The
Khalkha Jebtsundamba Khutuktus ' onMouseout='HidePop("57900")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Tibetan_language">Tibetan
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering South Asia, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh, Nepal,...
: རྗེ་བཙུན་དམ་པ་
Jetsun Dampa; literally, "Holy Venerable Lord") were the spiritual heads of the
GelugThe Gelug or Gelug-pa , also known as the Yellow Hat sect, is a school of Buddhism founded by Tsongkhapa , a philosopher and Tibetan religious leader...
lineage of
Tibetan BuddhismTibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India...
in
MongoliaMongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 24 miles from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator,...
.
The
Khalkha Jebtsundamba Khutuktus ' onMouseout='HidePop("57900")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Tibetan_language">Tibetan
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering South Asia, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh, Nepal,...
: རྗེ་བཙུན་དམ་པ་
Jetsun Dampa; literally, "Holy Venerable Lord") were the spiritual heads of the
GelugThe Gelug or Gelug-pa , also known as the Yellow Hat sect, is a school of Buddhism founded by Tsongkhapa , a philosopher and Tibetan religious leader...
lineage of
Tibetan BuddhismTibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India...
in
MongoliaMongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It borders Russia to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only 24 miles from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator,...
. They also held the title of
Bogd Gegeen, making them the top-ranked
lamaLama is a title for a Tibetan teacher of the Dharma. The name is similar to the Sanskrit term guru . The title can be used as an honorific title conferred on a monk, nun or advanced tantric practitioner to designate a level of spiritual attainment and authority to teach, or may be part of a...
s in Mongolia.
The first Jebtsundamba, Zanabazar (1635-1723), was identified as the
reincarnationReincarnation, literally "to be made flesh again", is a doctrine or metaphysical belief that some essential part of a living being survives death to be reborn in a new body. This essential part is often referred to as the spirit or soul, the "higher" or "true" self, "divine spark", or "I"...
of the scholar
TaranathaTāranātha was a Lama of the Jonang school of Tibetan Buddhism. He is widely considered its most remarkable scholar and exponent.-Early life:...
of the
JonangThe Jonang is one of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Its origins in Tibet can be traced to early 12th century master Yumo Mikyo Dorje, but became much wider known with the help of Dolpopa Sherab Gyeltsen, a monk originally trained in the Sakya school...
school of Tibetan Buddhism. Zanabazar was the son of the Tüsheet Khan Gombodorj, ruler of central
KhalkhaThe Khalkha, or Halh are a subgroup of the Mongols. They comprise the majority of the population of the independent state of Mongolia. The standard language of Mongolia is based on the Khalkha dialect.- History :The first reference to the Khalkha people is of the early 16th century...
Mongolia, and himself became the spiritual head of the
KhalkhaThe Khalkha, or Halh are a subgroup of the Mongols. They comprise the majority of the population of the independent state of Mongolia. The standard language of Mongolia is based on the Khalkha dialect.- History :The first reference to the Khalkha people is of the early 16th century...
MongolsThe name Mongol specifies one or several ethnic groups, now mainly located in Mongolia, China, and Russia.-Definition:...
.
Like Zanabazar, the second Jebtsundamba also was a member of Mongolia's highest nobility and direct descendant of
Genghis KhanGenghis Khan , ; 1162–1227), born , was the founder, Khan and Khagan of the Mongol Empire, the largest contiguous empire in history....
. After
ChingünjavChingünjav was one of the two major leaders of the 1755 - 1756 rebellion in Outer Mongolia...
's rebellion and the successive demise of the second Jebtsundamba Khutugtu, the Qianlong emperor decreed in 1758 that all future reincarnations were to be found from among the population of
TibetTibet is a plateau region in Asia, north of the Himalayas. It is home to the indigenous Tibetan people, and to some other ethnic groups such as Monpas and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han Chinese people. Tibet is the highest region on earth, with an average...
.
When northern Mongolia declared independence in 1911, the eighth Jebtsundamba (1869-1924) was elevated as the Emperor of Mongolia, called
Bogd KhanThe Bogd Khan was enthroned as the Emperor of Mongolia on 29 December 1911, when the country declared independence from the Qing Dynasty...
. He was the head of state until his death in 1924. The Communist government declared that there were to be no further reincarnations.
A reincarnation was in fact found almost at once in north Mongolia, and some high lamas of the dead Khutughtu's suite went to interview the child's mother, Tsendjav, and to instruct her in the details of the life of the former incarnation, so that she could familiarize the child-candidate with the tests which he would have to undergo. Faced with the possibility of a new Khutughtu who was born within Mongolia and was not even a foreigner from Tibet, the Communist Party Central Committee in July 1925, decided to turn the matter over to the aged
Dalai LamaThe Dalai Lama is a lineage of religious officials of the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism. "Lama" is a general term referring to Tibetan Buddhist teachers...
in
LhasaLhasa, and sometimes spelled Lasa, is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China. It is located at the foot of Mount Gephel....
, whose decision would nonetheless be subject to the new law for the separation of Church and State. In February 1929 the installation of any further Khutughtus was forbidden.
A 9th Jebtsundamba Khutuktu has been installed by the Dalai Lama. He was born as Jampal Namdol Chökyi Gyaltsen in 1932.
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