In
Buryatia, a republic located in the south-central region of
Siberia, along the eastern shore of
Lake Baikal, ethnic Russians make up two thirds of the population in nowadays, while the ethnic
Buryats are 30%. Because many Slavs are
Russian Orthodox, and most urban Buryats are either
Buddhist or Orthodox, these two are the most widespread religions in the republic. The historical evidences give reason to believe that, from the 2nd century BCE,
proto-Mongol peoples were familiar with Buddhism. Anyway, at the beginning of the 17th century,
Tibetan Buddhism penetrated from
Mongolia to reach the Buryat population of the area just east of Lake Baikal, and over a century it spread throughout the region. A second branch came directly from
Tibet, from the
Labrang Monastery in
Amdo, so the Buddhism in Buryatia is the northernmost extension of
Mahayana Buddhism in Central Asia, primarily the
Gelug tradition from Tibet.
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