Buddhist Temple in St-petersburg

St-Petersburg tibetan temple in Russia was first buddhist temple out of asian border. Founded at the end of 19th century by Agvan Dorjiev (a buriat lama minister of 13th Dalai Lama) as the tibetan embassy in russian former capital, the temple was inaugurated in 1914, same day when world war I broke out. It passed over bolchevik coup d'état till all monks were slaughtered by Stalin's henchmen, shrine destroyed and buddha's main statue thrown in local river. Then it was turned to sport hall, military radio base and finaly vivisection lab (elephant from riga zoo was mangle in its basements). Given back to St-Pet's buddhist union in the 90's, it was gradually abandonned due to internal rivalries between europeans lay groups and ethnic buriat monks. Taken over by a bunch of young Russians whom i've met in 1999, the temple finaly passed on to the buriat community after several trials and became their private national estate. When i took these shots in 2005, buriats grannies first ripped me off at the gate then kicked me out after a few minutes. In brief, this place seems to carry its shabby destiny endlessly. Sad fate for holy sanctuary ...

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• russia
• st-petersburg
• buddhism
• buddhist
• temple
• gompa
• datsan
• tibet
• mongol
• buriatia
• kalmykia
• dalai
• lama

[shefali13]

are there native, slavic russians who're buddhist by religion? I mean white(caucasian) russians, NOT mongolian(chinese) looking russians.

[valentinefilms]

they are Buriats, i.e. Mongol tribes on the border with Mongolia incorporated into Russian empire since 18th century. So, despite they are not Slavic neither Causcasians, they are Russian and buddhists.

[chinkstah9683]

hi, ummmwho were the pcis of ppls in the temple? and wut did it say under it? im guessing the slaughtered monks?

[valentinefilms]

no dude, those were actually the current monks who live there with their names and titles, most of them "lama-astrologer".

[valentinefilms]

you're right dude, i've mixed with soviet revolution, thanx for the correction!!!

[eternaltruthtv]

@valentinefilms Buriats are not Russian at all. Some may speak Russian but that is due to Russian imperialism.

[Russkidancer]

Bless buddhism in Russia. Christianity is evil and outdated lifestyle for modern times. Buddhism is full of WISDOM.

[nikolaidonskoj]

There have been Slavic Russian converts to Buddhism since the 19th century. There was a brief period in the 1960's where a small non-minority sangha formed in Leningrad. But, it is only after 1990 that real growth of Slavic converts to Buddhism began.

[nikolaidonskoj]

The introductory information is not completely correct. There were Buddhist temples in Kalmykia since 1608. Since Kalmykia is in Europe there have been temples in Europe before this one. The St. Petersburg temple was built between 1907 & 1915 and is considered to be first in Northern Europe.

[LordLebu]

The exotic tribes in east Russia are quite fascinating , they hold the key of understanding the very ancient cultures .

[longman718]

Yes of course there are. I saw in the videos normal white Russians joining the Buddhist monastries in Kalymykia

[LeHuyAnh]

Well yeah Shefali, some ethnic Russians and other non-Asiatic people have taken great interest in it. Places like Moscow and Krasnoyarsk are full of non-Asian Buddhists.

[shefali13]

Yes i know these people are, but are there not even a few white caucasian russians who converted to buddhism? i heard that some did, after the fall of the USSR and when the dalai lama came to st petersburg. no? not even one?