Source: The Buddhist Channel

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=3,3469,0,0,1,0

Thousands residents of the Russian Buddhist republic of Kalmykia gathered yesterday in Elista’s magnificent new temple “The Golden Abode of the Buddha Shakyamuni” to take part in a large scale ritual intended to remove obstacles on the path of the spiritual development of Buddhist teaching.

The Torgyak ritual, led by the Ritual Master Yelo Rinpoche, who came to Kalmykia especially for the occasion, became part of the great three day prayers conducted annually in Kalmykia to mark the end of the passing year.

”We have long dreamed to resurrect the centuries long tradition of Buddhist rituals which had been transmitted in Kalmykia from generation to generation, but which was interrupted in the dark period of Russian history” says the head lama of Kalmykia, Telo Tulku Rinpoche. “This only became possible three years ago thanks to the help of the Gyudmed monks who specialize in Tantric practice and rituals.”

The Tibetan monks from Gyudmed monastery invited by Telo Tulku Rinpoche have undergone a fifteen-year course of study in Tantric ritual practices. For the last five years, they have visited Kalmykia each year, and are sincerely happy to see the resurgence of the Buddhist republic in the south of Russia. For the Torgyak ritual they prepared a special ritual weapon, called “torma” which was consigned to the flames at the end of the ritual as a symbol of the removals of all possible obstacles arising on the path of a person dedicated to Enlightenment.