Initial Visit To Russia
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992, Erdne 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 Erdne as the Šajin (Supreme) Lama of the Kalmyk people. As the spiritual leader, Erdne's role was to lead a Buddhist revival among the approximately 160,000 Kalmyks who live in Kalmykia.
As the only Kalmyk person with proper Buddhist training, Erdne soon determined that his responsibility as the Šajin Lama was too great a burden for he himself 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 the Kalmyk language nor was he familiar with the mentality of the people or the government.
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