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Buddhism is considered to be one ofRussia's traditional religions and is legally a part of Russian historical heritage.[1] Historically,Buddhism was incorporated intoSiberia in the early 17th century.[2] Besides the historical monastic traditions of theBuryats, theKalmyks (Kalmykia the latter being the only Buddhist-majority republic inEurope), theTuvans, and a part of theEvenki people (inBuryatia),[3] the religion of Buddhism is now spreading all over Russia, with many ethnicRussian converts.[4][5]
The main form of Buddhism in Russia isVajrayana, namely theGelukpa school ofTibetan Buddhism, informally known as the "yellow hat" tradition,[5][6] with other Tibetan and non-Tibetan schools as minorities. Although Tibetan Buddhism is most often associated withTibet, it spread intoMongolia. Via Mongolia, Buddhism spread into Siberia before spreading to the rest of Russia.
In the early 20th century, the famousDatsan Gunzechoinei in Saint Petersburg was the northernmost Buddhist temple in Russia.
The first evidence of the existence of Buddhism in the territory of modern Russia (more specifically Siberia, the region nearest East Asia) belongs to the 8th century AD and is associated with the state ofBalhae; in 698–926, the area occupied part of today'sPrimorye andAmur. There are also traces of Buddhism during the Jurchen Jin Empire (1115–1234). In the 15th century, during the Chinese Ming dynasty, in the lower reaches of the Amur, "several Buddhist temples were built on the Tyr rock: the Yongning-si temple in honor of the bodhisattva Guan-yin (1413), etc. However, Buddhist preaching did not meet with the support of the Amur residents. The temples were soon destroyed.[7] TheMohe, a people whose culture was greatly influenced by neighboring China, Korea and Manchuria, practiced a form of Mahayana Buddhism. It initially spread into those constituent regions of Russia that are geographically or culturally adjacent to Mongolia (the area known as theMongolian Steppe) or are inhabited byMongolian and other ethnic groups:Buryatia,Zabaykalsky Krai,Tuva, andKalmykia. The last of these was the only Buddhist region in Europe, located to the north of the Caucasus. Indigenous peoples who are associated with Buddhism are theBuryats, theKalmyks, theTuvans, and a part of theEvenki people (in Buryatia).[3]
The Tuvans were first exposed to Buddhism during the 13th and 14th centuries, when Tuva entered into the composition of the Mongol Empire. The earliest Buddhist temples uncovered by archaeologists in the territory of Tuva date to the 13th and 14th centuries.[8]
At the beginning of the 17th century, Tibetan Buddhism penetrated northward from Mongolia to reach the Buryat population ofTransbaikalia (the area just east ofLake Baikal). Initially, Buddhism disseminated primarily among theKhalka Mongols (the Selenga and Zede Buryats). At the end of the 17th to the beginning of the 18th centuries, it spread throughout the Transbaikal region.[9]
There is a theory that the Oirat Mongols—the ancestors of theKalmyks—in contrast to the other Mongol groups, came in contact with Buddhism even earlier—as early as the 9th century through neighboring Turkic peoples.[10] Some Kalmyks accepted Russian citizenship in 1609. Sources date the year of adoption of Buddhism by Kalmyks to 1615, when a congress of Oirat princes decided to accept Buddhism and send a large group of young people to study in Tibet. Kalmyks brought Buddhism as their main religion to Russia, becoming the first Buddhist community in Europe. In the autonomousKalmyk Khanate, Buddhism became the state religion. It kept close ties with Buddhist centers in Tibet and Mongolia until the end of the 18th century. The TibetanDalai Lama even appointed the Kalmyk khans.
The 1727Treaty of Kyakhta that delineated the border between Russia and China also officially acknowledged the presence of Buddhism in Russian-controlled lands for the first time.[9]
In 1741Empress Elizabeth (Yelizaveta Petrovna) adopted a decree recognizing the existence of a "lamaist faith": She legally recognized the existence of eleven datsans, and with them 150lamas. Buddhism was formally accepted as an official religion in the Russian Empire.
For a long time in Buryat Buddhism there was a struggle for dominance between the Tsongol andTamchinsky (Gusinoozyorsk) datsans. In 1764 the chief lama of the Tsongol Datsan became Supreme Lama of the Buryats of Transbaikalia, having received the title Pandit Hambo Lama ("learned prior"). Starting in 1809, supremacy passed to the priors of the Tamchinsky datsan.
By 1887, there were 29 publishing houses and numerousdatsans. In 1917, these ethnic regions had among them approximately 20,000 Buddhists and 175 temples.[11]
With the active assistance of leading Buddhologists and the support of the tsarist government, the Buryat lamaAgvan Dorzhiev—spiritual mentor and ambassador of the13th Dalai Lama—built theDatsan Gunzechoinei in St. Petersburg in 1915.
From the earliest documented encounters with Buddhism and Buddhists, Russians had mainly negative impressions about the faith and their adherents. Conservative secular Russians and Christians regularly lambasted Buddhism, seeing it as a roadblock to the Christianization andRussification of Siberia. Russian thinkers saw Buddhism as a superstitious but advanced religion espousing the opposite of a rational and scientific worldview. Views of Buddhism for the Russians were molded more by the polemics of Christian missionaries and geopolitics than by the academic world.[12]
When theCossacks first encountered Buddhism (in its Tibetan form) during their conquest of Siberia, they characterized Buddhism as a form of paganism. Early Russian explorers and Christian missionaries described Tibetan Buddhism as a "superstition", "false creed", or "idolatry" among other similar labels.[12] Russian Christian literature regularly referred to Buddhist temples or monasteries as pagan shrines. Buddhist religious services were denounced as witchcraft, quackery or "shamanic orgies".[12]
Throughout the 19th and early 20th century, Russian researchers began studying Tibetan Buddhism. However, because ofOrientalism and the frequent Christian or missionary background of the scholars, their works are not considered academic in modern times, with many scholars of the time assuming that Buddhism was defective and utilizing little textual material to enforce their biases.[12] With the advent of Buddhist studies in western Europe in the 19th century, Russian society was similarly exposed to the idea that Buddhism contained an impressive philosophy and history. However, Russian elites and academics saw true Buddhism a religion of the past or existing in certain regions like Sri Lanka. Siberian Buddhism was seen as backward throughout the 19th and early 20th century. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, parts of Russian society began having positive views of Tibetan Buddhism but advocating for the Europeanization of Buddhism and closer incorporation of Buddhists in an effort to "civilize" them.[12]
When the Soviet Union came into being, all religions including Buddhism began to be viewed as "tools of oppression", and Buddhists in positions of authority were looked upon unfavourably.[13] The USSR sought to remove Buddhism and other religions, as they believed that a lack of religion combined with urbanization would result in an increase in production.[14] In 1929, many monasteries were closed down and monks were arrested and exiled.[15] By the 1930s, during theStalinist repressions, Buddhists were suffering more than any other religious community in the Soviet Union[2] with lamas being expelled and accused of being "Japanese spies" and "the people's enemies".[16] In 1943, all Kalmykians were forcibly exiled to Siberia due to government suspicions that they were collaborating with Nazi Germany when it had occupied part of Kalmykia.[6] About 40% of the Kalmykian population died while in exile and those who did survive were not able to return to their homeland until 1956.[17][5]
However, Buddhism did not disappear from Russia as a result of the efforts ofBidia Dandaron, a follower of Tsydenov and a famousBuddhologist and thinker. Dandaron attempted to revive Buddhism in the atheist state by introducing the concept of Neo-Buddhism, a combination of Buddhist teachings and contemporary Western philosophy with scientific theories. Dandaron was later arrested for creating a religious community and eventually died in a prison camp. Nevertheless, his disciples played a key role in the 1990s with the revival of Russian Buddhism.[18]
Afterthe fall of the Soviet Union, a Buddhist revival began in Kalmykia with the election of PresidentKirsan Ilyumzhinov.[19] It was also revived in Buryatia and Tuva and began to spread to Russians in other regions.
In 1992, theDalai Lama made his first visit toTuva in Russia.[20]
Fyodor Shcherbatskoy, a renowned RussianIndologist who traveled to India and Mongolia during the time of theRussian Empire, is widely considered by many to be responsible for laying the foundations for the study of Buddhism in the Western world.
There are a number of reestablished and new temples known askhuruls anddatsans.
There are now between 700,000 and 1.5 million Buddhists in Russia, mainly in the republics ofBuryatia,Kalmykia andTuva.[21]
In 2022, Khambo LamaDamba Ayusheev, the head of theBuddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia (BTSR), the largest Buddhist denomination in Russia, voiced support for theRussian invasion of Ukraine.[22] In October 2022,Erdne Ombadykov, the Supreme Lama of Russia's Republic ofKalmykia, condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and fled Russia to Mongolia.[23] In January 2023, he was recognized in Russia as aforeign agent.[24]
In 2023, the largest 12-story Buddhist monastery in Russia, Thubten Shedrub Ling, opened inKyzyl, built on the initiative of Defense MinisterSergei Shoigu.[25]
In 2024, a Russianstupa was built in the holy place ofLumbini in Nepal.[26]
In 2025, theRussian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) found that 1% of Russians identified as Buddhists.[27]
| Federal subject | Buddhists (2012)[28] | Buddhists (2016)[29] |
|---|---|---|
 Tuva | 61.8% | 52.2% |
 Kalmykia | 47.6% | 53.4% |
 Buryatia | 19.8% | 19.8% |
 Zabaykalsky Krai | 6.3% | 14.6% |
 Russian Federation | 0.5% | 0.6% |
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In 2012, Buddhism was the religion of 62% of the total population ofTuva, 48% ofKalmykia and 20% ofBuryatia.[28] Buddhism also has believers amounting to 6% inZabaykalsky Krai (primarily ethnic Buryats, having a specialAgin-Buryat Okrug), and 0.5% to 0.9% inTomsk Oblast andYakutia. Buddhist communities may be found in other federal subjects of Russia, between 0.1% and 0.5% inIrkutsk Oblast (primarily Buryats, having a specialUst-Orda Buryat Okrug),Sakhalin Oblast,Khabarovsk Krai,Amur Oblast,Altai,Khakassia,Novosibirsk Oblast,Tomsk Oblast,Tyumen Oblast,Orenburg Oblast,Arkhangelsk Oblast,Murmansk Oblast,Moscow andMoscow Oblast,Saint Petersburg andLeningrad Oblast, and inKaliningrad Oblast.[28] In cities like Moscow, Saint Petersburg andSamara, often up to 1% of the population identify as Buddhists.[30]
Traditional types ofBuddhist temples and monasteries in Russia aredugans (sume),khuruls (khure),datsans, andkiids (seeList of Buddhist temples and monasteries in Russia [ru]).
As nomadic cattle breeders, the Kalmyks and Buryats initially erected templeyurts and had mobile monasteries consisting of several tents.
The first wooden and stone Buddhist temples were built with the participation ofRussian masons and carpenters, with the influence of the traditions ofRussian church architecture. The buildings were cruciform in plan and many-headed. Thevestibule is a distinctive feature of the temples in Russia. It is designed to cut off cold air.[31]
Since the second half of the 19th century, temples in plan close to a square have been constructed in the form of a stepped pyramid with a Chinese-type roof with curved corners.[31]
Construction of theDatsan Gunzechoinei in Saint Petersburg was completed by 1915 and became the first large Buddhist temple in the West.
The 2014Yakutsk Datsan is the only northernmost Tibetan Buddhist temple in Russia.[32]
In 2023, the largest 12-story Buddhist monastery in Russia, Thubten Shedrub Ling, opened inKyzyl.[25]
The BuddhistTubden Shedubling temple complex will be located in Moscow near the existing Orthodox Church with a chapel, the Muslim mosques, and the Jewish synagogue, as part of the Spiritual and educational complex of Russian traditional religions.
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