Erdne Ombadykow

Erdne-Basan Ombadykow (Oirat: Омбадһа Эрдн-Басң, romanized: Ombadha Erdn-Basñ, [ombadəˈɣa ɛrdˈnə baˈsəŋk], Russian: Эрдни Басангович Омбадыков, romanized: Erdni Basangovich Ombadykov, [ɪrdˈnʲi bɐˈsanɡəvʲɪt͡ɕ ɐmbəˈdɨkəf], born 27 October 1972 in Philadelphia), also known as Telo Tulku Rinpoche (Russian: Тэло Тулку Ринпоче), is the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader of the Kalmyk people.

Erdne Ombadykow was born in Philadelphia to working class, Kalmyk immigrant parents from Kalmykia as the youngest of brothers Tschon, Tseren, Dava, Jigmid, Jaba and sisters Marguerite, Gerel, and Rolma.

In New York he met the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, who recommended that he go to the Drepung Gomang Monastery in South India for proper training.

[1] While studying at the Drepung Gomang Monastery for 13 years, Erdne Ombadykow was recognized as the current reincarnation (Tulku) of Tilopa, a revered Buddhist saint.

[2] As the only Kalmyk person with proper Buddhist training, Ombadykow soon determined that his responsibility as the Šajin Lama was too great a burden for he himself to bear as a 22-year-old.

Until the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Telo Tulku spent six months of the year in Elista and the remainder with his wife and son in the United States.