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ABCP VICE PRESIDENT MOST VENERABLE DAMBA BADMAEVICH AYUSHEEV
The 14th Pandito Khambo Lama Damba Badmaevich Ayusheev is the Head of the Buddhist Traditional Sangkha of Russia. He was born on 1 September, 1962, at Bursomon, Krasnochikoysky District, Chita Oblast, Russian Federation.
Damba Ayusheev graduated from the Petrovsk-Zabaykalsky Pedagogical College in 1980, then he worked as a teacher at the Kukursk secondary school in Agin-Buryat Autonomous Region.
At the initiative of Aginsky Datsan, Pandito Khambo Lama Damba Badmaevich Ayusheev studied at the Zanabazar Buddhist University in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia from 1983 to 1988, specializing in Tibetan traditional medicine. As designated by the Central Spiritual Administration of Buddhists, he served as a curator of the USSR Soviet students studying at Buddhist University for one year, and later served as the Amchi Lama at Ivolginsky Datsan in Buryatia.
In 1991, he was appointed the Shireet Lama (Abbot) at Baldan Breybun Datsan in the settlement of Murochi, Kyakhtinsky district, the first Datsan that was built during the period of revival of Buddhism among the ethnic Buryats in Russia. Under his leadership, within two years, the new Tsogchen Dugan was rebuilt on the site of the monastery that was demolished in the 1930s.
On 25 April 1995, Damba Ayusheev was elected on alternative basis as the 14th Khambo Lama, the Chairman of the Central Spiritual Administration of Buddhists of Russian Federation, which was later renamed to Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia.
During Damba Ayusheev’s tenure in this post, the Datsan was re-built at Verkhnyaya Berezovka (Ulan-Ude) as the second residence of the Khambo Lama and two Buddhist Institutes (Ivolginsky and Aginsky Datsans) were opened where Buryat, Mongolian and Tibetan teachers work, and additional datsans and dugans were opened on the territory of ethnic Buryatia.
Buddhism is recognized as one of the four traditional confessions in the Russian Federation.
Since 2 August 1995, Damba Ayusheev has been a member of the Council for Cooperation with Religious Associations under the Russian President. On 23 December 1998, he became a member of the Presidium of Interreligious Council of Russia. Since March 3 of 2004, he has been a member of the Presidium of the Interreligious Council of CIS – Community of Independent Countries.
On 4 June 2011, by a Decree of the President of Mongolia, Damba Ayusheev was awarded the Order of the Polar Star in recognition of his contribution to strengthening Russian-Mongolian relations. Polar Star is the highest state award of Mongolia conferred on foreign citizens.
On 17 June 2011, Damba Ayusheev was awarded the medal of Kemerovo region “For Faith and Kindness” at the Ivolginsky Datsan and on 11 February 2013, Damba Ayusheev was awarded the Order of Friendship by the Decree of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin.
Damba Ayusheev was elected as the Vice President of the Asian Buddhists Conference for Peace at the 11th ABCP General Assembly held in Ulaanbaatar in June 2019.
ABCP VICE PRESIDENT MOST VENERABLE DR. THICH DUC THIEN
Most Venerable Dr. Thich Duc Thien (his name and family name: Nguyen Tien Thien, DoB: 1966), Vice President – Secretary General of Executive Council of National Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (NVBS); Vice Chairman of Vietnam-India Friendship Association; Head of the Department of International Buddhist Affairs of NVBS; Vice Rector of Vietnam Buddhist University in Hanoi; Senior Lecturer of Vietnam National University, Hanoi (Tran Nhan Tong Academic Institute) and in 2019 he was elected the Vice President of ABCP at its 11th General Assembly held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
He is the Abbot of the Phat Tich Pagoda, the Special National Heritage and Treasure in Bac Ninh Province; as the Abbot of Truc Lam Ban Gioc Pagoda, Cao Bang Province he is dedicated and committed to developing Buddhism in the mountainous area North-West Provinces of Vietnam and as the Abbot of Linh Quang Pagoda in Dien Bien Province and Hoang Phuc Pagoda in Quang Binh Province.
He has spent years contributing to establishing the Vietnamese Buddhist Associations in Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Japan and South Korea to propagate Vietnamese Buddhist culture and to preserve Vietnamese traditional culture among overseas Vietnamese communities.
Most Ven. Dr. Thich Duc Thien first did his BA in Economics from the National Economic University, Hanoi in 1988, after which he became a monk and graduated from the Vietnam Buddhist University in Hanoi. He also spent times to study Chinese Buddhist philosophy in Fo Kuang Shan Buddhist Monastery, Taiwan and was doing research in cultural anthropology in Palo Alto, California, USA. In 2005, he finished Ph.D in Buddhist Studies in Delhi University, India.
Most Ven. Dr. Thich Duc Thien has close relationship with the state and government leaders of Vietnam in bringing religious believers into closer coexistence with the State of Vietnam. He is able to see clearly the value of Vietnam’s commitment to religious freedom as well as Buddhism’s own value on humanity, and bringing these joint values together.
He is an active person in the Interfaith Dialogue Conferences. He has worked to organize the United Nations Day of Vesak in Vietnam in 2008 and was key in organizing the 11th United Nations Day of Vesak in Vietnam in 2014 at Bai Dinh Temple, Ninh Binh Province, which worked to express Buddhism’s perspective towards the UN Millennium Development Goals.
In 2019, he was appointed the Secretary General of the International Organizing Committee for the United Nations Day of Vesak (ICDV) to commemorate the 16th United Nations Day of Vesak in Ha Nam Province, Vietnam from 12-14 May 2019, and an international conference under the theme: Buddhist Approach to Global Leadership and Shared Responsibilities for Sustainable Societies.
Most Ven. Dr. Thich Duc Thien is the author of many books on Buddhist studies and history. In 2017 he was awarded the 3rd Class Labor Medal of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and the Great National Solidarity Award in 2012. In 2014, he was been awarded the Grand Officer Medal (Mahasena) by the King of Cambodia and in 2018, became the recipient of the Padma Shri Medal of India.
Most Ven. Dr. Thich Duc Thien was elected as the Vice President of the Asian Buddhists Conference for Peace at the 11th ABCP General Assembly held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in June 2019.
ABCP VICE PRESIDENT VEN. PROF. GESHE KONCHOK WANGDU
The Asian Buddhists Conference for Peace, as per its Charter, has three Vice Presidents, one each from the three regions of ABCP, namely, South Asia, South East Asia and North Asia and the Pacific, and one of the three ABCP Vice Presidents is Ven. Prof. Geshe Konchok Wangdu.
Venerable Professor Geshe Konchok Wangdu was born in 1969 in Sabu, Leh, Ladakh, India.
He did his schooling in a government school in Sabu and obtained his Geshe Lharampa degree, equivalent to Doctor of Buddhist Philosophy, from the Drepung Loseling Monastic University in south India in 1998.
Geshe Konchok Wangdu has participated in and presented papers at several national and international seminars on Buddhist Studies.
In 1993 Geshe Konchok Wangdu worked at Drepung Loseling Library Society as an editor and edited texts on Vinaya (the moral ethic or the regulatory framework for the Buddhist monastic community) and Parmana (Valid cognition). He volunteered as a teacher in Rizong monastery from 2002 to 2005. In 2008 he edited Bhoti text books for Schools affiliated to Jammu & Kashmir Board of School Education, Jammu and Kashmir Government, he served as senior lecturer at Institute of Buddhist Dialectic, Dharamsala from 2006 to 2010, and transcribed three books of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 2007. In the year 2010, Geshe Konchok Wangdu was appointed as Professor of Buddhist Philosophy at Central Institute of Buddhist Studies, Choglamsar, Leh, Ladakh, and in years from 2015 to 2020 he served as Director/VC of Buddhist Philosophy at Central Institute of Buddhist Studies, (Deemed University) in Choglamsar, Leh, Ladakh.
As regards his ongoing research, Geshe Konchok Wangdu is involved with several institutions to work for the promotion and preservation of Ladakhi language, culture and students’ education. Recently he worked as a director of a very important project on digitization of an authoritatively accurate edition of the collected works of Je Tshongkhapa and His Spiritual Sons (Je Yabse Sungbum) that includes extensive annotations (e.g., accurate citations of its quotations from the Kangyur and Tengyur). He is also compiling Bhoti text books for Schools in Ladakh from nursery to 8th standard with group of scholars from Leh and Dharamsala. He is now writing eight books on moral stories and rhymes for the children to improve ancestral Bhoti language and script and is also doing extensive research for two new books on Buddhist Philosophy, and he has been delivering lectures on “Introduction to Buddhism” in villages throughout Ladakh.
He knows English, Hindi, Ladakhi and Tibetan.
Geshe Konchok Wangdu was elected as Vice President of ABCP at the 15th ABCP Executive Council Meeting on the eve of the 12th General Assembly of ABCP, which was held in New Delhi on 17-18 January 2024, replacing Venerable Khensur Rinpoche Jangchup Choeden, who has been nominated as the Secretary General of IBC – International Buddhist Confederation
