Diluwa Khutugtu Jamsrangjab

Diluwa Khutugtu Jamsrangjab (1883–1964) was supposedly the last Mongolian Khutugtu, a Lamaist dignitary believed to be an incarnation of Buddha^[1], politician and Mongolian-American scholar. Jamsrangjab was a Khalkha Mongolian and considered the living Buddha among the Mongols. He had strong friendly ties with Dalai Lama and Chiang Kai-shek. Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, respected Diluwa Khutugtu Jamsrangjab as his mentor and teacher during his visit to the monastery he founded in New Jersey, USA.

When Jamsrangjab was born to commoners, Bashlu and Gimbeles, in Zagdsambar of Zasagt Khan (in modern Zavkhan Province), there spread mysterious but amazing tales about his born. At his age of 5, Bogd Khan declared Jamsrangjab to be the after-life of the late Diluwa. Jamsrangjab with his parents moved to the capital city Nyislel Khuryee. He studied the philosophy of Buddhism so hard that he was awarded religious dignities at the age of 7 and 21.

In 1916 the Diluwa Khutugtu was sent to the south-eastern frontier of Bogd Khaanate Mongolia with the Mongolian general, Khatanbaatar Magsarjav to ease the conflict between the Mongols and the Republic of China. Sometime around C. 1919, he attempted to visit Russia to ask help against the growing influence of China, but he was stopped at the borderline due to incomplete identity documents. Diluwa Khutugtu Jamsrangjab was also seeking to ask assistance from the United States of America to support the independence of Mongolia.^[2]

Diluwa Khutugtu Jamsrangjab was arrested in 1930 due to the accusation that he was linked with the so-called anti-communist leader, Eregdendagva. He was freed later after he didn't accept the trial. On 26 February 1931, the Diluwa Khutugtu was sent to China by the government of Mongolian People's Republic to spy on Banchin Bogd of Inner Mongolia, the Kuomintang, and Japanese spies operating in Inner Mongolia. After he had gone, false rumours about him spread among people. At the time, he didn't know he would never come back to his homeland again.

While he stayed in Tibet for 3 years, Diluwa Khutugtu Jamsrangjab was a tutor for the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso.^[3]

On 28 June 1932, he met Banchin Bogd and attended the conference about the Khalkha Mongolia in Nanjing. While residing in Inner Mongolia, Diluwa Khutugtu Jamsrangjab established contacts with prince Demchugdongrub of the western Sunid (a Mongol tribe) and his fellow Japanese. The political and military leader of China, Chiang Kai-shek, admired his skills after the two had made good friends in a companion. His safety was in danger in Mongolia when his Mongolian colleagues were purged and executed in outer Mongolia in 1937-39. He fled Mongolia when the leftists attacked on the Buddhist Clergy in 1930s.^[4] Since everybody who knew his real mission in China all disappeared or executed, the Diluwa Khutugtu was called falsely political refugee and anti-communist.

After he came to the USA in 1949 with the assistance of Owen Lattimore and fellow professors, Jamsranjab worked at the Johns Hopkins University. There he joined American-British professor Owen Lattimore's the Mongolia Project.^[5] In New Jersey, he founded a Monastery with Kalmyk American lamas in 1950-1952. He was elected the chief lama of the Monastery there. When he was in the USA, he still worked for the international recognization of Mongolian independence.

He influenced Chan Kai Shek to declare "Mongolia can be a member of the United Nations like other independent nations" in 1960.^[6] On 7 April 1965, the last Mongolian Khutugtu, Jamsrangjab, died at the age of 82 in New York. In 1990, the supreme court of Mongolia proved his innocence and abolished all decrees that accused him of false political crimes.

External links

• Lewis, Lionel Stanley (1993) The Cold War and academic governance: the Lattimore case at Johns Hopkins - page 50

References

1. ^ http://diloweresearchcenter.webs.com/resourcesinenglish.htm
2. ^ http://intermongol.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=48&Itemid=1
3. ^ http://intermongol.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=48&Itemid=1
4. ^ Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire, p47
5. ^ http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Le-Pa/Mongolian-Americans.html
6. ^ L.Choijilsuren Barnud - Dilav Khutagt, 2004, p.88

Persondata
Name	Jamsrangjab, Diluwa Khutugtu
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1883
Place of birth
Date of death	1964
Place of death