Work Underway in Kalmykia to Create a Higher Buddhist Educational Institution

Today the Shajin Lama of Kalmykia Telo Tulku Rinpoche met with scholars of Kalmykia. At the meeting the parties discussed a number of issues, one of which is the creation of a higher Buddhist educational institution.

The idea of creating such an educational institution in the republic had long been nurtured, but a shortage of specialists, of time, and the lack of material and technical facilities long made it impossible to begin realizing the outlined plans. “At the present moment we can begin to address this issue — today we have specialists, accumulated experience, and an understanding of how to bring it about. The only concern is the financial side,” the Shajin Lama noted.

One of the reasons this issue was raised is connected with changes in federal legislation. A bill has been submitted to the State Duma according to which all clergy who received their religious education abroad will have to undergo re-attestation in Russia. “But since there are no Buddhist educational institutions of the proper level in the Russian Federation, re-attestation of Buddhist monks is out of the question,” the Head of the Buddhists of Kalmykia added.

The meeting also discussed holding an international Buddhist conference. The last time a scholarly event of such a high level took place in Kalmykia was in 2015, and many of its participants noted the republic’s high potential to become a center of Buddhism in Russia. The Shajin Lama of Kalmykia called on the scholarly community to continue working in this direction and to maintain ties with Russian and international scholarly centers and individual scholars.

Following the meeting, the parties decided to create a Council under the Shajin Lama, which will work on creating a higher Buddhist educational institution, and to hold an international scholarly Buddhist conference before the end of the year.