| Jampal Namdol Chökyi Gyaltsen | |
|---|---|
| His Holiness the , 9th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu (Bogd Khan) | |
| Preceded by | Bogd Khan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1932 Lhasa, Tibet |
| Occupation | Spiritual head of Mongolia |
The 9th Jebtsundamba Khutuktu (Mongolian: Жавзандамба хутагт, Javzandamba Khutagt; Tibetan: རྗེ་བཙུན་དམ་པ་ Jetsun Dampa; literally, "Holy Venerable Lord") is supposed to continue the incarnation line of the Jebtsundamba Khutughtus in Mongolia. From the 17th century until 1924, the Jebtsundamba Khutughtus were the spiritual heads of the Gelug lineage of Tibetan Buddhism among the Khalkha Mongols. He also holds the title of Bogd Gegeen, which would make him the top-ranked lama in Mongolia.
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He was born as Jampal Namdol Chökyi Gyaltsen on the tenth day of the eleventh month of 1932 near the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet. Six months after his birth, his parents separated and his mother left him in the care of his uncle who was a bodyguard of the thirteenth Dalai Lama. The thirteenth Dalai Lama died in December 1933, and Reting Rinpoche became Regent of Tibet until a new Dalai Lama was discovered and crowned. Because of the inability of the Mongolian lamas to proclaim the discovery of the ninth Khutughtu, Reting Rinpoche in 1936, recognised Jampal Namdol Chökyi Gyaltsen, then age four, as the reincarnation of the eighth Jebtsundamba Khutughtu, after the boy passed three sets of tests. Due to the complex political situation, his existence was kept a secret. At the age of seven, he entered the Drepung Monastery, but because his identity was kept secret, he could not enter the Khalkha Mitsen, but had to follow the life of a common monk. At age 25, he renounced his monastic vows and became a householder, took a wife and had two children. When the Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet in 1959, Jampal Namdol did also, fearing that his identity would be revealed and he would be killed or used by the Communists for propaganda.[1]
In exile in India, he worked at various jobs, including in the Tibetan language section of All India Radio, and at Tibet House in New Delhi. His first wife died, and he remarried. In 1975, his family (now including seven children), moved to Karnataka. In 1984, Jampal Namdol visited Lhasa, and in 1990 the Dalai Lama issued a statement revealing the identity of the ninth Khutughtu. In 1991 the Dalai Lama performed an installation ceremony in Madhya Pradesh and in 1992 an enthronement ceremony in Dharmsala for the ninth Jebtsundamba Khutughtu. In July 1999, while visiting Mongolia on a tourist visa, Jampal Namdol took part in an enthronement ceremony at the Gandantegchinlen Khiid Monastery in Ulaanbaatar. He continued to live in exile in India.[2] Now he is considered the leader of Mongolian Buddhists.[1] In 2010 he came to Mongolia at the invitation of the Gandantegchinlin monastery and received Mongolian citizenship, but returned to Dharamsala afterwards.[3] Then he returned to Mongolia. In November 2011 he was enthroned as the head of Buddhists of Mongolia.[4][5]
The 14th Dalai Lama has appointed the present Jebtsundamba to develop the Jonang tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.