Southernmost republic of Russia | Makhachkala, abandoned villages, sand dune, mountains, Khabib's
(Eli from Russia) Nov. 26, 2021: Dagestan is named a hidden gem of the Caucasus in Russia, formerly the USSR. It is also the most multi-national republic in the country. Let's discover its beautiful mountain villages and canyons and get to know the local traditions.
TIMECODES
0:00 Welcome to Dagestan!
1:36 Local cuisine and payment for breaking the dishes
π ABOUT: Elinabakunova.com/russianclub: Russian Speaking Club where participants can practice the Russian language. Join us at any level! ;) πΈWhat can be found on this channel? ππ» Explanation of the Russian culture and facts about Russia that can't be found on Google ππ» Interviews with people on the streets on controversial topics ππ» Opportunities for education for international students and learning the Russian language ππ» Travel vlogs from the Big Country.
What it's like being Asian Russian in 2025 and why you've never heard about us π€¨
(Chimka Travels) Dec. 2, 2025: Most people think all Russians look Slavic…until they meet me or others like me. I’m an Asian Russian, specifically a Buryat-Mongolian. My video about Asian Russians blew up with over 10 million views. So in this episode, I’m finally explaining: π¬
Why is Russia so darn BIG? (Johnny Harris) March 24, 2021: The story of moving east and just...not stopping.
(Eli from Russia) Former USSR (Soviet Union) Russia's hidden gem in Far East: the Kuril Islands
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Soviet Union, empire, Russia, Central Asia, Far East, Vlad Putin, Czar, communist regime, capitalism, European, country, size, largest, Alaska, Canada, Arctic Circle, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ukraine, Mongolia, Turkey, Korea, China
Eli from Russia, Dec. 13, 2025; Johnny Harris, March 24, 2021; Guzel; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Life in Russia: SHOCKING MYTHS about the country will leave viewers speechless
(Wild to Travel) Why would any American be shocked that Russia is a beautiful and modern non-communist country? It's because we've been lied to in the West for so long that there is no setting us straight. And we don't travel out of our country enough to know anything directly for ourselves. Go out into the world! Stop being duped by PR propaganda from both sides. That's why Wisdom Quarterly has special correspondents like Eli from Russia and AgentNesty:
(Kayse Melone) June 26, 2025: We had a great question asked on a chat on one of my recent livestreams. What does it mean to love yourself as an American when you no longer believe in what [North] America stands for? As someone who grew up in evangelical Christian nationalism in the heart of red-state America, I’ve had to unpack the myths I was raised on, face the guilt and shame of living in the belly of the beast, and begin the long process of internal deconstruction and healing. We talk about American exceptionalism, the spiritual cost of capitalism, and why letting go of nationalism might be the most patriotic thing we can do.
#exchristian #exvangelical #unitedstates #deconstructingchristianity #atheist. Remember to join the live show at 7:00 am CT every Sunday-Wednesday on YouTube or Twitch. Connect with Kayse. Website: kaysemelone.com
(Eli from Russia) REPUBLIC OF KALMYKIA. Four hundred years ago the descendants of Mongolian Oirats (Kalmyks) migrated to Europe. They created the Kalmyk Khanate, which lasted from 1635 to 1779, in the south of the European portion of Russia's massive territory. Today they form the majority in Kalmykia, located on the Kalmyk Steppe, on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. They are the only traditionally Buddhist people located in Europe, and they herd and ride Bactrian camels. This place, cold as it feels with the windchill, has burning watersprings.
Southernmost republic of Russia | Makhachkala, abandoned villages, Khabib's, Machu Picchu
(Eli from Russia) Redheaded correspondent travels the length of a nation so big, it might as well be many countries called Europe 2.0. Dagestan is named the "hidden gem of the Caucasus in Russia." It is also the most multinational republic in the country. Let's discover its beautiful mountain villages, canyons (deeper than the Grand Canyon, USA), and get to know the local traditions.
Time codes
Russian redheads blend in well in Soviet Union
0:00 Welcome to Dagestan!
1:36 Local cuisine and payment for breaking the dishes
- Real life in Grozny. Is the Chechen Republic of Russia safe for traveling?
• The Chechen wedding isn't what you'd...- Visiting the Chechen wedding | Code of honor, traditions, and life of the Chechens
πelinabakunova.com/russianclub: Russian Speaking Club where participants can practice the Russian language. Join at any level ;)
πΈWhat can be found on this channel?
ππ» Explanations of Russian culture and facts about Russia that are not found on Google
ππ»interviews with people on the streets talking about controversial topics
ππ»opportunities for education for international students learning Russian ππ»travel vlogs from the Big Country
π
πΈ elibakunova - on Instagram sharing more content about Russia, its cultures, traveling through, and daily life
π€ elifromrussia - for those who feel like supporting this channel through Patreon
Adopted WQ Russian Correspondent Eli Bakunova ("Eli from Russia"), YouTube, Jan. 20, 2024, Nov. 26, 2021; Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Buddhism was officially incorporated into Siberia in the early 17th century [1, 2] and is considered one of Russia's traditional religions and a legal part of Russian historical heritage [3]. Besides the monastic Buddhist traditions of Buryatia, Tuva, and Kalmykia (the only Buddhist-majority republic in Europe), Buddhism is spreading all over Russia, with many ethnic Russian converts [4, 5].*
(Eli from Russia) Jan. 7, 2024: ELISTA, Kalmykia - There is a Buddhist republic in the heart of Europe. On arriving, one can't believe what one is seeing: Buddhist stupas, temples, pagodas, Asian Buddhist gates and buildings. This Russian region has a truly distinct culture, traditions, and holidays. I will celebrate the Kalmyk Zul(Festival of Lamps) holiday with locals and add one year to my life along with all Kalmyks. Buddhism in Kalmykia
TIMECODES
00:00 I'm going to celebrate the New Year with Kalmyks!
01:17 Welcome to the capital: Elista City
02:46 What did I find on the Lenin Square?
04:26 My chance to make a wish under the Golden Gate
05:47 Here is a Kalmyk lunch!
09:30 Is this really Europe?!
11:25 Locals came to get blessings from Buddhist lamas
Buddhism also has adherents amounting to 6% in Zabaykalsky Krai, primarily ethnic Buryats, and 0.5% to 0.9% in Tomsk Oblast and Yakutia.
Buddhist communities are found in other federal subjects of Russia, between 0.1% and 0.5% in Sakhalin Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, Amur Oblast, Irkutsk Oblast, Altay, Khakassia, Novosibirsk Oblast, Tomsk Oblast, Tyumen Oblast, Orenburg Oblast, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Murmansk Oblast, Moscow and Moscow Oblast, Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast, and in Kaliningrad Oblast [24].
In large cities like Moscow, Saint Petersburg (formerly Leningrad, capital of the Czar's Empire which became the Soviet Union), and Samara, where up to 1% of the population identify as Buddhists [26].
Buddhism in Tuva
Buddhism in Kalmykia
Buddhism in Buryatia
Datsan and Khurul - Buddhist temples in Russia
Khambo Lama
Datsan Gunzechoinei
Tubden Shedubling - Buddhist temple complex in Moscow
(Science) The Soyot are an ethnic group of Samoyedic and Turkic origin who live mainly in the Oka region in the Okinsky District in Buddhist Buryatia, Russia.
They share much of their history with the Tofalar, Tozhu Tuvans,Dukha [but not the Mokshas], and Buryat; the Soyot have taken on a great deal of Buryat cultural influence and were grouped together with them under Soviet policy.
Due to intermarriage between Soyots and Buryats, the Soyot population is heavily mixed with the Buryat. In 2000, they were reinstated as a distinct ethnic group.
#soyots#indigenous #nomads #siberia #reindeer #yaks
(Matt and Julia) BURYATIA. Did you know Buddhism existed in Siberia, Russia? This is Ulan-Ude, Buryatia. Just north of the border with #Mongolia, the beautiful region of #Buryatia where Buryats live is the home of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism in Russia! This video visits a Buddhist datsan set high in the hills above Ulan Ude called Rinpoche Bagshadatsan, one of the most incredible places we have ever been in all of our travels through Russia. As well as exploring this incredible Buddhist temple, we also eat our way through more local Buryatian food.
Introduction to Vajrayana: Its place in Buddhist teachings (04-29-11)
A Cosmic Buddha, Maha Vairocana
(Sravasti Abbey) May 5, 2011: Venerable Thubten Chodron gives a basic explanation of Tantra, clearing up some common misconceptions about it. For more Vajrayana Buddhist teachings visit sravasti.org and thubtenchodron.org.
What are the three Buddhist traditions?
Wisdom Quarterly
Siddhartha, born in northwest, traveled east, awakened, and taught in this area for 45 years.
Vipassana ("insight meditation")
Zen (jhana or "meditative absorption")
Vajrayana ("Thunderbolt Vehicle"), a branch of Mahayana
Vipassana (insight) is a meditation technique, which utilizes systematic mindfulness and the peculiar teaching of the Buddha called Dependent Origination (pratΔ«tyasamutpΔda). Zen is Chan as it evolved from China to Japan and Korea.
Vipassana
Zen
Tibetan Buddhism
This is wrong as well since Vajrayana is not synonymous with Tibetan culture. There are various Himalayan countries that practice Vajrayana, namely, Kalmykia, Nepal, Bhutan, Mongolia, Siberia, Russia, Buryatia, and Northern India (Ladakh, Sikkim, Himalchal Pradesh).
Theravada
Mahayana
Vajrayana
These are the three general traditions or schools, each a little different as it is practiced in different countries.
The real three Buddhist traditions
THERAVADA (the "Teaching of the Elders," a reference to the theras and theris who were the male and female enlightened monastics, the name designating someone in robes for at least ten rains retreats, who memorized and passed down the Teaching) is the back-to-basics, original, or orthodox school of the historical Buddha Siddhartha Gautama also called Shakyamuni (the "Sage of the Scythian or Shakyian" clan). This tradition (along with 17 or 18 now defunct schools that get labeled Hinayana or "Lesser Vehicle" schools like the Sarvastivada) was preserved in the language of the Buddha, who spoke Magadhi (the language of the Kingdom of Magadha), which is Pali. Prakrit seems to refer to a synthesis or blending of Pali and Sanskrit. The Buddha was a polymath conversant in many languages and dialects with an expert knack for not only understanding living beings in any language but also capable of addressing them in the language, expressions, and vocabulary they best understood. (This is one of the Ten Powers of a Buddha).
MAHAYANA is a further development or reform tradition conflated with Vedic Brahmanism (later referred to as Hinduism), very much influenced and degraded or brought into alignment with the old views of Brahmin priests instead of what the historical Buddha sought to teach which rejected the Vedas, promoting instead the shramanic ("wandering ascetic") custom of various teachers of antiquity, most notably the Buddha and his Doctrine-and-Discipline (the Buddha Dharma and Vinaya) and Mahavira and his Doctrine (Jainism), both of which the Brahmins tried to subsume as schools within Hinduism. This tradition was preserved in the exclusive language of the Vedic priests, the Brahmins, which was middle and late Sanskrit, Buddhist Sanskrit, and ancillary languages like Gandhara, an Indo-Aryan Prakrit. The oldest surviving texts, amazingly, may not be in Pali, which was a spoken language without its own script, but rather Gandharan. The historical Buddha was from Gandhara (modern Afghanistan and Pakistan, the ancient northwest frontier of Buddhist Emperor Ashoka's empire, Bharat/Bharata (from ancient Mahabharata, which reduced in size is called "India" today, although "India" did not exist at the time of the Buddha, the land being divided into many loosely affiliated and feuding kingdoms and republics or mahajanapadas, "footholds of the family clan"). All Mahayana schools and sects are strongly influenced by the country they came to or evolved in because of missionary Buddhism's custom of blending with the local religion and practices. Mahayana as the "Greater Vehicle" and accounts for 90% of Buddhism, even if differs greatly from country to country.
VAJRAYANA is an esoteric branch of Mahayana mixed with Bon and Himalayan shamanism from northern countries in and around the Himalayas, which colored it with many esoteric, yogic, tantric, and other Indian influences that attached to the popularity of Buddhism for export. It is distinctive, and many may think of it as the speedy path, as if the others promoted a slow, hard slog when, in fact, the historical Buddha often brought hearers to realization in a single Dharma talk (gradual instruction), one sutra (suture, string, theme running through a presentation suited specially for them). This is why reading the discourse is no substitute for hear the Buddha or an enlightened thera/disciple teach. It is not about a "transmission" of (shaktipat, yogic, psychic, or blessed energy) as such, though one may argue that is exactly what it is, but rather a teacher is reading the situation to present what is appropriate and most helpful right at this moment. That may involve an intuitive sense or psychic ability, an extraordinary load of compassion, and is almost certainly accompanied by strong faith (saddha, confidence and conviction in the teacher) such that the message penetrates. The historical Buddha had a pattern of first prepping the mind/heart of the hearer before presenting that transcendental knowledge peculiar to buddhas -- the teaching of the wisdom that has gone beyond. Before wisdom the gradual discourse proceeded on establishing a peaceful, joyful, and receptive mind then presenting the information. This was possible because the Buddha was more than an arhat (fully enlightened being). He was a Supremely Enlightened One (samma-sam-buddha), which is a specific designation full of meaning. Anyone might become an arhat now that a buddha has arrived and taught, but that a buddha should ever arise (fitted with all the capacities of a supremely wise teach, deft in knowledge, vision, and language) or that one has the karma to come across such a being, this is very rare. Such "teachers of gods (devas) and men (humans)" are rare because it takes so long to cultivate the ancillary skills to be an effective teacher. Not all buddhas are alike, and the historical Buddha learned from the mistakes and shortcomings of previous buddhas. In one case, a buddha of the past did not much emphasize vinaya (monastic rules and regulations) and therefore his dispensation (the existence of the Dharma in the world under him) was shortened. The historical Buddha always tried to strike a balance between what the world as he found it needed and what needed to be done to ensure the preservation of the Teachings for at least 1,000 years. We are now 2,600 or so years out (possibly 500 more than that) and can expect that the Buddha Dharma has become corrupted in this Dark Age (Kali Yuga), with its many schisms and schools, interpretations and translations. The Dharma survives, but there are fewer and fewer humans and devas with the karma to meet with it or readily grasp its profundity. The historical Buddha even in his day wondered whether it was worth teaching to a world so obsessed with sensual pursuits and pleasure. Imagine, that was then. How have we as humans become? More golden and truthful (closer to the Satya Yoga the Vedas speak of, that past and future Golden Age) or darker and more depraved, needing more foundational information and more vivid (less implied) examples? Don't take Wisdom Quarterly's word for it. Do the research, as Ani says the Dalai Lama suggests.
Ven. Thubten Chodron, Sravasti Abbey (video, May 5, 2011); TEXT by Dhr. Seven and Amber Larson, Ashley Wells (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly
Were Vikings Buddhists? First of all, Vikings is a general term that means "Pirates" more than redheaded Icelandic peoples. Second, what would it have taken for them to be Buddhists?
They would have had to understand the language of the Asians with whom they came in contact. It is more likely, given their reputation, that they raided rather than traded.
The Buddha was Indo-Aryan from Central Asia (the "Middle Country" [between East and West, called the Majjhima-desa in the texts) with a mother from what is now part of Iran (formerly Persia), below his home country of Gandhara (in a Scythian region that is modern Afghanistan), according to maverick Indian historian Dr. Ranajit Pal: Amazing “Viking” treasure featuring gold, silver, and a vase is from IRAN may not be VIKING at all
Archeological discoveries indicate contact with Asia and knowledge of the Buddha, which they would have seen as the "Light of Asia," the "Prince of Peace," a massive figure in the ancient Orient.
That they traded in Asian wares suggests that they knew what they were dealing in, seeing significance in the beauty of figurines and pieces of advanced art from that part of the world.
There is a Viking Buddha, and now we find a ten-year-old piece is actually a much older work of art from Asia found in Scotland.
Viking Guru, the Great, on Audible podcasts
Interestingly, the greatest Viking today is a Buddhist or in any case very friendly to Buddhists. He is the interviewer known as Viking Guru, who has repeatedly interviewed British Buddhist teacher Beth Upton and others.
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