Damba Ayusheev | |
|---|---|
Аюшеев Бадмын Дамба | |
 | |
| 24th Pandito Khambo Lama | |
| Assumed office 28 April 1995 | |
| Preceded by | Choi Dorjee Budayev |
| Personal | |
| Born | 1 September 1962 |
| Religion | Tibetan Buddhism |
| School | Gelug |
| Organization | |
| Temple | Tsongol Datsan |
Damba Badmaevich Ayusheev [lower-alpha 1] (born 1 September 1962) is a Russian Buddhist monk. He is the 24th and incumbent Pandito Khambo Lama. [1]
Ayusheev was born in Bursomon village,in the far east of the then Soviet Union,approximately 300 km north of Ulanbaatar,the capital of Mongolia.
In 1980,Ayusheev graduated from Petrovsk-Zabaykalsky Pedagogical College. This led to employment as a teacher at Kukursk secondary school in Agin-Buryat Autonomous Okrug.
In 1983,through the advocacy of the Aginsky Datsan (a 200 year old Buddhist monastery in the small town of Aginskoye in Siberia),Ayusheev entered Zanabazar Buddhist University in Ulan-Bator,Mongolia. He graduated in 1988 with qualification in Tibetan Medicine. From there,Ayusheev became curator (dean) of soviet students. He then served as Amchi Lama (a holistic carer) at Ivolginsky datsan in Russia's far east.
In 1991,Ayusheev was appointed Shireete Lama (abbot) at Baldan Breybun datsan in the settlement of Murochi,Kyakhtinsky district,also in the Russian Far East. This datsan in Buryatia district was the first to be revived after the fall of the Soviet Union. Ayusheev oversaw the building of a new Tsogchen dugan on the site of one demolished in the 1930s. It was completed in two years.
On 2 August 1995,Ayusheev became a member of the Council for Cooperation with Religious Associations under the Russian President and on 23 December 1998,he became a member of the Presidium of Interreligious Council of Russia. On 3 March 2004,Aysheev became a member of the Presidium of the Interreligious Council of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). He is also Vice President of the Asian Buddhist Conference for Peace.
On 28 April 1995,Ayusheev was elected to the position of 24th Khambo Lama and Chairman of the Central Spiritual Administration of Buddhists of the Russian Federation (later renamed as the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia). As such,he presides over all Buddhists in Russia. [2]
He was re-elected in 2023 to continue in the role until 2028. On that occasion,he spoke about the Sangha's ongoing and new projects,including the organisation of sewing shops to manufacture the necessities for the special military operation and the continuation of the "Social Flock" project,the creation of a leather and fur workshop and the felting process.[ citation needed ]
During Ayusheev's tenure,Verkhnyaya Berezovka,an estate on the outskirts of Ulan-Ude was established as a second residence of the Khambo Lama. (Ulan-Ude is the capital city of Buryatia,located north of the border between Russia and Mongolia,about 400 km from Ulaan Baatar). In nearby districts,the Ivolginsky Datsan and the Aginsky datsan were established. [3]
In 2022,Ayusheev expressed support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He is quoted,"We must have a strong and reliable rear. With us are our sahusans,with us are our great Hambo Lamas,with us is the Buddha". [4] At a Buddhist conference at Ivolginsky datsan in 2023,Ayasheev told the Russian news agency TASS,"Our Buddhists today are fighting for the Russian world,for the Slavic world,to preserve their Mongolian world. And when the country is in a very difficult situation,our Buddhists,including [military] units from Buryatia,worthily defend the interests of our country against all of Europe and the West. We are proud of this." [5]
Ayusheev's views on Buddhism in Buryatia are described as "anti-urban". Dondukov et al write,
In Ulan-Ude there is not a single datsan (temple) belonging to the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia (BTSR), the largest association of traditional Buddhists in Russia. Pandito Khambo Lama Damba Ayusheev, the head of BTSR, often criticizes urban life and promotes traditional values and lifestyle. A preliminary content analysis of articles and interviews with Pandito Khambo Lama Damba Ayusheev led us to the conclusion that his views can be considered anti-urban. The experience of ruralism of Pandito Khambo Lama Damba Ayusheev is valuable because it is not a theoretical anti-urbanism. His views have a bearing on practice: his initiative of livestock herding is seen as "a tool for solving the problem of the depopulation of Buryat villages".
Darima Amogolonova, a senior researcher at the Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies at the Siberian campus of the Russian Academy of Sciences notes that Ayusheev has a critical opinion of Buryat shamanism; that he objects to the influence other Russian Buddhist organizations on the Buddhist Traditional Sangkha of Russia; and that he "does not mark the frontiers between confessions and considers everyone who believes in supreme forces by 60% as a Buddhist". [8]
On 4 June 2011, by the Decree of the President of Mongolia, Ayusheev was awarded the Order of the Polar Star for contribution to the strengthening Russian-Mongolian relations. This is the highest award which Mongolia can bestow on a foreign citizen. Dambyn Darligjava, the Attorney General of Mongolia presented the award. [9]
On 17 June 2011, Ayusheev was awarded the medal of Kemerovo Oblast "For Faith and Kindness" at Ivolginsky datsan, by representatives of Kemerovo regional administration. [10]
On 11 February 2013, by the Decree of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin, Ayusheev was awarded the Order of Friendship. [11]
The Buryats are a Mongolic ethnic group native to southeastern Siberia who speak the Buryat language. They are one of the two largest indigenous groups in Siberia, the other being the Yakuts. The majority of the Buryats today live in their titular homeland, the Republic of Buryatia, a federal subject of Russia which sprawls along the southern coast and partially straddles Lake Baikal. Smaller groups of Buryats also inhabit Ust-Orda Buryat Okrug and the Agin-Buryat Okrug which are to the west and east of Buryatia respectively as well as northeastern Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, China. They traditionally formed the major northern subgroup of the Mongols.
Ulan-Ude is the capital city of Buryatia, Russia, located about 100 kilometers (62 mi) southeast of Lake Baikal on the Uda River at its confluence with the Selenga. According to the 2021 Census, 437,565 people lived in Ulan-Ude; up from 404,426 recorded in the 2010 Census, making the city the third-largest in the Russian Far East by population.
Buryatia, officially the Republic of Buryatia, is a republic of Russia located in the Russian Far East. Formerly part of the Siberian Federal District, it has been administered as part of the Far Eastern Federal District since 2018. It borders Irkutsk Oblast and Lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world to the north, Zabaykalsky Krai to the east, Tuva to the west and Mongolia to the south. Its capital is the city of Ulan-Ude. It has an area of 351,300 square kilometers (135,600 sq mi) with a population of 978,588. It is home to the indigenous Buryats.
Buryat or Buriat, known in foreign sources as the Bargu-Buryat dialect of Mongolian, and in pre-1956 Soviet sources as Buryat-Mongolian, is a variety of the Mongolic languages spoken by the Buryats and Bargas that is classified either as a language or major dialect group of Mongolian.
Buddhism is the largest religion in Mongolia practiced by 51.7% of Mongolia's population, according to the 2020 Mongolia census. Buddhism in Mongolia derives much of its recent characteristics from Tibetan Buddhism of the Gelug and Kagyu lineages, but is distinct and presents its own unique characteristics.
The Kalmyks are the only Mongolic-speaking people of Europe whose national religion is Buddhism. In 2016, 53.4% of the population surveyed identified themselves as Buddhist. 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.
Datsan is the term used for Buddhist university monasteries in the Tibetan tradition of Gelukpa located throughout Mongolia, Tibet and Siberia. As a rule, in a datsan there are two departments—philosophical and medical. Sometimes a department of tantric practices is added to them where the monks study only after finishing education in the philosophical department.
Ivolginsky Datsan is the center of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia. It is a Buddhist temple located in Buryatia, Russia, 23 km from Ulan-Ude, near Verkhnyaya Ivolga village.
Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov also transcribed at Etigelov or Itigelov was a Buryat Buddhist lama and the 12th Pandito Khambo Lama in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.
Agvan Lobsan Dorzhiev was a Russian-born monk of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism, sometimes referred by his scholarly title as Tsenyi Khempo. He was popularly known as the Sokpo Tsеnshab Ngawang Lobsang to the Tibetans.
Gusinoye Ozero is a village (selo) in Selenginsky District of the Buryat Republic, Russia, located on the south-western shore of Lake Gusinoye, Selenga Highlands. Population: 3,268 (2002 Census); 4,219 (1989 Soviet census). Gusinoye Ozero is the second most populated inhabited locality of Selenginsky District.
Historically, Buddhism was incorporated into Siberia in the early 17th century. Buddhism is considered to be one of Russia's traditional religions and is legally a part of Russian historical heritage. Besides the historical monastic traditions of Buryatia, Tuva and Kalmykia, the religion of Buddhism is now spreading all over Russia, with many ethnic Russian converts.
The Ulan-Ude Ethnographic Museum is an outdoor museum, located in the village Upper Berezovka, eight kilometres northeast of Ulan-Ude, Buryatia.
Bidia Dandaron was a major Buddhist author and teacher in the USSR. He also worked in academic Tibetology, contributed to the Tibetan-Russian Dictionary (1959) and made several translations from Tibetan into Russian. He is mostly remembered as a Buddhist teacher whose students in Russia, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania continued both religious and scholarly work, and as an early Buddhist author who wrote on European philosophy, history, and science within a Buddhist framework. Among his students were Alexander Piatigorsky and Linnart Mäll.
A Khambo Lama is the title given to the senior lama of a Buddhist monastery in Mongolia and Russia. It is sometimes translated to the Christian title abbot.
Buddhism in Buryatia, a region in Siberia, Russia, has a deep-rooted history dating back to the 17th century when Tibetan Buddhism first arrived in the area. Initially adopted by ethnic groups like the Selenga and Zede Buryats, Buddhism gradually spread throughout the Transbaikal region. In 1741, it gained formal recognition as an official religion in the Russian Empire, with the establishment of Buddhist monastic universities known as datsans. Despite facing significant challenges during the Soviet era, including persecution and the closure of religious institutions, Buddhism in Buryatia has persisted and experienced a revival in the post-Soviet period.
The Central Spiritual Board of Buddhists of the USSR (TsDUB) was the authorized organization for Buddhists in the Soviet Union.
Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences is a public research institution in Ulan-Ude, Russia, and a constituent institution for oriental studies under the Buryat Science Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It was founded on July 1, 1922 as the Buryat Scholarly Committee under the leadership of Bazar Baradin, with the objective of studying history, language, and culture of Buryatia. In 1949, it entered the Siberian Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR under the name of Buryat-Mongolian Scientific and Research Institute of Culture.
Dorzhi Banzarov was a Buryat Orientalist and linguist. He is generally considered to be the first Buryat academic.
A khurul is a Buddhist monastery in Kalmyk (Mongol-Oirat) Lamaism. Some of the most famous Kalmyk khuruls are the Burkhan Bakshin Altan Sume (contemporary) in Elista, Republic of Kalmykia, Russia, and the Khosheutovsky khurul.
