Buddhism in Kalmykia

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The Kalmyks are the only Mongolic-speaking people of Europe whose national religion is Buddhism.^[1] In 2016, 53.4% of the population surveyed identified themselves as Buddhist.^[2] They live in Kalmykia, a federal subject of Russia in the southwest. Kalmykia borders Dagestan to the south, Stavropol Krai to the southwest, Rostov Oblast to the west, Volgograd Oblast to the northwest, and Astrakhan Oblast to the east. The Caspian Sea borders Kalmykia to the southeast.

The Kalmyks are the descendants of Oirats who migrated to Europe during the early part of the 17th century. As Tibetan Buddhists, the Kalmyks regard the Dalai Lama as their spiritual leader.^[3] The Šajin Lama (Supreme Lama) of the Kalmyks is Erdne Ombadykow, a Philadelphia-born man of Kalmyk descent who was brought up as a Buddhist monk in a Tibetan monastery in India from the age of seven and who was identified as the reincarnation (tulku) of the Buddhist saint Telo Rinpoche by the 14th Dalai Lama.^[4]