Buddhism Rebounds in Russia

Photo: VOA - J. Weeks

Buddhist temple in Buryatia, Russia

For four generations, the Soviets waged war on Buddhists, sometimes branding them “Japanese spies.”  Now, 20 years after the collapse of communism, Buddhism is experiencing a massive revival in its historic areas. 

Yes, there are Russian Buddhists 

The drums, the bells and the chants are redolent of Asia.  But the language spoken between the monks here near the shores of Lake Baikal is Russian.

Yondon Ulzutuev, who teaches philosophy at Ivolginsky datsan, Russia’s main Buddhist monastery, says that when he was studying Buddhism in India, people did not believe he was Russian.

The 25-year old is one of over a million people in post-Soviet Russia who are embracing the Buddhist faith of their ancestors.

 

Attitude change 

Czarist Russia largely co-existed with the Tibetan Buddhist faith of the Mongolian peoples it conquered in Central Asia. But the Soviets waged war on Buddhism.  They bulldozed temples and monasteries.  They used ancient manuscripts to roll cigarettes.  They shot hundreds of priests - and sent the rest into the gulag.

Buddhist nun Tenzin Choidrin talks of the communist destruction of Buddhist culture and civilization here.

“As a result of communist repression, almost the entire Buddhist system was destroyed," she says. "The Buddhist world view, the basis of the traditional way of life was destroyed, the traditional system of values was destroyed.”

The Soviets forced Buddhism underground.  But, they failed to eradicate the faith from its historic strongholds - the border republics of Kalmykia, Tuva, and in Buryatia.

Rebound 

Although more Russians are Buddhists today than before the revolution, the Kremlin rejects their central demand. 

They want their highest spiritual leader, Tibet’s Dalai Lama, to come to Russia and consecrate new temples and monasteries, but Moscow has refused to give the Dalai Lama a visa since his last visit in 2004.

However as a nun, Choidrin says a visit by the Dalai Lama is needed. She says a price can not be put on the role of the Dalai Lama for the rebirth of Buddhism in Russia.  Choidrin says his visit would be like water, which is needed by parched, sun baked soil.

The nun says now that the Dalai Lama has given up his political role as leader of Tibetan exiles, Russia should give him a visa. 

Chinese reaction 

But China is now Russia’s largest single trading partner.  Chinese officials have warned that the Kremlin has a clear choice: the 1.3 million followers of the Dalai Lama or 1.3 billion Chinese.

At a neighborhood temple, Buddhist practitioner Irina is praying for her unborn child. After spinning the prayer wheels, Irina explains that she comes to the temple to pray that her pregnancy and baby’s birth will go well.

And, judging by the large number of pregnant women coming to temples to perform rituals and to receive blessings, time seems to be on the side of Buddhism, here in Russia’s Asian corner.

Russian historical heritage

Historically, Buddhism was incorporated into Russian lands in the early 17th century, when Kalmyk people traveled to and settled in Siberia and what is now the Russian Far East. Buddhism is considered as one of Russia’s traditional religions, legally a part of Russian historical heritage.

The main form of Buddhism in Russia is Tibetan Buddhism. Although Tibetan Buddhism is most often associated with Tibet, it spread into Mongolia, and via Mongolia into Russia.

It spread into the Russian constituent regions geographically and /or culturally adjacent to Mongolia:Buryatia, Zabaykalsky Krai, Tuva Republic, and Kalmykia, the latter being the only Buddhist region in Europe, located to the north of the Caucasus. By 1887, there were already 29 publishing houses and numerous datsans. After the Russian Revolution, the datsans were closed down. By the 1930s, Buddhists were suffering more than any other religious community in the Soviet Union with lamas being expelled and accused of being "Japanese spies" and "the people's enemies".

After the fall of the Soviet Union, a Buddhist revival began in Kalmykia with the election of President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

Today, Tibetan Buddhism is primarily practiced by the indigenous peoples in these regions of central and eastern Russia, except for a few Russian converts based mainly in the larger cities as St. Petersburg and Moscow, where there is greater access to urban Buddhist centers or facilities of the like.

The other major forms of Buddhism found in Russia are traditions practiced by immigrant communities, among them the Koreans, Chinese, Vietnamese, and others, based mainly in the large cities.

In 1979, the Dalai Lama made his first visit to Russia.

There are several Tibetan Buddhist university-monasteries throughout Russia, concentrated in Siberia, known as Datsans

The Kalmyks are the only nation of Europe of Mongol origin, and the only one whose national religion is Buddhism. They live in the Republic of Kalmykia, a federal subject of the Russian Federation. It has borders with the Republic of Dagestan in the south; the Stavropol Krai in the southwest; the Rostov Oblast and the Volgograd Oblast in the west and the northwest, respectively. Its eastern border is the Astrakhan Oblast.

The Kalmyks are the descendants of several Oirat tribes that migrated to Europe during the early part of the 17th century. As Tibetan Buddhists, the Kalmyks regard His Holiness the Dalai Lama as their spiritual leader. The Šajin Lama (Supreme Lama) of the Kalmyks is Erdne Ombadykow, a Philadelphia-born man of Kalmykian origin who was brought up as a Buddhist monk in a Tibetan monastery in India from the age of seven and who was recognized by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the Buddhist saint Telo Rinpoche. Ombdaykow divides his time between living in Colorado and living in Kalmykia.

Kalmyk political refugees opened their first Buddhist temple in Central Europe, located in Belgrade, Serbia. Their offspring relocated to the United States in late 1951 and early 1952, where they established several Kalmyk Buddhist temples in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Geshe Wangyal, a Kalmyk Buddhist monk, established the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center and monastery in Washington, NJ