Buddhism has become widespread in Russia relatively recently. The first mention of Buddhists in the country dates back to the XVII century. According to official statistics, in the middle of the 19th century, only one Buddhist lived in the city; by the end of the century there were 75, and on the eve of the First World War, the number had risen to 184.

The Buddhist temple in St. Petersburg was founded by the efforts of Agvan Lobsan Dorzhiev, the envoy of the 13th Dalai Lama. Having received permission to build a shrine, Aghvan bought a plot of land in 1909 on the northern outskirts of the city in a quiet and secluded place, and four years later, the datsan opened the doors under the name “Gunzechoynei” which is translated from Tibetan as “the source of the Buddha's Holy Teaching, who has compassion for all living things”. The very word “datsan” is translated as “monastery school”.

Unfortunately, the temple was built during a turbulent time. The beginning of the 20th century with its coups d'état, almost continuous military operations and the Red Terror is one of the bloodiest and saddest pages in the history of the country. Therefore, the Buddhist monks, whose purpose of life is to treat others kindly and strive for peace of mind, left the temple, unable to withstand the chaos around them. In 1919, the building was looted.

Some calm in the life of Buddhists came in the mid-1920s. However, a new round of misfortunes was not long in coming, because the activities of the temple contradicted the Soviet ideology, according to which any religion, whether Buddhism or Orthodoxy, was an “opium for people”. As a result, the Buddhists of the Northern Capital were persecuted again, some were sent to Siberian camps for political prisoners or shot. Through the efforts of the authorities, the laboratory of the Institute of Zoology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, a physical culture base and a military radio station were located in the building of the shrine of philanthropy Only a few decades later, in 1990, the temple was returned to the Buddhist community.