WThe Kalmyk people are the only 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 the Russian Federation located in southwestern Russia. The border faces 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.
WMenko Bormanzhinov was a Buddhist priest of Kalmyk origin who was born in the Bokshirgankan aimak in the Salsk District of the Don Cossack Host sometime in 1855.
WThe Burkhan Bakshin Altan Sume is a Gelug Buddhist monastery in Elista, the capital of the Republic of Kalmykia, a federal subject of the Russian Federation.
WArkad Chubanov (1840–1894) was a Buddhist priest of Kalmyk origin who was born in the Ike Burul aimak in the Salsk District of the Don Cossack Host sometime in 1840.
WGeden Sheddup Choikorling Monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Elista, Republic of Kalmykia, Russia. it was opened on 5 October 1996 in the presence of more than 30,000 people and is the first Tibetan Buddhist monastery to be built in the region since its beginning as an autonomous oblast in 1920. The monastery also is the Republic's first Buddhist place of worship since Joseph Stalin ordered the destruction of all Buddhist temples and monasteries during the Collectivization era and the Great Purge in the 1930s.
WJa Lama was an adventurer and warlord of unknown birth and background who fought successive campaigns against the rule of the Qing dynasty in western Mongolia between 1890 and 1922. He claimed to be a Buddhist lama, though it is not clear whether he actually was one, as well as a grandson and later the reincarnation of Amursana, the Khoid-Oirat prince who led the last great Mongol uprising against the Qing in 1757. He was one of the commanders of Mongolian forces that liberated Khovd city from Qing control in 1912.
WIvan Bultinovich Kitanov (1858-1926) was a Buddhist priest of Kalmyk origin who was born in the Beliavin aimak in the Salsk District of the Don Cossack Host.
WDjimba Mikulinov was a Buddhist priest of Kalmyk origin who was most likely born in the Ike Burul aimak in the Salsk District of the Don Cossack Host. His dates of birth and death are unknown.
WShurguchi Nimgirov was a Buddhist priest of Kalmyk origin who was born in the Bayuda aimak in the Salsk District of the Don Cossack Host.
WErdne Ombadykow, also known as Telo Tulku Rinpoche, is the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader of the Kalmyk people. He received his formal training as a bhikṣu in India and was recognized by the 14th Dalai Lama as the current reincarnation of mahasiddha Tilopa.
WZaya Pandita or Namkhaijamts (1599–1662) was a Buddhist missionary priest and scholar of Oirat origin who is the most prominent Oirat Buddhist scholar. Among his accomplishments is the invention of the Clear Script.
WLubsan Sharab Tepkin (1875–1941?) was a Buddhist priest of Kalmyk origin who was born in the Bokshirgankan aimak in the Salsk District of the Don Cossack Host sometime in 1875.