Historically, Buddhism has been incoroporated into Russian lands as early as the late 15th central, when Russian expansionists travelled to and settled in Siberia and what is now the Russian Far East. A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, a prince of the Shakyas, whose lifetime is traditionally given as 566 to 486 BCE. Buddhism gradually spread from... Siberia Siberia (Russian: , common English transliterations: Sibir’, Sibir; from the Tatar for “sleeping land”) is a vast region of Russia and northern Kazakhstan constituting almost all of northern Asia. ... The term Russian Far East (Russian: Да́льний Восто́к Росси́и; English transliteration: Dalny Vostok Rossii) refers to the extreme south-east parts of Russia, between Siberian Federal District and the Pacific. ...

The main form of Buddhism in the Russian Federation is Tibetan Buddhism, the major a sub-sect of the greater Vajrayana Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism is most often associated with the peoples of, of course, Tibet. But this sect had spread into the neighbouring regions of: Bhutan, northern India, Nepal, southwestern China, Mongolia. Tibetan Buddhism - formerly (and incorrectly) also called Lamaism, after their religious gurus known as lamas - is the body of religious Buddhist doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and the Himalayan region. ... A mandala used in Vajrayana Buddhist practices. ... Tibet (Tibetan: བོད་, Bod, pronounced pö in Lhasa dialect; Chinese: 西藏, pinyin: Xīzàng; older spelling Thibet) is a region in Central Asia and the home of the Tibetan people. ...

Afterwards, it began to spread into the geographically and culturally adjacent Russian constituent regions known today as: Amur Oblast, Buryatia, Chita Oblast, Tuva Republic, and Khabarovsk Krai. There is also Kalmykia, another constituent republic of Russia that is in fact the only Buddhist region in Europe, perhaps paradoxically located in the north Caucasus. The Amur Oblast (363,700 km², pop. ... The Buryat Republic (Russian: Респу́блика Буря́тия; Buryat: Буряад Республика) is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (a republic). ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Tuva or Tyva (Russian: Республика Тыва [Тува], Respublika Tyva [Tuva]) (pop. ... Khabarovsk Krai (Хаба́ровский кра́й) (1995 pop. ... The Republic of Kalmykia (Russian: Респу́блика Калмы́кия; Kalmyk: Хальм Тангч) is a federal subject of the Russian Federation (a republic). ...

Tibetan Buddism is primarily practiced by the indigenous peoples in these various regions of central and eastern Russia, except for a few Russian converts based mainly in the larger cities such as St. Petersburg or Moscow, where there is greater access to urban Buddhist centers or facilities of the like. Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and Petrograd (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924), is a city located in Northwestern Russia on the delta of the river Neva at the east end of the Gulf of Finland... Moscow (Russian: Москва́, Moskva, IPA:   listen?) is the capital of Russia, located on the river Moskva. ...

The other major form of Buddhism found in Russia is the more commonly known Mahayana Buddhism, primary practiced by the Vietnamese or Chinese immigrant communities based mainly in the large cities. Relief image of the bodhisattva Guan Yin from Mt. ...

The Russian Federation, and perhaps strangely, Austria are the only two European states today that recognize Buddhism as an "official", though not necessarily "state religion" in their respective countries. On top of that, Russia also recognizes it as "indigenous Russian soil", along with Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. A state religion (also called an established church or state church) is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state. ... Eastern Orthodoxy (also called Greek Orthodoxy and Russian Orthodoxy) is a Christian tradition which represents the majority of Eastern Christianity. ...   Islam[?] (Arabic: الإسلام al-islām) the submission to God is a monotheistic faith, one of the Abrahamic religions, and the worlds second largest religion. ... Judaism is the religious culture of the Jewish people. ...