Buddhism in Kyrgyzstan is a minority religion in the country. However, the history of Buddhism in the region dates back many centuries.
Out of the 3,257 religious organizations registered with the Kyrgyzstani government, only one is Buddhist.[1] It is based out of a renovated summer house, known as the "place of path," in a suburb about 30 miles south ofBishkek.[2] Its community, known as "Chamsen," or "Liberation" inKorean, was founded in 1996 byethnic Koreans in the village of Gornaya Maevka. The community does not restrict its followers to any one branch of Buddhism, and as such, both theNipponzanMyohoji andKarmaKagyu branches are currently practiced. Its members are mostly Russian, Korean, and Kyrgyz.
Buddhism first reached Central Asia via theGreat Silk Road. Archaeologists have found traces of the religion's influence along this ancient trade route, including clay statues ofBuddha and stones with Buddhist inscriptions.[2] The most famous Buddhist sites inKyrgyzstan are the mounds inKrasnaya Rechka andNovopokrovka, where large statues of the Buddha have been found.[2]
Sogdians first spread Buddhism into northern Kyrgyzstan, in what is now theChüy Region by the 7th century.[3] TheWestern Turkic Khaganate patronized Buddhism and built some monasteries around the region. TheTurgesh tribe in particular helped to establish the presence of Buddhism in what is now modern Kyrgyzstan in the late 7th to early 8th centuries.[4] Eastern portions of the area were conqured by theTibetan Empire in the 8th century, who introduced Tibetan Buddhism.[3] The rise of theKarluks, who were friendly towards Buddhism further cemented the religion in the region. TheQarahanids, a subgroup of the Karluks, controlled eastern Kyrgyzstan and theKashgar region of modernXinjiang, China. The early Qarakhanids practiced a syncretic form of Buddhism and shamanism before their conversion to Islam in the late 10th century.[4] Later occasions of Buddhism in the area include theDzungars that conquered parts of the region. The Dzungars were Tibetan Buddhists who established tent monasteries throughout the region in the 17th and 18th centuries until the Dzungars were destroyed by theQing dynasty.[3] However, Buddhist influences still exist in some local religious practices, especially in severalSufi beliefs and rituals.[3]
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