Revival of Buddhism in EU and Siberia

There's a piece of Asia in Europe, with indigenously Buddhist people?

Kalmykia: Europe's only Buddhist region | Europe To The Maxx

(DW Euromaxx) DW is a German public broadcast service. July 12, 2019: ELISTA, Europe - Welcome to Europe's only Buddhist Region, Kalmykia, over the last four centuries. Some 160,000 Buddhists live here now. Kalmykia is an autonomous republic of the Russian Federation, located between the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian Sea.

For the series "Europe to The Maxx," Euromaxx reporter Hendrik Welling has made his way to the southeasternmost part of Europe. Join him on his tour to see the highest statue of Buddha in Europe, to hear the sound of overtone singing, sleep in yurts, and to learn more about the rich culture of this special place in Europe. #EuropeToTheMaxx.

The Revival of the Buddhist Faith in Siberia

(Journeyman Pictures) Buryatian Buddhists (Oct. 1995) After decades of Russian/Soviet repression, Buddhism is flowering again in South-Eastern Siberia. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the revival has been going from strength to strength.

Once more the Buryat people wake to the sound of Buddhist conch shells and ritual chanting by lamas. The colored robes of Tibetan monks and gold topped temples are a common sight in this isolated land that has been Russia's cultural center of Buddhism for 300 years.

The Buddhist monastery's head lama is a pillar of the community, and locals seek his advice on just about everything from marriage to medical problems.

On a typical morning his office is full of peasants awaiting his wise words. At the turn of the century this part of Siberia boasted 46 Buddhist temples. Most were destroyed under communism, when it was decided religious faith was not necessary to a good life [for the state].

Now the ordinary people are rebuilding that spiritual practice all over the former Soviet Republic [or USSR, even recognizing that Russian Dictator Vladimir Lenin's grandparents (Lenins/Ulyanov were Mongolian from Buddhist Kalmykia, and his mother was half Jewish)].

Find out more at: journeyman.tv/film/164. Like on Facebook: journeymanpictures. Follow on Twitter: journeymannews/journeymanvod and Instagram: journeymanpictures. Produced by ABC Australia: Ref. 164. Distributed by Journeyman Pictures. Subscribe. 

• Journeyman, March 20, 2008; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly