Steven Seagal was indeed confirmed as a "tulku", a reincarnation of a Tibetan lama, by Penor rinpoche, the current overseer of the Nyingma Lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.

However, this does not qualify him as a lama in that or any other school of Tibetan Buddhism without his receiving the necessary empowerments and doing his time in a three year, three month, three week, three day retreat as a minimum requirement.

It does however mean that he gets front row seats at appearances by the Dalai Lama and other notables. The gold silk brocade shirts he bought himself.

Penor rinpoche has also discovered several other tulkus in the West who showed a mysterious connection to Tibetan Buddhism through fund-raising and personal donations.