Politics and Religion in Inner Mongolia: Japan’s Plans for the 9th Jebtsundamba “Living Buddha”

Chinggis Khan is the single most important icon or historical figure of Mongolia but the next most important icon, for many generations was the Jebtsundamba khutukhtu (hubilgan, incarnation or “Living Bud­dha”) of Urga.1 The 8th Jebtsundamba, as a symbol of both religious and secular power or unity in Mongolia, weathered the storm of China’s 1911 Revolution, and Russia’s 1917 Revolution. Then during the early period of the Communist Revolution in Mongolia (1921), northern Mongolia became the first satellite of the Soviet Union and because the Jebtsundamba wielded enormous traditional influ­ence among the people he was retained by communist leaders during a transition in the revolution in Mongolia. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5564/mjia.v0i17.82 Mongolian Journal of International Affairs, No.17 2012: 64-74