In the 14th and 15th centuries the Kalmyks had various schools of ‘red hat Buddhism’, including Kagyu, Sakya and Nyingma. Scholars who study this topic are B. Kitinov, E. Bakaeva, Kh. Kanukov, Yu. Lytkin and I. Rovinsky. Mergen’s grandmother, a Don Kalmyk herself, used to say that Kalmyk lamas wore red and yellow hats. The Don Kalmyks adhered to ‘red hat Buddhism’ for a long time. It is known that the Platovskiy Temple of the Don Kalmyks was of that affiliation. At the moment it is difficult to say anything conclusive about whether all these schools existed separately or whether they merged into a single ‘red religion’. The Derbets and Zyungars also had a ‘red hat’ Buddhist tradition. One thing that is for sure is that the kind of Buddhism that was spread among the Kalmyks was tolerant. One interesting fact is that, in Russia in the 1990s ‘red hat’ Buddhism spread to Russia from Kalmykia. ‘Red hat’ Buddhist schools are based on tantric teachings, which due to their secrecy could not be widely practiced by the laity. There is a view that it is actually dangerous to teach them to ordinary people. Therefore, from the beginning these schools were closed, elitist establishments.