Buddhism in Russia: The Story of Agvan Dorzhiev, Lhasa's Emissary to the Tzar

"Drawing on material from previously unpublished sources, including KGB papers, this exciting story of political and religious intrigue recounts the extraordinary life of the lama Agvan Dorzhiev, adviser to Tubten Gyatso, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, and follows the story of Buddhism in Russia up to the present time. At the end of the last century, Tibet was caught up in a super-power struggle, with the British and Russians making territorial incursions. The Dalai Lama called upon Dorzhiev, his childhood tutor, to be his emissary to the outside world. His story unfolds against a background of great historical and political change - the Young husband expedition to Tibet; the Russian Revolution; the Stalinist pogroms; the invasion of Tibet; and the recent collapse of Communism. A man of great vision and political skill, Dorzhiev was instrumental in establishing Buddhism in Russia and in the building of the temple of St. Petersburg, the first in the West."--Publisher's description.