Overview
The revival of Buddhism in Kalmykia began in 1988, after having been forbidden during the Soviet period up until then. Since that first new Buddhist group was officially registered, many local Buddhist communities have sprung up. At present in 2023, there are 43 registered Buddhist communities in Kalmykia, including four Buddhist groups in Astrakhan – a city that was a part of Kalmykia in the past but was made part of a separate district in 1943. In addition, there are seven unregistered Buddhist communities and five communities affiliated with the Buryats, three of which are under the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia and two under The Central Buddhist Board registered in Moscow.
Most of these communities are members of two large complementary, centralized umbrella Buddhist organizations in the Kalmyk Republic: the Union of Buddhists of Kalmykia and the Central Khurul of Kalmykia. The first unites 25 traditional Kalmyk Buddhist communities and European-style Dharma-centers, the members of which are more interested in Buddhist philosophy and meditation. The Central Khurul of Kalmykia incorporates the larger monasteries with ordained monks. There is also a third centralized organization, the Kalmyk Buddhist Union, but it is small and there is no information about its activities.
Both larger centralized organizations were headed until recently by Telo Tulku Rinpoche, bearing the traditional title “Shajin Lama of the Kalmyk people.” Telo Rinpoche (Erdne Basan Ombadykow, a Kalmyk from the USA, born 1972), was recognized in his childhood by His Holiness the Dalai Lama as the incarnation of the great Indian yogi Tilopa. He was sent to Drepung Gomang monastic college in India and studied there for thirteen years as a monk. The previous incarnation was Dilowa Khutugtu of Mongolia, who emigrated to the USA and lived with the Kalmyk immigrant community there.
