Another Step Toward Closer Cooperation
Six Gelungs of the Central Khurul of Kalmykia completed the professional development courses “Buddhism in Russia.”
They were organized by the Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN) and the Institute of the Far East of the Russian Academy of Sciences, with the support of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation.
Over the course of a week, representatives of Buddhist religious organizations of Altai, Buryatia, Kalmykia, and Tuva attended lectures on the fundamentals of state-confessional relations, on religious studies expertise, on the prevention of and counteraction to destructive cults, and also delved into the psychology of destructive cults.
According to one of the participants of this training, Yonten Gelung, senior administrator of the Central Khurul of Kalmykia, the state is currently paying enormous attention to religion, in particular to Buddhism, and support for religious organizations, religious education, and research can be felt. In turn, Buddhism, with its centuries-old wisdom, can also give much to Russian society in various spheres of its life.
“If until recently religious organizations mostly developed within their own regions, now active cooperation with the state can be felt. These courses were very useful and, one might say, became another step toward closer cooperation,” Yonten Gelung noted.
