The Revival of Buddhism during the 1990s
Very soon after the April 1990 visit of Dr. Alexander Berzin to Tuva, the first “Tuvan Buddhist Society of Kyzyl,” chaired by Vladimir Kara-Sal, which was registered in 1989, started its activities, which were primarily fundraising to build a Buddhist temple. In 1992, there were already nine Buddhist communities in Tuva. The most active of these were the Union of Tuvan Buddhists “Aldyn-Bogda” (“Golden Buddha”) and the “Tuvan Buddhist Society of Kyzyl.” Genyen (layman) Sandak Kazak was elected the Head of Tuvan Buddhists and held this position until the formation in 1997 of “The Board of the Kamby Lama of the Tuva Republic,” the umbrella organization that united all Buddhist societies in the republic.
Already at the end of 1990, the first new, small, Buddhist temple was built at the local sumon (village) Kyzyl-Dag. It was consecrated by the 94-year-old monk Kuular Shymbai-ool.
There was not much knowledge of the Dharma in that period, but people started recollecting and performing local traditional rituals, in particular consecrations of mountains and mountain passes. Some obo cairns (Tuv. ovaa) were still standing there.
In May 1991, the Tuvan-language Buddhist newspaper “Erege” (“Rosary”) was founded. Four thousand copies of the first issue were published, but only few issues ever appeared. The more regular Buddhist newspaper “Thun,” renamed “Tsechenling” after the first issue, appeared only in 2010.
In 1992, the first Buddhist dugan (temple) in the capital city of Kyzyl was founded by the Yenisei River. In October 1992, the first five Tuvan students were sent to Mongolia for receiving a Buddhist education.
In September 1992, the historical first and only visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tuva took place. Tens of thousands of believers came to attend his teachings in Kyzyl. It had a profound effect on the revival of Dharma that ensued.
Besides Kyzyl, the Dalai Lama visited the ruins of Chadan Khure, the once largest Tuvan Buddhist monastery. All other Tuvan Buddhist temples had been made of timber and, consequently, no ruins had remained of them. There was already a small dugan temple built in the village of Haiyrykan near Chadan Khuree. His Holiness visited it and, there, the local people informed him that they were thinking about rebuilding the old great temple.
In 1994, the Tibet Support Group in Tuva was founded. It was called “Friends of Tibet Society,” following the precedent of the first such group in Russia organized in St. Petersburg. This society also spread information about Tibetan Buddhism.
In 1995, two Tibetan teachers sent from India by the Dalai Lama arrived in Tuva: Ven. Geshe Lobsang Thubten and Ven. Takpa Gyatso. Geshe Lobsang Thubten was teaching in the Tuvan language and has also published several books of basic Buddhist teachings in Tuvan. He passed away in 2022 due to COVID-19. Takpa Gyatso still lives and works in Tuva now in 2023.
In 1997, the first group of six Tuvan young men was sent to Drepung Gomang Monastery in India for Buddhist education. This year also witnessed the first All-Tuvan Buddhist Congress, where the Tuvan Buddhist umbrella organization “The Board of the Kamby Lama of the Tuva Republic” was created. Its head was given the title “Kamby Lama of the Tuva Republic” and was to be reelected every five years. Aganak Hertek, the 20-year-old assistant and translator of the two Tibetan teachers from India was elected the first to receive this title.
A number of highly qualified Buddhist teachers started to visit Tuva, among whom were Ven. Geshe Jamyang Khentse from St. Petersburg in 1996, Yeshe Lodro Rinpoche from Buryatia in 1998, the Ninth Bogdo Gegen from Mongolia in 1999, Khen Rinpoche Tsultrim Puntsog, the abbot of Drepung Gomang Monastery in India, in 2000, and several others.
