Erdne Ombadykow

Telo Tulku Rinpoche also known as Erdne-Basan Ombadykow (, , , , born 27 October 1972), also known as (), is a Kalmyk-American Vajrayana Buddhist lama who served as the 19th Šajin Lama (, ) of Kalmykia from 1992 until his resignation in 2023. After leaving Russia for Mongolia in 2022, he publicly condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine; Russia subsequently designated him a "foreign agent". As Šajin Lama, he was the spiritual leader of Kalmykia's Buddhists. He also served as the 14th Dalai Lama's representative to Russia, Mongolia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States until May 2026. During his tenure, he helped lead the revival of Buddhist institutions and practice in Kalmykia following the Soviet era. He received his formal training as a bhikkhu in India and was recognized by the Dalai Lama as a reincarnation of Tilopa.

Early life and career Erdne Ombadykow was born in Philadelphia to working-class Kalmyk immigrant parents. As a child, Erdne determined that he wanted to be a Buddhist monk, the way other boys want to be policemen or firemen. By the age of seven, Erdne's parents permitted him to move to India where he would study Buddhism at a monastery until 1992. It was reported on ChessBase News, when asked why was he was sent to a monastery in India to be trained as a Buddhist monk at age seven, he said his family wanted one of the sons to become a monk, and he had shown the greatest interest. In New York he met the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, who recommended that he go to the Drepung Gomang Monastery in South India for proper training. While studying at the Drepung Gomang Monastery for 13 years, Erdne Ombadykow was recognized as the tulku of Tilopa, a revered Buddhist saint.

Initial visit to Russia Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ombadykow joined the Dalai Lama on his first visit to Kalmykia, a region whose once-rich Buddhist heritage was destroyed in the 1930s by the dual Soviet policies of collectivization and atheism. Upon arrival, the Dalai Lama named Ombadykow as the Šajin (Supreme) Lama of the Kalmyk people. As the spiritual leader, Ombadykow's role was to lead a Buddhist revival among the approximately 160,000 Kalmyks who live in Kalmykia.

At Ombadykow's first visit to Kalmykia, Buddhist services were held in a private home outside of Elista, which at a capacity of 30 to 40 people, stretching to 50 people on religious holidays.

As the only Kalmyk person with proper Buddhist training, Ombadykow soon determined that his responsibility as the Šajin Lama was too great a burden for him to bear as a 22-year-old. Moreover, he found that his formal monastic training did not prepare him for the role he was assigned. He neither spoke Kalmyk Oirat, nor was he familiar with the mentality of the people or the government.

Return to the USA Overwhelmed by the demands of leading Kalmykia's Buddhist revival, Telo Tulku Rinpoche left the monkhood and returned to the United States in 1993. He married in 1995. Later that year, he met the Dalai Lama at Drepung Monastery in India. Telo Tulku Rinpoche later recalled that the Dalai Lama urged him to continue serving the people of Kalmykia despite no longer being an ordained monk; he subsequently returned to Kalmykia.

Return to Kalmykia During his tenure as Šajin Lama, Telo Tulku Rinpoche was involved in the revival of Buddhist institutions in Kalmykia. More than 30 Buddhist temples and prayer houses were built under his spiritual leadership, including the Golden Abode of Shakyamuni Buddha, which opened in Elista in 2005. In 2003, he told Forum 18 that approximately 11 novices from Kalmykia were studying in southern India. The same report said that the regional government had approved scholarships for 11 Buddhist novices to be selected by him, and that state funding had contributed substantially to temple construction.

Opposition to the Ukraine war and resignation By October 2022, while in Mongolia, Telo Tulku Rinpoche had publicly condemned Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. He called the war unnecessary and said that Ukraine was right to defend "its country, its land, its truth, its Constitution, its people." In a 2025 interview with Meduza, he reflected on the months before his public statement: "What was difficult was to remain silent for a long time." He said that Russia's mobilization convinced him the war would continue and that, as a Buddhist, he could no longer remain silent; while in Mongolia, he had also been helping people fleeing the mobilization. Kalmykia, the predominantly Buddhist republic where he served as Shajin Lama, lies in southwestern Russia, a few hundred kilometers from Ukraine.

On 27 January 2023, Russia's Justice Ministry added Telo Tulku Rinpoche to its register of "foreign agents". On 29 January, he announced that he was stepping down as Shajin Lama of Kalmykia and would transfer the duties of the position to Tendzin Choidak (Mutul Ovyanov) and administrator Yonten Lodoi (Sergei Kirishov). He said that his responsibilities as the Dalai Lama's representative to Russia were unchanged.

He continued serving as the Dalai Lama's representative to Russia, Mongolia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States until 11 May 2026, when he announced that his tenure had ended.

Erdne Ombadykow

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