Tibetan Buddhism in Russia’s civilizational expanse

Abstract

This review focuses on two Buddhist events: the His Holiness Dalai Lama XIV teachings in Dharamsala (India, Himachal Pradesh, May 2019) and the Baikal retreat of Geshe Jampa Tinley’s students (Moscow). The Baikal retreat was visited by a delegation of the Tibetan monastery Sera Me monks (India, Bilacuppe, Karnataka). Both teachings concen­trated on the Madhyamaka Prasangika (school of Buddhist philosophy) theory of empti­ness. My purpose is to show the historical roots of Tibetan-Buddhist civilization in the Russian culture, as well as to describe the transmission of Tibetan Buddhism in modern Russia. Also the review demonstrates the methods of Buddhist philosophy dissemination in the religious and educational discourse. These events and activities of Buddhist teach­ers are examined through the prism of the historical Tibetan Buddhism transmission in Russia, as well as that of the role of the Oirats – the ancestors of modern Kalmyks – in the formation of the Dalai Lama position in Tibet. The interviews with Buddhist teachers used in this paper allow to evaluate how successful the educational activities of Buddhist teachers are for instructing in the Buddhist philosophy and sharing Buddhist practices.