Long Authoritarian Rule of Buryat Buddhist Leader Opened the Way for Rise of Alternative One in Moscow, Kulagin Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Aug. 13 – Damba Ayusheyev, the head of the Buryatia-based Buddhist Traditional Sankha of Russia, has only himself to blame for the rise of the alternative Buddhist Central Administration of Buddhists in Moscow, according to Viktor Kulyagin, a commentator for Irkutsk’s Babr news agency.

            In office since 1995, Ayusheyev has distinguished himself not only by his authoritarian style and slavish following of the Kremlin line on all issues but by his unwillingness to reach out to any school of Buddhism besides the Tibetan strain that he and many in Buryatia follow, the commentator writes (babr24.com/bur/?IDE=263604).

            The Buddhists of Kalmykia, Tyva and “even some regions of Buryatia itself” have preferred to remain independent of Ayushev both because of their differences in doctrine and attitudes toward Moscow and because of the personal ambitions of the leaders of these various regions, Kulyagin continues.

            In 2004, this opposition took shape with the formation of the central Spiritual Administration of Buddhists in Moscow; but until recently, that group remained focused on the community in the Russian capital and on the construction of facilities for Buddhist religious practice there.

            In 2021, the leadership of the Moscow group changed; and earlier this year, Geshe Yonten (born Sergey Kirishov), whom Kulyagin describes as young – he’s 36 compared to Ayusheyev who is 61 -- “charismatic” and politically experienced in both Kalmykia and Moscow took over and reached out to all strains of Buddhist belief and practice.

            The Kremlin clearly prefers Ayuseyev because of his servility, but Yonten is now the rising star and can reasonably expect to be the de facto and perhaps soon de jure leader of Russia’s 1.5 million Buddhists, especially since only a small fraction of them are still in Ayusheyev’s corner.

            Indeed, the rise of the Central Administration of Buddhists, although based in the Russian capital, may represent a serious defeat for Moscow and usher in an era in which the Buddhists of the Russian Federation will become more politically active. At the very least, they will be less servile to the Kremlin.

            For additional background on this change in the administration of Buddhism in Russia, see windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2024/08/two-structures-one-in-buryatia-and.html.