[citation needed] Although recognized as the reincarnation of the Bogd Khan in 1936, his identity was kept a secret by the Dalai Lama until 1990, due to the persecution of the Buddhist religion by the Communist Mongolian People's Republic, and he did not reside in Mongolia until the final year of his life.

He was born as Jampal Namdol Chökyi Gyaltsen[citation needed] on the tenth day of the eleventh month of Water Monkey year (6 January 1933) near the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet.

Six months after his birth, his parents separated and his mother left him in the care of his uncle who was a bodyguard of the thirteenth Dalai Lama.

When the fourteenth Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet in 1959, Jampal Namdol did also, fearing that his identity would be revealed and he would be killed or used by the Communists for propaganda.

In July 1999, while visiting Mongolia on a tourist visa, Jampal Namdol took part in an enthronement ceremony at the Gandantegchinlen Khiid Monastery in Ulaanbaatar.