What do you make of this?
This is for real but could have been the setting for a really bad movie: the Republic of Kalmykia is a tiny and extremely poor republic part of the Russian Federation. Its head is the rich, dictatorial Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov who is also the head of FIDE, the world's Chess organization. In a mixture of commercial, personal and nationalistic interests Ilyumzhinov erected Chess City a brand-new complex dedicated to chess, tourism and nation-building that the country cannot actually at the present afford. Apparently the population of Kalmykia is Tibetan Buddhist (!) and Orthodox Christian, with a significant number of atheists, Ilyumzhinov is attempting to force what is essentially his own personal passion onto his people as a kind of social glue for the nation. And as the seed for its economy to prosper. Truly bizarre. Nice picture yeah? (from Social Fiction)
or this?
Tourists have started to visit Kalmykia, most travelling from Volgograd to Elista. Some accounts of their travels have been logged on YouTube and other internet sites. Kalmykia is regarded as a safe destination for foreign tourists with the country getting much publicity after holding the 1998 Chess Olympiad in Elista. Several visitors have commented on the number of camels in the countryside — indeed Kalmykia is the home to Europe's only indigenous camel. In the capital there is little traffic.
or this?
The Kalmyks have also established communities in the United States, primarily in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The majority are descended from those Kalmyks who fled from Russia in late 1920 to France, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia, and, later, Germany. Many of those Kalmyks living in Germany at the end of World War II were eventually granted passage to the United States.
This is for real but could have been the setting for a really bad movie: the Republic of Kalmykia is a tiny and extremely poor republic part of the Russian Federation. Its head is the rich, dictatorial Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov who is also the head of FIDE, the world's Chess organization. In a mixture of commercial, personal and nationalistic interests Ilyumzhinov erected Chess City a brand-new complex dedicated to chess, tourism and nation-building that the country cannot actually at the present afford. Apparently the population of Kalmykia is Tibetan Buddhist (!) and Orthodox Christian, with a significant number of atheists, Ilyumzhinov is attempting to force what is essentially his own personal passion onto his people as a kind of social glue for the nation. And as the seed for its economy to prosper. Truly bizarre. Nice picture yeah? (from Social Fiction)
or this?
Tourists have started to visit Kalmykia, most travelling from Volgograd to Elista. Some accounts of their travels have been logged on YouTube and other internet sites. Kalmykia is regarded as a safe destination for foreign tourists with the country getting much publicity after holding the 1998 Chess Olympiad in Elista. Several visitors have commented on the number of camels in the countryside — indeed Kalmykia is the home to Europe's only indigenous camel. In the capital there is little traffic.
or this?
The Kalmyks have also established communities in the United States, primarily in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The majority are descended from those Kalmyks who fled from Russia in late 1920 to France, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia, and, later, Germany. Many of those Kalmyks living in Germany at the end of World War II were eventually granted passage to the United States.
As a consequence of their decades-long migration through Europe, many older Kalmyks are fluent in French, German, and Serbo-Croation, in addition to Russian and their native Kalmyk. There are several Kalmyk Buddhist temples in Monmouth County, NJ, where the vast majority of American Kalmyks reside, as well as a Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center and monastery in Washington Township, NJ.
The above is from Wikipedia. You might want to read into it. They were heavily repressed by Stalin, and then understandably sided with the Germans when they invaded Russia. As a result, the end of the war brought vast destruction down on their heads and perhaps a third of the population was killed while being pressed into exile to Siberia. The rest dispersed. Kruschev restored them to their country, and after the fall of the USSR, they became an autonomous republic in the Russian Federation.
Chess and Tibetan Buddhism. In the Caucasus- which some consider to be Europe. I couldn't figure out how to get this picture up. Boy, do I wish I could.
Curiously, the recognized Lama for the Kalmyks was born in Philly. I have been hearing about the learning center and monastery in NJ for a while now. Now I get the orgins.
The story of Buddhism in America is as complex as any other story. One subject of enduring interest to me is the huge split between Euro-American and ethnic practioners. Another is the troubling (to me) rather economically elite profile of your average American Buddhist. Perhaps using this blog to highlight the curiousness of all this is occasionally a good idea.
Oh, yeah. Google the dictator. It is all there: Rolls Royces, massive state building projects, UFO abduction, murder, and a fabulous autobiography called "The President's Crown of Thorns". According to Wikipedia, chapters have titles such as "Without Me the People are Incomplete" and "It Only Takes Two Weeks to Have a Man Killed".
A goldmine.
The above is from Wikipedia. You might want to read into it. They were heavily repressed by Stalin, and then understandably sided with the Germans when they invaded Russia. As a result, the end of the war brought vast destruction down on their heads and perhaps a third of the population was killed while being pressed into exile to Siberia. The rest dispersed. Kruschev restored them to their country, and after the fall of the USSR, they became an autonomous republic in the Russian Federation.
Chess and Tibetan Buddhism. In the Caucasus- which some consider to be Europe. I couldn't figure out how to get this picture up. Boy, do I wish I could.
Curiously, the recognized Lama for the Kalmyks was born in Philly. I have been hearing about the learning center and monastery in NJ for a while now. Now I get the orgins.
The story of Buddhism in America is as complex as any other story. One subject of enduring interest to me is the huge split between Euro-American and ethnic practioners. Another is the troubling (to me) rather economically elite profile of your average American Buddhist. Perhaps using this blog to highlight the curiousness of all this is occasionally a good idea.
Oh, yeah. Google the dictator. It is all there: Rolls Royces, massive state building projects, UFO abduction, murder, and a fabulous autobiography called "The President's Crown of Thorns". According to Wikipedia, chapters have titles such as "Without Me the People are Incomplete" and "It Only Takes Two Weeks to Have a Man Killed".
A goldmine.
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