architecture, translation, and publishing in Beijing,
Chengde (Jehol), Dolonnor, and beyond.
The Mongolian lineages of the Rje btsun dam pa
Khutukhtus of Urga and the lCang skya Khutukhtus
of Beijing and Inner Mongolia, as well as many other
Mongolian lineages, were perpetuated through incar-
nation into the twentieth century. The Qing closely
controlled this process to the end of the dynasty and
found all the Rje btsun dam pa Khutukhtus after
Öndür Gegen’s immediate successor in Tibet. Few of
Öndür Gegen’s incarnations (with the exception of the
fourth) exhibited his spiritual or political brilliance; in
fact, few lived to reach adulthood. The eighth in the
line (1870/1–1924) was brought to Urga from Tibet in
1876 and eventually found himself enthroned as Bogdo
Khan, a Mongolian title previously reserved for the
Qing emperors, upon the fall of the Qing empire in
- He played a dual role as leader of the Mongo-
lian Dge lugs pa and head of the new (Outer) Mon-
golian state until his death from syphilis in 1924. His
incarnation, the ninth Bogdo Gegen, was found
shortly after, but by then Mongolia was in the midst
of political chaos and the new incarnation was forced
into exile.Mongolian Buddhism in the twentieth century
Through the 1930s and 1940s Buddhist themes were
deployed as propaganda by various contending forces.
Among them were the Japanese, who during their oc-
cupation of Manchuria claimed Japan was Shambhala;
the Russians, who made the same claim about the So-
viet Union, even as others hinted that V. I. Lenin was
an incarnation of Glang dar ma, the apostate ninth-
century Tibetan king; and the Chinese, who spread ru-
mors that the PANCHENLAMA, then in exile in China,
would invade Mongolia leading the armies of Sham-
bhala. Other would-be rulers, among them Jamt-
sarano, a Buriat Mongol and a practicing Buddhist,
urged a revitalization of Buddhism that would recap-
ture the principles of S ́akyamuni. His renewal move-MONGOLIA
The monastery of Erdeni Zuu in Kharakhorum, Mongolia, founded in 1585. It is now a museum. © Nik Wheeler/Corbis. Reproduced
by permission.