A Mongolian boy with dual US citizenship has been revealed as the incarnation of the third most important spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism and was first pictured alongside the Dalai Lama.
The pictures show the US-born boy, aged about eight, wearing a face mask and wearing a voluminous red robe at a ceremony alongside the 87-year-old Dalai Lama in Dharamshala in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.
The formal title of the boy, who is said to have a twin, is the 10th Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa Rinpoche, the third most important spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism and the leader of the faith in Mongolia, according to The times.
Rumors about the boy’s identity have circulated in the spiritual community for years, but his existence has only now been confirmed with his public appearance in India, where the Dalai Lama lives in exile.
The filing could spark fury in China, which has previously said it will only recognize Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leaders who have chosen their government-approved special appointees.
The images show a boy, around 8 years old, with half of his face covered by a mask. He wears a voluminous long-sleeved red robe and has short hair. The young man, who reportedly has a twin brother, was born in 2015 in the US and is said to have dual citizenship.
His formal title is the 10th Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa Rinpoche, who is the third most important spiritual leader in Tibetan Buddhism and the leader of the faith in Mongolia.
In Mongolia, the news about the Dalai Lama and his ceremony with the young man sparked intense excitement among the country’s Buddhists, as well as ‘contempt among secular nationalists and alarm among those who say it will anger the country’s neighbour. , China’, according to The Times.
Also featured at the ceremony in Dharamsala on March 8 were 600 Mongolians who came to celebrate their new spiritual leader.
During the ceremony, the Dalai Lama told the crowd: ‘Today we have with us the reincarnation of the Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa Rinpoche from Mongolia.
‘His predecessors had a close association with the Krishnacharya lineage of Chakrasamvara.
‘One of them established a monastery in Mongolia dedicated to his practice. So, the presence of him here today is quite auspicious.’
The Dalai Lama received the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 1989 for his peaceful activism on behalf of his native country of Tibet.
Born in 1935, he was identified as the reincarnation of the previous Dalai Lama when he was two years old.
He fled to India in early 1959 from the Tibetan capital Lhasa after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, and has since worked to garner worldwide support for linguistic and cultural autonomy in his remote, mountainous homeland.
China, which seized control of Tibet in 1950, calls the Nobel peace laureate a dangerous separatist.
Reflecting on what might happen after his death, the Dalai Lama anticipated some attempt by Beijing to impose a successor on the Tibetan Buddhists.
‘China regards the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama as very important. They are more concerned about the next Dalai Lama than me,” he said.
‘In the future, in case they see two Dalai Lamas coming, one from here, in a free country, one chosen by the Chinese, then no one will trust, no one will respect (the one chosen by China). So that’s an additional problem for the Chinese! It’s possible, it can happen,’ he added with a laugh.
Many Tibetans – whose tradition holds that the soul of an elderly Buddhist monk is reincarnated in the body of a child when he dies – suspect that any Chinese paper is a ploy to exert influence in the community.
Many of China’s more than six million Tibetans still revere the Dalai Lama despite government bans on displaying his likeness or any public display of devotion.
The Dalai Lama received the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 1989 for his peaceful activism on behalf of his native country of Tibet.
He fled to India in early 1959 from the Tibetan capital Lhasa after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, and has since worked to garner worldwide support for linguistic and cultural autonomy in his remote, mountainous homeland.
The Dalai Lama said that contact between Tibetans living in their homeland and in exile increased in 2019.
The Chinese government denounces all countries that allow the Dalai Lama to visit and continually tries to extinguish his authority in their territories.
While Tibetan Buddhists believe that after his death, the Dalai Lama’s soul reincarnates as a child, who is identified after various rituals and divinations, Beijing insists that government appointees have the right to choose the successor of the Dalai Lama. Dalai Lama.
In 1995, when the Dalai Lama appointed the new Panchen Lama, who is after him the most important figure in Buddhism, the Chinese arrested the boy and replaced him with their own government-approved candidate.
Announcing the Mongolian boy as the reincarnated Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa Rinpoche also has political implications.
In 2016, when the Dalai Lama visited Mongolia, Beijing imposed various measures on the country such as delaying loans or closing the border, resulting in the government banning him from visiting Mongolia again.
However, before leaving, the Dalai Lama announced that the reincarnation of the Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa Rinpoche would be in Mongolia and was looking for him.
In the Mongolian city of Ulan Bator, the boy as the reincarnation of the spiritual leader has caused quite a stir, as the boy is the scion of one of the city’s wealthiest political and commercial dynasties under father Altannar Chinchuluun and mother Monkhnasam Narmandakh.
Another implication could be an even more important reincarnation, that of the Dalai Lama himself, who previously said he would not be reborn in Chinese-controlled territory, leaving India, Nepal, Bhutan or Mongolia as possible practicing countries of Tibetan Buddhism.
Robbie Barnett, an expert on Tibetan Buddhism at SOAS University London, told The Times: ‘China may take this as a challenge to its previous claim of sole authority in choosing lamas.
“These things can lead to a confrontation with China, which could penalize Mongolia in a detrimental way.”
This is why the Mongolian government has kept quiet about the recent appearance of the Jetsun Dhampa as they fear similar responses from China like 2016.
Another implication could be an even more important reincarnation, that of the Dalai Lama himself, who previously said he would not be reborn in Chinese-controlled territory, leaving India, Nepal, Bhutan or Mongolia as possible practicing countries of Tibetan Buddhism.