one of us.