Buddhism and contemporary Mongolia: the 9<sup>th</sup> Bogd Javzandamba Khutukhtu
It is a thousand-year Buddhist tradition to identify reincarnation of a tulku (Mo. khuvilgaan) after he passed away. Accordingly, Mongolian lamas attempted to identify the ninth reincarnation of the Bogd Khutuktu since 1925. The decision of the Mongolian state, made in 1929 to the effect that the reincarnation of the Bogd Javzandamba Khutuktu should not be identified, violated the existed legislation, namely the law on the separation of the state and religion. Since then, the issue of identifying the Bogd reincarnation was not raised until the democratic revolution of 1990. This paper sheds a light on its correction during the years of democracy with regard to the fact that the abovementioned decision contradicted to the world Buddhist customs and traditions. The following was stated in the Law Supplementary to the Constitution of Mongolia adopted in 1992: «Laws, legal acts and their provisions contradicting to this Constitution shall be considered invalid from the day of the Constitution’s entry into force». Accordingly, the decisions banning the identification of the reincarnation of the Bogdo and other khutuktus and khuvilgaans became invalid. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama publicly recognized the 9th Bogd Javzandamba khutuktu in September 20, 1991, which met the aspirations and thoughts of many Mongols who professed Buddhism. In this paper I describe process of recognition of 9th Bogd Javzandamba by Mongols after 70 years dismissing the Javzandamba institution in Mongolia.