The Noyon Khutagt () is a monk of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism in the Gobi region of Mongolia. The present Noyon Khutagt is believed to be the ninth incarnation of the original Mongolian Noyon Khutagt, who himself was believed to be a reincarnation of a much earlier person in Tibetan Buddhist history.
Tradition
According to oral traditions, nine reincarnations of Noyon Khutagts in Mongolia were preceded by 33 reincarnations in Tibet and India, the first of whom is believed to have lived in Tibet about 2,000 years ago. It is believed that these reincarnations are due to the Buddhist deity Hayagriva, known as Tamdrin Yansang Yidam in Mongolian.
Altangerel Perle mentioned in his work that a Tibetan lama called Bodon Chogloi Namgyal reincarnated as three different lamas at the same time in Mongolia. According to some biographies, the Gobi Noyon Khutagts were reincarnations of Sanjye-palsen. Debate continues as to who exactly Bodon Choklai Namgyal and Sangya Palsang were, and how they were connected to the Gobi Noyon Khutagts.
When the first Jetsundampa, Undur Gegeen Zanabazar (the Highest Rinpoche) was in his twenties and Ikh Khuree was established, Sonom Daichin Khoshuuch (1640-1670), who was a descendant of Abtai Sain Khan, traveled to Baruun-zuu (Lhasa) and requested a lama (spiritual teacher) for people to regard as root guru and a specific deity for practice from the Panchen Lama. Thus, the Panchen Lama sent Sanjye-palsen as a spiritual teacher and a statue of Odsergocha for worship and practice to Mongolia. This is recorded as:
Here ‘our khoshuu’ refers to the former ‘Mergen van’ County of the Tusheet Khan province of Mongolia. It was a big county that covered the present-day Khövsgöl, Khatanbulag, Sulin Kheer, Ulaanbadrakh, Altanshiree, Saikhandulaan, Khar-Airag, Ikhkhet, and Bayanjargalan counties of Dornogovi Province as well as Khanbogd County of Ömnögovi Province.
The next reincarnation of Sanjye-palsen lama was Agvaangonchig (Navaan Dendev), who is renowned as the first Noyon Khutagt of Mongolia. After the statue of Odsergocha was brought, the Mobile Temple on wheels (a ‘ger’ temple mounted on a wheeled stage, like in Chinggis Khan’s times) was built as Agvaangonchig’s residence. This temple was renowned as the Noyon Khutagt’s ‘Khuree Urguu’ which means ‘residential temple’ or ‘palace’.
Later, the First Noyon Khutagt, Agvaangonchig, visited Lhasa in a wooden snake year of the eleventh cycle of the lunar calendar (1665), and requested permission from the Fifth Dalai Lama to establish a new monastery. After his return from Lhasa, in a fire horse year (1666), the First Noyon Khutagt established a temple and named it ‘Khindurabjaaling’ . It became renowned as ‘Khuree Khural’ in the beginning and as ‘Khuree Aimag’ later on. Much later, the Fourth Noyon Khutagt Jamyan-Oidovjamts established the Yidam Temple right after he had brought Yansan Yidam from Lhasa.”
A text entitled “The Origin of the Khalkha Noyon Khutagts”, written in classic Mongolian scripts, is among various items preserved in our era. This text corroborates some of the above-mentioned information. It contains a list of names of the seven reincarnations of Noyon Khutagts in Mongolia and the thirty-one previous reincarnations in India and Tibet in chronological order. Paintings have been found of each of these reincarnations as Buddhas. These paintings can be regarded as source material on the origins of the Mongolian Gobi Noyon Khutagts and their previous reincarnations in India and Tibet.
Incarnations of Noyon Khutagts
Bodon Chogloinamgyal (Po-ston phyogs-las rnam-rgyal) Zanadhara (dza-na dha-ra) Genen Lhamo Lanaamo Zanyon Heruka (btsan-smyon he-ru-ka) Lodoidonsonrabdan (blo-gros don-zang rab-brtan) Janchubsemba Jila dorjelanaamo Zanadharalamo Lopen Dagpa dorje Shivaaryi Dubchen Guguryi (grub-chen ku-ku-ri) Lopen Sakyashyinen (slobs-dpon shakya-bshes) Agiivanchug (ngag-gi dbang-phyugs) Sesherivaa Tudevbudhashri (grub-thob budha-shr’i) Lochen Vairochana (blo-chen be-ro-tsa-na) Danaglam (rta-nag bla-ma) Serjebzunba (Ser rje-btsun-pa) Dubchen Namkhaidorj () Tudev-Dajir (grub-thob md’-‘byar) Tudevdarchentsanachir Lamashan (bla-ma zhang) Danagdorje Karmarolpaidorje () Ronsomchoi (rong-zom chos) Nyamral (nyang-ral) Lodoisengii (blo-gros sengge) Tsarchen (tshar-chen) Zanindraa (dza-nyin dha-ra) Sereravsi (sre-rab-si) Gungaadorje () Sangyapalsan (sangs-rgyas dpal-bzang)
These are listed as Noyon Khutagt's previous incarnations in India and Tibet. Some of these names are apparently names of mahasiddhas renowned in India and Tibet.
Gobi Noyon Khutagts
The first Noyon Khutagt to be identified among Gobi Buddhists was Agvangonchig, in 1622.