Dalai Lama names Mongolian boy as new Buddhist spiritual leader

The eight-year-old Mongolian boy born in US is one of a pair of twin boys named Aguidai and Achiltai Altannar. The news of the boy being named as the reincarnation brought contempt among secular nationalists and alarm among those who felt that it will provoke the rage of the country’s neighbour Dharamshala: The Dalai Lama has proclaimed a Mongolian boy born in US as the reincarnation of the third most important spiritual leader in Tibetan Buddhism. Dharamshala is also the place where the Dalai Lama – Tenzin Gyatso –, 87, currently lives in exile and is recognised as the 10th Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa Rinpoche. “We have the reincarnation of Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa Rinpoché of Mongolia with us today,” Dalai Lama told his followers present at the ceremony. Owing to the longstanding Chinese animosity towards the Dalai Lama, which has previously emphasised that the country will only recognise Buddhist leaders that the government has chosen, the reincarnation of a Mongolian boy is expected to anger the country.