Eli from Russia: 70 parts of Soviet Union

(Eli from Russia) One redhead, an adventure traveler, sees the former USSR through 70 regions

• Buddhism in Russia (Where?)
• Buddhism in Kalmykia
• Buddhism in Buryatia
• Buddhism in Europe
• Buddhism in Central Asia

Buddhism in Russia: Zen (PunkMonk)

(PunkMonk)

• Kalmykia: Europe's only Buddhist region | Europe To The Maxx
• Eli from Russia: Is this Europe?! Celebrating the Native Russian Buddhist New Year in Kalmykia
• Lost In Kalmykia | Europe's Weirdest Republic

Eli in Buddhist Russia, RU Machu Picchu

Traveling in Eastern Europe's only indigenously Buddhist republic...on a camel

The camels of formerly Buddhist Central Asia

(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 water springs.

Time codes

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  Elista, capital of Russian Buddhist Kalmykia

  00:00 Welcome to the only Buddhist republic in Europe!
• 01:20 A day starts with Kalmyk/Mongolian salty tea
• 03:15 Let's find the Mongols!
• 05:10 Meeting the Bactrian camels
• 07:00 Being a guest in a Mongol yurt
• 09:50 Exploring Kalmyk steppes
• 12:20 Throat singing
• 14:15 A natural wonder in the steppe
• 15:28 Heading North!

Let's go to the Buddhist temple

Is this Europe?! Celebrating New Year in Buddhist Kalmykia

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
• 3:30 Dagestan - hidden gem of the Caucasus
• 4:17 Makhachkala's beaches
• 6:50 Crazy drivers?
• 9:40 Natural beauties. The Sulak Canyon
• 11:02 Khabib's restaurant
• 12:56 Russian Machu Picchu - abandoned village of Gamsutl in the mountains
• 18:09 Sary-Kum sand dune near the capital
• 19:19 Why do Dagestanis love this region?

📌Videos from Chechnya: • The real life in Grozny | Is Chechnya...

- 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

📌elinabakunova.com/russianclub: Russian Speaking Club where participants can practice the Russian language. Join at any level ;)

🔸What can be found on this channel? 👉🏻 Explanations of Russian culture and facts about Russia that are not found on Google 👉🏻interviews with people on the streets talking about controversial topics 👉🏻opportunities for education for international students learning Russian 👉🏻travel vlogs from the Big Country 📍

More videos: • Life in a provincial Russian town in... - Life in a provincial Russian town in the Urals | Perm • Russian culture | Habits you should a... - Russian culture | Habits you should adopt in Russia • Slavic languages | Are they similar a... - Slavic languages | Are they similar and can you learn all of them?

📸 elibakunova - on Instagram sharing more content about Russia, its cultures, traveling through, and daily life 🤍 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

Eli in Buddhist Russia: Kalmykia (video)

The lotus blooms in the East? Eastern Europe

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].*

Buddhist Europe? New Years in Kalmykia

Republic of Kalmykia: In Elista took place a much big Russian Buddhist celebration

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(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
• 12:31 It's New Year's Day in Kalmykia
• 16:47 A ritual to prolong life

• Buddhist Modernities: Re-inventing Tradition in the Globalizing Modern World
• Republic of Kalmykia » New Year Zul
• 📌 elinabakunova.com/russianclub: Russian Speaking Club to practice at any level

*Buddhism in Russia

In 2012, Russian Vajrayana Buddhism was the religion of:

• 62% of the total population of Tuva,
• 48% of Kalmykia (the only indigenously Buddhist part of Europe), and
• 20% of Buryatia [24].

Buddhists, Shamans, and Soviets: Rituals...Buryatia

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
• More: Buddhism in Russia

• Eli from Russia, YouTube; Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

The old Buddhists of Europe (video)

DW, 7/12/19; Namepedia, 5/5/15; Jen Bradford, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Kalmykia is Europe's only Buddhist region

(Pal in China) May 19, 2022. Kalmykia is located in Eastern Europe in Southwest Russia. The Kalmyk nomads, a Mongol subgroup, came here about 400 years ago. They brought their Tibetan Buddhist tradition with them from East Asia. The republic was dissolved in 1943 under the reign of Russian dictator Stalin, spiritual leaders were persecuted, and Buddhist temples were destroyed. The entire Kalmyk people were deported to Siberia and only allowed to return to the region after the end of Stalinism. Since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990, Buddhism has flourished again in Kalmykia. There are now Buddhist temples, pagodas, and religious statues, especially in the capital city of Elista.

Kalmykia: Europe's only Buddhist region | Europe to the Maxx

(DW Euromaxx) ELISTA - Welcome to Europe's only Buddhist Region, Kalmykia. Some 160,000 Buddhists live here. Kalmykia is an autonomous republic of the Russian Federation, located between the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea. For the series "Europe to The Maxx," Euromaxx reporter Hendrik Welling has made his way to the south-easternmost part of Europe. Join him on his tour to see the highest statue of Buddha in Europe, to hear the sound of overtone singing, and to learn more about the rich culture of this special place in Europe.

• Buddhism in Kalmykia
• #EuropeToTheMaxx

The grand Buddhist temple in Elista, Kalmykia, is full of European devotees.

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What the Buddha taught is True!

There is a place at the edge of Europe, by the Caspian Sea, just before the Ural Mountains, where one can find the only Buddhist people with roots in this old continent called Europe.

The Kalmyk people

Kalmyks have been living there since the XVIIth century, after a long journey from Mongolian Djungaria, a land in Far East Siberia.

Buddhist pavilions under a bright blue sky made out of wood with ceramic roof arcing inward.

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Kalmyk girl dressed in Russian fashion

Like all other people who have undergone an extensive journey looking for a new home, they tried to go back.

They have been chased around the steppes a few times: Kalmyks have been subjected to contrasting cultural influences and have emerged as quite original themselves.

• PHOTO: Kalmyk girl, wearing a red dress decorated with white lace and a head bonnet, typical of the Russian fashion of that time.

Map showing where the Kalmyk region is situated in the Ural Mountains

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From their shamanic roots, to the Tibetan [Vajrayana] Buddhism they practice, to the pressure of living under a Russian bureaucracy, to the surprise that this was once the chess capital of Europe, Kalmyk culture has felt it all.

Kalmykia is the most Eastern of European realms and the most Western of Asian cultures, uniting such strong contrasts in everyday life and reflecting its history even in names. More

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• It's time to learn math and logic from Euclid to modern geometry

Kalmykia (Europe): Monk's White Path (video)

Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly; RT (Russia Today); NuMeditationMusic 

Buddha behind "Shamans of Siberia" (RT)

Kalmykia is a steppe region in the south of European Russia and the only European Buddhist republic. An international Buddhist festival is going to take place in a temple in the Kalmykia's capital, Elista. 

Scythian Buddha, Gandhara

Russian-Buddhist monks are preparing a sand mandala. It is a palace that may serve as a temporary abode for an enlightened deity. Colored marble sand is applied to the canvas through a cone-shaped tube. Follow the monks' white path on RT.

Buddhism and shamanism also thrive in Buryatia, now a colony of the Russian Empire.

The USSR tried to colonize formerly Buddhist Afghanistan below North Asia (Siberia, next to Alaska). This great frontier region, where the Buddha was born, is called Central Asia (ancient Scythia and Greco-Buddhist Bactria), the "middle country" of Eurasians between Europe from Asia.

(IH) Who were the Shakyians/Sakas? They were Scythians.

From Sakha to Magada (r-sport.ru)

Can it be a coincidence that the Scythian Prince Siddhartha (who became the Buddha) traveled east from the Republic of Shakya Land (Bamiyan, Mes Aynak, Kabul, Tepe Nereng, Afghanistan, literally, the territorial foothold of the Sakha Clan led by the Buddha's father, Tribal Chief Suddhodana, who would have headed a kind of loya jirga (see Wm. Dalrymple) as is still done today in Central Asia) to the Kingdom of Magadha (now a state in northern India) -- and the North Asian Buddhist-shamanic regions echo their names as the Sakha Republic and just to the east, the Magadan Oblast?

"Kalmykia: The Monk's White Path" (special program presented by RT)

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Everyone is, of course, misdirected to think it was Nepal (due to deception by the early British historian Jones, as pointed out by Dr. Ranajit Pal). We do not suggest that the Buddha was from Ukraine or North Asia but that the nomadic Buddhists there named their land after the familiar places to the south in Central Asia and India on both sides of Gandhara.

(RT) Buddhist-Shamanic Buryatia, Russia: "Shamanism in Siberia"

(NuMeditationMusic) Two hours of hypnotic shamanic meditation music

featuring Tuvan throat-singing for chakra cleansing and mystical journeying.

• RT on Twitter: twitter.com/RT_com
• RT on Facebook: facebook.com/RTnews
• VIDEO: Exploring Lake Baikal (Siberian Sea)

How Buddhism Got to Russia

PRE- and POSTMORTEM: Pandido Itigilov, former head of all Russian Buddhists

Russian Buddhist Saint

Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov was the Pandido Khambo Lama, leader of all Russian Buddhists of the Tibetan tradition from 1911 til his death in 1927. He was interred sitting in the Lotus position as he requested. Itigilov had predicted that his body was “incorruptible” and stipulated that his corpse be exhumed and examined years after his death. Buddhist monks monitored the corpse over the years, noting that the body, which had not been embalmed, did not decay. In 2002, he was officially disinterred and examined by monks and scientists. Some devotees claim that Itigilov is not dead, but in a state of nirvana [jhana]. Scientists attribute his condition to an excessive amount of bromine in the tissue. Since 2005, Itigilov’s body has been in a glass case at the Buddist monastery Ivolginsky Datsan in Siberia. He is shown to the public on seven Buddhist holidays every year.

"Sacred Destinations" -- visit a Siberian monastery, see a Siberian Buddhist saint: http://www.sacred-destinations.com/russia/ivolginsky-datsan-buddhist-temple.htm

How Buddhism Got to Russia

Despite efforts of Stalin & Catherine the Great
Brendan I. Koerner (http://www.slate.com/, posted Nov. 30, 2004)

After denying the Dalai Lama's visa requests for years, Russia has finally relented and allowed the Buddhist spiritual leader to visit the country. He will spend most of his time in the southern republic of Kalmykia, half of whose 300,000 residents are practicing Buddhists. How did there come to be so many Buddhists living in Kalmykia, an Ireland-sized region on Europe's eastern edge, thousands of miles from the religion's Asian heartland?

The Kalmyks, as the republic's residents are known, were once Mongolian nomads who lived and practiced their faith on the Central Asian steppe. A Chinese military offensive drove them westward in the 17th century, until they hit the banks of Russia's Volga River. There, they cut a deal with the Russian tsar Peter the Great: In return for being allowed to create a small kingdom, the nomadic émigrés would defend the Russian empire's frontier against invaders.

Catherine the Great, however, didn't warm to the idea of an independent kingdom on her doorstep, and she forced the Buddhists to become Russian subjects. Her campaign of oppression caused the 300,000 former nomads then living on the eastern side of the Volga to depart for their ancestral homeland in Central Asia. Few of them, however, survived the trip—they encountered starvation, banditry, and armed harassment by Russians and Kazakhs. Most of the Buddhists on the Volga's western side, however, stayed put; it was at this point they became known as the Kalmyks, from the Turkish word for "remnant."

Despite living as Russian subjects, the Kalmyks were free to practice Buddhism, and they built dozens of temples. Their brand of Buddhism is lamaist in nature, similar to that of Tibet and Bhutan, with a strong strain of shamanism thrown in. To this day, medicine men are lauded and respected figures in Kalmyk communities.

The Kalmyks almost didn't survive the Stalinist purges; during that period, virtually every Buddhist temple was destroyed. Stalin suspected the Kalmyks of being Nazi sympathizers—he thought the same about the Chechens—and had the Kalmyks deported to Siberia after World War II. They were not allowed to return until 1957, by which time their numbers had shrunk to just 70,000.

The fall of the Soviet Union brought about a Buddhist revival in Kalmykia, starting with the election of President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov in 1993. (Kalmykia is an autonomous member of the Russian Federation.) As he initially promised, President Ilyumzhinov has funded the building of several ornate khuruls, or temples, in the capital of Elista. He has also visited the Dalai Lama at his Indian headquarters and mandated that schoolchildren study Buddhist traditions and principles. (President Ilyumzhinov also heads the World Chess Federation and spent millions on an Elista chess stadium).

Curiously, the spiritual head of the Kalmyks is a native of Philadelphia. Erdne Ombadykow was born to Kalmyk parents and sent to study Buddhism in India as a 7-year-old. There, the Dalai Lama recognized Ombadykow as the reincarnation of Telo Tulku Rinpoche, a Buddhist saint who could supposedly revive animals from the dead. Though his wife and child live in Erie, Colorado, Ombadykow currently lives in Elista, where Kalmyks revere him as a holy figure and seek his blessing. He is essentially the Buddhist equivalent of an archbishop, overseeing a flock in Europe's only Buddhist nation.

• BUDDHIST CHANNEL COVERAGE: "The Dream World of the Russian Buddhist Republic of Kalmykia"
• RELATED BOOK: Buddhism in Russia by John Snelling (Anova Press 2002)