Geshe Jampa Tinley talks about the revival of Buddhism in Kalmykia, south-west Russia.Geshe Tinley: In 1993 I was sent to Russia by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to revive Buddhism, especially in Buddhist places like Buryatia, Tuva and Kalmykia. I am doing this work through giving teachings. When I first came to Kalmykia, people here had poor knowledge of dharma and almost forgot about their traditional culture. Some people of the older generation knew their culture and traditions, especially old women, grandmothers. They were very much concerned about preserving it, because one thing they treasured was their rich culture and traditions. During my first teaching not too many people came, because they were not very interested in receiving teaching. They were more interested in rituals, so I explained that in Buddhism rituals are good, but teaching is more important, because through teaching one can change his/her way of thinking. You build temples outside, this is OK. But the main temple should be the knowledge of dharma. This way they slowly got interested in Buddhist teaching and they find it useful in their lives. They keep asking me to come to Kalmykia, so from 1993 till now I keep coming two times a year and give teachings. I also told them that in order to receive teaching there should be some Buddhist centre. It is very important for study, not just for rituals. So, there is a Buddhist centre called ‘Chenrezi’. Its activity is to revive Buddhism in Kalmykia. I went to different regions in Kalmykia, I give teaching in khuruls (Buddhist temples) there and transmission of mantras. Just reciting mantras is not enough, one needs transmissions of a mantra. Mainly mantra of Buddha Avalokiteshvara ‘Om mani padme hum’. This is mantra of our ancestors. Then mantra of Tara for success in spiritual practice. I explain to people that they need to practice by themselves. Some people here have the understanding of Buddhism that some lama prays for them, recites mantras, does some ritual and that is enough. I told them that it is not enough, if you are sick and somebody takes medicine for you, it doesn’t help you. If you are sick, a doctor gives you a medicine, but you have to take it. In the same way, Buddhism says that all our suffering comes from our unhealthy state of mind. This unhealthy state of mind cannot be cured if a lama prays for you. You have to receive the teaching of Buddha as a medicine and then use it to cure the disease of delusion. So, they slowly started to understand it. They are using this temple to practice Buddhism. Buddhism slowly takes deeper roots here. What I am telling is not new knowledge, it is based on root texts, especially on the teachings of the Dalai Lama. He says that the most important temple is not outside, the temple should be in your heart. Younger generation in Buryatia, Tuva and Kalmykia slowly develop interest in Buddhism and their way of thinking is changing. I told them that like our body is the result of what we eat, in the same way our life is the result of our thoughts. Healthy thinking will lead to healthy life, unhealthy thinking will lead to unhealthy life. Changing your way of thinking is the main thing in Buddhism. Buddhist practice doesn’t say that you have to recite mantra, close your door and window and meditate like that. The main thing is cultivating wisdom, when you cultivate wisdom you have a healthy way of thinking, which in turn will change your life. You will be happy and you will help other people to have a meaningful life. Every year when I come to Kalmykia, I give the teaching of Lamrim, this is a very traditional way of how to subdue the mind. I always tell them it is very important to have a systematic way and it is Lamrim. It was taught by lama Tsongkapa, he wrote 3 books on Lamrim: condensed Lamrim, middle Lamrim and extensive Lamrim. Now people in Kalmykia have good knowledge of Lamrim, how to subdue the mind through systematic way. Now we have meditation centres in Buryatia and Kalmykia, anyone can come and meditate. Among 260 candidates 2 ladies from Kalmykia were qualified for a meditation session next year. Every year there will be a 6 month long intensive retreat. In Kalmykia it is very important to revive Buddhism not just by building temples. There are 2 teachings of Buddha, theoretical and experiential. The last one is the most important, in order to have it one needs to know theory first. Without theory you can’t have experience of realisation. First, I taught how to develop mind through systematic way, I explained Lamrim. Now I told them that in order to revive Buddhism people need to practice it in their daily lives. So this way the mind changes. When I first came to Kalmykia, there was one small temple. People went there and prayed. But the majority of people did not know how to even recite mantra ‘Om mani padme hum’. They knew that they are Buddhists but did not know what Buddhism means. Now they slowly understand it. Now there is no one in Kalmykia who does not know how to recite this mantra. They know mantra of Tara, ‘Om tare tuttare ture soha’. Even small children know this mantra and other mantras too. They know the gesture, how to do prostration and Buddhist ethics that is not to harm others, try your best to help others and if you can’t help, at least, do not harm others. Q: There was a time when you were the head of the sangha in Kalmykia. Could you tell more about that time? Geshe Tinley: It was in 1995, Telo Tulku Rinpoche had to go to America for family reasons and he asked me to take responsibility as a Shajin lama. So, for two years I was responsible as a Shajin lama of Kalmykia. I tried to bring all monks working in different regions of Kalmykia together. I told them that there should be one centre and all donations should go in the right direction, not in some people’s pockets. I created the system, donations should be used to build a bigger khurul, where people could receive teachings and do practice. At that time, I told the then president of Kalmykia Kirsan Ilyumzhinov to help us to build a bigger khurul and he helped. Mainly by his effort the first khurul in Elista was built and later the second one in the centre of Elista. I told them that the most important thing is knowledge in people’s mind and the temple should be used for people to gain knowledge. Now you have a big temple, step by step we are doing this work. After 2 years of work, I passed the Shajin lama post back to Telo Tulku Rinpoche. Q: How do you think Kalmykia has changed? Geshe Tinley: There are big changes over time. People change slowly, step by step. It also depends on how people receive teachings, how prepared they are to receive a teaching. For many years I kept telling people how to receive a teaching in a correct way, how to listen to it properly, how to create quality of a disciple. If you do not know it, you can’t get wisdom from teachings. Then the complete interest appeared. This is the main change. Many people know it now. Another change is thinking, for that you need to know how to think. Although they have knowledge of dharma, but in real life they think like worldly people, then this knowledge does not help much. It becomes like some information. If you do not use it, there is not much use in it. We do not use scientific knowledge in our daily lives although we studied it for exams. In the same way when you receive Buddhist teaching you should use it in your daily life, there should be connection. Then our vision will be different, you can see higher vision, then our scope will be different. We then understand that the most important thing in life is to have a healthy mind, the least important things are wealth and property. If you have a healthy mind you will have positive emotions. If you think about wealth, then negative emotions dominate. You think how to fight with people, you should be aggressive and strong. You think that although negative emotions are not good, but to achieve your objective negative emotions become handy. People then have a short vision. The most important thing is to have higher vision, a healthy mind, then your life will become meaningful. Q: Geshe-la, tell us about yourself. Geshe Tinley: I was born in India in a small village in 1962 as a refugee. My parents are Tibetan. I studied in a Tibetan school, after finishing 8th grade I went to study Buddhist philosophy in Varanasi. When I finished higher education in Varanasi I went to New Zealand and worked as a translator for a Tibetan high lama, who gave teachings there. I stayed there for almost 5 years, then I came back to Dharamsala. I felt that if I do not meditate, if I do not have any experience, then my theoretical knowledge would not be useful to people if I give teachings. At that time, I was mainly interested in developing myself, my own mind. I meditated in Dharamsala for 2 years under the guidance of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This is not easy, not too much realization came to me, but I felt that my delusion became weaker through mediation and practicing Lamrim. My mind has become subdued, healthier. One day the Dalai Lama asked me to come to his office, it was in 1992. He said that he had visited Russia, that there are Buddhist regions opened for the revival of Buddhism and that he looked into divination which said that I am the most suitable person to go to Russia as his spiritual representative. First, I said that it is better to send other people, who are more qualified and I am not qualified enough. The Dalai Lama said ‘No, no, I used divination and you are the right person for this’. Because His Holiness asked me and he is my spiritual master, I said, ‘If I am going to be a little bit useful, then I am happy to accept it and I will try my best to revive Buddhism in Russia, especially in Buddhist republics of Buryatia, Tuva and Kalmykia’. Then I went to Russia and continue to work here for many years now. Q: Could you give advice to young people and future generations? Geshe Tinley: My advice to the younger generation is that now technology is becoming more advanced. If our knowledge becomes the same as computers can have, then our future will be a disaster. Computers will do better than humans. Big challenge for the younger generation is technology. You have to do something that the machines can’t do, only then there is a big chance for your generation. That is cultivating positive state of mind, developing concentration, samatha, there is so much mental development that machines can’t do. If you can do it, then machines will not dominate. In our life the most important thing is developing the healthy mind. When you have a healthy mind, be poor or wealthy, you will feel happy from eating just one piece of bread. Happiness comes from subduing the mind, not from collecting wealth and property. Why are we collecting wealth and property? Why are going here and there? Everything we do is for happiness. Real happiness doesn’t come from something you can eat or own, it comes from reducing delusion, then peace from the depth of our heart prevails. This happiness was discovered by Buddha, that is called nirvana. Nirvana means cessation of delusion in our mind when our mind is in peace and happiness. If our happiness depends on temporary factors, it will end and you will be unhappy. If our happiness depends on longer lasting factors such as love and compassion, so long you would be happy. Buddha says that the most important things are ever lasting factors of happiness. We should find out what is the ever-lasting factor. That is our state of mind, the cessation of delusion. This way you can remain in peace and happiness for ever and ever. For our long-term happiness you need to train 3 forces: training of morality, training of concentration and training of wisdom. Then you achieve the ever-lasting happiness. This was taught by Buddha.