Original Source: International Herald Tribune. Seth Mydans
http://www.phayul.com/2004/06/12/7094/
On June 12, 2004 the International Herald Tribune ran a feature article on Erdne Ombadykov, a recognized reincarnation of a Tibetan Buddhist saint, who splits his time between Russia and the United States (in Colorado): "On and off for about half of every year, Ombadykov spends time at what might be called his day job, as chief lama here in the republic of Kalmykia. It is his ancestral homeland, a piece of Russia that is the only predominantly Buddhist region in Europe...Ombadykov knew nothing of Kalmykia's history when he was dispatched to be its spiritual savior...Once there, he found the Asian mentality of the Kalmyk people impenetrable, he said, and he reacted with the hot-headedness of youth. After just a year and a half he quit...In his despair he left the monkhood, an irreversible step that means he can never again wear the orange or red robes that had been the dream of his childhood. It did not bar him, though, from his role as the region's Buddhist leader, and after two years of wandering he accepted the mission once again and returned in 1995. 'I'm still stuck with the status of chief lama of Kalmykia,' he said. Buddhism has indeed seen a revival since his return. He administers 27 temples and prayer houses in Kalmykia and oversees the work of seven Tibetan lamas. Perhaps most important for the future, he has dispatched dozens of new monks to India for the kind of training he had as a boy. One of them, he said, may some day replace him as the Buddhist leader of Kalmykia."