{"id":4982,"date":"2023-10-09T16:31:51","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T21:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thereligioushistorynerd\/?p=4982"},"modified":"2023-10-11T23:34:41","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T04:34:41","slug":"the-boy-who-is-the-bogd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thereligioushistorynerd\/2023\/10\/the-boy-who-is-the-bogd\/","title":{"rendered":"The Boy Who Is the Bogd"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
Very old history has a way of keeping its grip on current events. Now some very old history has thrust an eight-year-old boy into an international conflict of global concern. The boy is known as A. Altannar<\/a>, and he has been identified as the tenth tulku<\/em>, or rebirth, of the Bogd, the spiritual leader of Mongolia. This puts the child at the center of long contention among China, Mongolia, Tibet, and leaders of Tibetan Buddhism<\/a>. It could have implications regarding China\u2019s claims on Taiwan. And it might also have put the boy himself\u00a0 in great danger.<\/p>\n
A Altannar is one of a pair of identical twins named Achildai Altannar and Agudai Altannar, who are rarely seen in public without each other. Because of security concerns, the precise identity of the tulku remains secret. Only a few know which twin, Achildai or Agudai, is the Tenth Jetsun Dampa, or more formally the Tenth Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, the highest ranking Buddhist<\/a> lama of Mongolia. He is also called the Bogd<\/em>, a Mongolian word that means \u201csaint\u201d or \u201choly.\u201d The Bogd is a lama of the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism, which is the same school as the Dalai Lama. This past March the new Bogd was publicly introduced for the first time in a ceremony in India conducted by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama.<\/p>\n
And this puts the twins, and the government of Mongolia, at odds with China. China has awarded itself the authority to name all high lamas of Tibetan Buddhism and had not given approval for the naming of a new Bogd. Beijing can be ruthless in enforcing this authority. In 1995, six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima<\/a>, the newly identified Eleventh Panchen Lama, and all of his family were taken into custody by Chinese authorities. They have not been seen since. Officially they are still \u201cdetained,\u201d but one does suspect they were all killed. Later in 1995 Beijing declared that another child, the son of a loyal Chinese Communist Party member, was the real<\/em> Eleventh Panchen Lama. That child, now 33 years old, serves as the face of Tibetan Buddhism in Chinese media.<\/p>\n
As with all things involving Tibetan Buddhism and the government of China, the current situation with the Bogd is endlessly convoluted. I will try to explain it as simply as I can. Also note that no two sources spell Tibetan and Mongolian names and titles the same way. \u201cJetsun Dampa\u201d is a simplified spelling I found in a history of Tibet, and I\u2019m sticking to it.<\/p>\n