Buddhism in Buryatia – Past and Present

Buddhism in Buryatia – Past and Present Tsymzhit Vanchikova

Before the spread of Buddhism Buryats were adherents of indigenous and shamanic beliefs with various local variations. Buryat shamanism was an intricate system of beliefs with a complex hierarchy of deities and complicated sacrificial and initiation rites. Buddhism assimilated local cults and beliefs giving rise to a regional syncretic form of the Buryat Buddhism with its own specific peculiarities, first of all connected with the history of the Russian state. The dissemination of this new faith was accompanied by the replacement of local religious rituals and customs of tribal and kin character with lamaist forms of everyday cults. Thus, the autochthonic protective cults of ancestors were replaced by the lamaist cult of protective deities – srunma – dharmapalas, to which to autochthonic deities became vassals of different ranks, servants, etc. In establishing the new cult of guardians Buddhist purposes were accentuated – protection of religion and clergy, moral education of laymen in the spirit of Buddhist precepts and values, respect and devotion to church and secular authorities. The patriarchal structure of the family came to determine the order since the protector of the head of the family was considered the all-family patron. The hereditary succession of this cult was transferred from father to son. Buddhist temples were first constructed on the territories of traditional lineage or tribal goups. These ethnic-territorial groups were substituted by larger confessional and territorial units, in which Buddhist temples gained the role of community centres. In the very beginning Buddhism penetrated to the Transbaikal region with several tribes that came from Mongolia, including tabanguty, tsongoly, atagany and khataginy. They brought their own monks as they settled among Selenga Buryats; from there Buddhism began to spread to other territories. Buddhism spread among the khori Buryats in the middle of the 18th century, among Alar and Tunka Buryats in the 19th century and among other western Buryats only in the beginning of the 20th century. In comparison with the spread of Buddhism in Tibet and Mongolia, where it only met with different local religions and cults that could be adapted to a flexible policy of coexistence, in Buryatia it met with the powerful world religion of Christianity, the official state religion of the Russian Empire. It is commonly stated that Buddhism spread among the Buryats beginning from 1741, the date it was officially recognized as a religion of Russia by the Decree of Elisabeth I. According to archival documents and evidenced by the reports of the first Russians to visit Buryats, however, Buddhism was already spread in Buryatia in the second half of the 17th century (Materialy po istorii russko-mongolskikh otnoshenii. 1636-1654. Cbornik arkhivnykh documentov 1974: 317; Pubaev & Sanzhiev 1991: 3-4; Sbornik dokumentov po istorii Buryatii XVII v. (1960). Before the 18th century Buddhism in Transbaikalia was not a structurally organised religious confession. There were no stationary temples, lamas migrated with the rest of the nomadic population, and religious rituals were performed in transportable yurts of local princes as well as in large communal tents. While in Mongolia by the 18th century Buddhism was a state religion with a well developed religious structure and established religious centres with their own incarnated lamas and hierarchs, which played an important role in the social, political, economic and spiritual life of the population. Buryats at that time still did not perceive themselves as an independent ethnic and cultural entity, but associated their religious affairs with these centres in Mongolia. Lamas from Mongolia and Tibet often travelled to the Transbaikal region, sometimes even settling there. In 1712, for example, 150 Tibetan and Mongolian lamas fled to Buryatia after military clashes in their homelands (Baradiin 1926: 80), contributing greatly to the spread and development of Buddhism among the Buryat population. The first Buddhist monastery in Buryatia Sartulski (Burgaltaiski datsan), was founded in 1707 (Pubaev & Sanzhiev 1991: 4). The next datsan, Tsongolski (Khilgantuiski), one of the largest monasteries of Buryatia, was founded in 1730 by Damba Darzha Zayaev, the first Buryat khambo-lama; its first abbots were the Tibetans Agvan Pungtsok and Lobsan Sheirap. The Russian government was quite anxious by the close contacts of Buryats with Buddhist centers of Mongolia, China and Tibet, controlled by the Manchu empire. From the very beginning confessional affairs of Buryats were referred to the sphere of external relation and international policy of Russia in the Far East. Russia had a clear interest in breaking these contacts and wished to weaken religious influence on Buryats-Mongols from the Mongolian and Tibetan church, for instance by promoting the creation of an independent Buryat Buddhist church organization. The first step was appointment of the post of pandit-khambo-lama with residence at Gusinoozyorskii temple, which became the organizational centre of Buddhists in the Transbaikal region and later of all Russian Buddhists including Tuvinians and Kalmyks. These issues were taken into consideration when establishing the frontiers between Russia and China in accordance with the Burinskii agreement of 1727. This agreement promoted the integration of formerly separated Buryat Buddhist monasteries into one unified system and the establishment of an independent management of Transbaikal Buryat clerical affairs. The spread of Buddhism thus accelerated the integration processes among formerly separated Buryat tribes and contributed to the political and spiritual consolidation of the Buryat society, including the setting-up of a new type of spiritual culture, the transition from indigenous traditional culture of the tribal character to the national, all-Mongolian and all-Buryat one on the basis of confessional consolidation of the ethnos. The end result of the Russian conquest and establishment of the Russian-Mongolian borderline in 1720 was, first, that the Baikal region became politically separated from Mongolia and its population (in general from the Mongolian socio-cultural world), and secondly, that the Russian socio-economical system, the Russian ethnical environment, and the interaction between Christianity and Buddhism predetermined the general course of the Buryats’ history. A new field of ethnic-cultural processes was formed, giving rise to what was subsequently called ‘Buryatia’ and the formation of the Buryat ethnic group (Mikhailov 1999: 29), for which Buddhism became one of the main factors of social and cultural development. In an attempt to control the development of Buddhism in Russia, the Russian Empress in 1741 issued a decree about the religious affairs of ‘Lamaists’. According to this decree the Russian authorities must undertake registration of all lamas and places of worship in Buryatia. The decree authorised the position of 150 lamas in Buryatia and at the same time prohibited crossing the frontiers and contacts with foreigners. These lamas were made to swear allegiance to Russia and were exempted from taxation and other duties, while officially allowed to preach in Transbaikalia (Vashkevich 1885: 36). For Buryats, Tuvinians and Kalmyks it was an act of official recognition of Buddhism as well as of its historic connection with the treasures of ancient cultural traditions of Central Asia. In the beginning the religious affairs of the Buryats were within the competence of the Russian Ministry of foreign affairs and of the local governor’s administration of Eastern Siberia. After 1841 they were handed over the Ministry of Internal affairs in Sankt-Petersburg and guided in accordance with several Decrees on Buddhism. These ruling bodies controlled all administrative posts in monasteries and permissions for constructing new and repairing old monastic buildings. In 1853 special rules (Polozhenie o lamaistskom dukhovenstve) for regulating administrative and economic status of Buddhist monasteries and their monks were edited. It is necessary to mark that in spite of the policy and decrees of the Russian government Buryats nevertheless continued to have stable contacts with the rest of Central Asian Buddhist world and Buddhism managed to develop quite successfully: the penetration of Buddhism among Buryats proceeded, particularly among the Eastern Buryats. As for the Western Buryats Buddhism was not as popular since shamanism was prevailing among them. Instead, some western Buryats was christened and adhered to the Russian Orthodox Church though their beliefs were still intermingled with shamanic elements. Buddhism began to spread among western Buryats beginning from the second part of 19th century due to the activities of Agvan Dorzhiev (1853-1938), a famous Buryat Buddhist leader of Tibet and Mongolia. Best known among the western Buryats was the Alarskii datsan, situated on the territory of the Alar’ Buryats, whose ancestors fled there after the defeat of Galdan Boshoktu-khan to the Manchus. The comparatively quick spread of Buddhism in Russia can be explained by its remoteness from the central Russian regions and by the close relationship of the Buryats with Mongolia. So by the end of the 19th century Buddhism in Buryatia already constituted a rather well established and independent church that could creatively oppose and withstand the policy of the Russian official bodies striving to control it.

The Rise of New Cultural Centres

The main achievements of the Buryat Buddhist architecture, sculpture, book-printing and fine arts in the 18th to the first quarter of the 20th centuries were related to the appearance of the datsans, the stationary Buddhist monasteries and temples, which became both religious and cultural centres. Traditional Buddhist arts flourished there, active literary, publishing and printing activities took place as well. During this period there were constructed about 44 Buddhist temples, which, undoubtedly, played important role in the rise of Buryat culture in general. Among the largest and most famous of the Buryat Buddhist monasteries were Gusinoozyorskii, Kizhinginskii, Tsugolskii, Aninskii, Egituiskii and Aginskii. From an architectural point of view the first Buryat temples were marked by an eclectic mixture of Russian, Mongolian, Tibetan and Chinese elements. Beginning from the 19th century, temples were built in the Tibeto-Mongolian style. A vivid example of such a style is Agiinskii temple or datsan known also by its Tibetan name ‘Dechin Lhundubling’. It was and still is one of the largest Buddhist centres in Eastern Transbaikal region . By the middle of the 19th century it became one of the most prospering Buryat monasteries with approximately 1000 monks or lamas, with 4 faculties: philosophy (1858-1890), astrology (1867), tantric (1880), medical (1884) and in the beginning of the 1900s a faculty of Kalachakra Tantra (Duinkhor) was opened. Only officially there were 60 emchi lamas – doctors of medicine. It was particularly renowned as the centre of Tibetan medicine and astrology, xylographing and book-printing; a printing house was opened in 1860. By the end of the 19th century the monastery represented a small village of more than 20 religious and auxiliary buildings, surrounded by houses where monks lived. The datsan complex is a vivid page of architectural art of the Buryat people, one of its outstanding patterns. The first Buddhist temple in Europe was built in Sankt-Petersburg at the initiative of Agvan Dorzhiev, by the means of Dalai-lama the 13th, Agvan Dorzhiev and money collected among the Buryat, Kalmyk and Mongolian people in 1909-1915. This temple is a combination of Tibetan Buddhist monastic and of European architecture traditions of the early 20th century. The role of Buddhism in the development of Buryat culture was enormous and complex. In Buryatia the influence of Buddhism in the 19th to the first quarter of the 20th centuries was marked by rapid development of literacy, opening of monastic schools for studying Buddhist sciences and cult practice and the emergence of printing in the Tibetan and Mongolian languages. There appeared numerous highly educated Buddhist monks, experts in oriental languages, translators, editors and commentary compilers, philologists, etc. Local professional painting, sculpture, architecture, Buddhist applied arts were developed. One of the most distinguished features of Buryat Buddhism was the appearance of local block-printing houses and extensive editing activities of the monks. The first mention of books published in Buryatia is dated to 1820. The process of wide publishing and translating activities of Buddhist monasteries began after the ban of Russian administration of 1853 for acquisition of books from abroad. Prior to it, Buddhist books were imported from Tibet, Mongolia or China, but because they were quite expensive and not easy to obtain a written tradition of copying was widely spread. According to the Decree of 1853 import of objects of Buddhist religious cult and literature was allowed only through a custom-house. The increasing number of monasteries and monastic schools and the deficiency of literature for studies also contributed to the development of intensive xylographic printing network. Thus, for more than 30 years at the beginning of the 20th century Buryat monasteries not only fully provided themselves with religious literature, but also, in spite of limitations superimposed by government directives, supplied books to Mongolian monasteries and neighbouring territories. In the Buryat printing houses mainly ritual texts and literature for monastic schools and textbooks in the Tibetan language were published. Buddhist canonical collections, sumbums (collected works) of learned Tibetan and Mongolian monks were brought to Buryatia mainly from Tibet. As far as it concerns religious literature for the lay people, it was published mostly in the Mongolian language and was mainly of ethic and didactic character. All books for publication were to be sent to Sankt-Petersburg for censorship. The last information about monastic bookprints is dated to the beginning of the Soviet period. According to 1923 data about 2000 books of different titles were published by all Buryat monastic printing houses (Delo po uchyotu izdatelskoi deyatelnosti datsanov Buryatskoi respubliki 1923). The major part of the books and all wooden block-prints (klische) were lost in the 1930s. Large collections of Buddhist literature were gathered by Russian and Buryat scholars, however, and are now preserved in libraries of Sankt-Petersburg and Ulan-Ude (Sazykin 1988; Sazykin 2001; Uspensky 1999-2000).

The War on Religion

After the Revolution of 1917 a war on religion was proclaimed in Russia. Buddhism, as well as every other religions in the country, became the aim of massive anti-religious propaganda organised by governing bodies. By the end of the Civil War, I, Buddhist leaders headed by Agvan Dorzhiev (1853-1938) were obliged to recognise the Soviet authority. The Buddhist community split into ‘obnovlentsy’ (reformers), which were trying to reorganise Buddhist church for surviving in new circumstances, and ‘konservatory’ (traditionalists) objecting it. By 1923, i.e. the period of setting-up of the Buryat-Mongolian ASSR on the territory of the ethnic Buryatia (together with Ust’-Orda and Aginski districts) there were in operation 211 orthodox, 81 old-believers’ (semeisky), and 44 Buddhist monasteries in addition to hundreds of sacred places – obo, ayikha (shaman forests), etc. Altogether there were about 15000-17000 lamas (National Achives of the Buryat Republic List (Opis) 1, Delo 82: 54r-54v). The legislative position of Buddhism was outlined by the Decree of 17th December 1925 issued by Central Executive council of the Soviet of peoples’ commissars of the Buryat-Mongolian ASSR (which pursued into practice the Decree of 23 February 1918 on the separation of the state from the church), clearly of a repressive character. In 1926 in the Buryat-Mongolian ASSR ‘The Union of militant non-believers’ (Soyuz bezboj'nikov) was founded; it initiated the atheistic work in all regions of the Republic. As a result of purposeful elimination of Buddhist church and clergy, Buddhist culture was totally undermined, all Buddhist temples were closed and destroyed, whereas Buddhist clergymen were driven out and repressed. By the end of the 1930s in Buryatia there was not a single temple left in operation. In the archives of the Administration of the People's committee of Internal Affairs (NKVD) of East Siberia the following data about the quantity of lamas of 44 Buddhist monasteries is given: in 1916 there were 11276 lamas, 1927: 7566, 1930: 5327, 1933: 2758, 1934: 1515, 1935: only 1271 lamas, merely one tenth of the number in 1916. In 1936, 22 out of 29 Buddhist temples were closed under the pretext of being situated in the frontier zone. The monks were accused of being ‘state enemies’ or ‘Japanese spies’. Similar processes were carried on in Kalmykia, Tyva and Mongolia. Buddhist clergy occurred to be the most persecuted part of the population during the period of repression, similar to the Buddhist church among other religious confessions. As a result, Buddhism as a living religion practically ceased to exist in Russia. After World War II slight changes in the policy towards religions began. In 1946 it was allowed to reopen Aginski and to build the Ivolginskii Buddhist monasteries. Although this did not mean a change in general policy towards religion, at least Buddhism in Buryatia was allowed to exist as an officially recognized religion. Besides these two centers, where it was allowed to have only 20 monks, dozens of monks freed from concentration camps illegally served in villages in almost all regions of Buryatia. Although it cannot be said that people completely obeyed the authorities, the Buddhist followers were deprived of the possibility of public expression of their belief; this was retained by the elders in everyday family life and in traditional consciousness. By 1970 only a few lamas remained and untill the beginning of ‘perestroika’ only two Buddhist monasteries were in operation.

Perestroika

After the beginning of the process of ‘perestroika’ some juridical actions were taken to execute constitutional rights of freedom of belief. After the 1990 law of M. Gorbachev on the freedom of conscience, the religious situation in Russia began to change. Religious confessions almost eradicated during the Soviet period are now in the process of revival. The process of restoration of destroyed temples is going on, forgotten religious traditions and rituals return to the everyday life of the people. This process is connected with increasing national self-consciousness and with the search of ethnic roots, in which Buddhism is considered to be one of the main fundamental strongholds of national culture and originality. General change of political climate in the world, new possibilities for the development of religions inside the country, the increased interest in Buddhism cause the necessity of essential review of the role and significance of current processes in religious life not only of the Buryat population, but of the Republic in general and still is one of the most actual tasks of religious studies. A survey of the religious situation in Russia, carried out by the Keston Institute in England together with a group of Russian sociologists of religion for the last 10 years in 78 administartive regions of the Russian Federation (Buryatia was not included in these studies), revealed an extraordinary variety of forms of religion, despite the fact that Russian orthodoxy, like in pre-revolutionary Russia, is unofficially acknowledged as the state religion (Burdo 2002: 17). Nowadays in the Buryat Republic alongside with the Buryat traditional religions a wide scope of religions and religious trends are represented. Quite a number of new religious communities and groups have appeared, the number of which increases every year. A good majority of the Slavonic population, i.e. Russians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians profess the Orthodox Christian religion. A peculiar ethnic cultural group of old-believers called semeiskie is singled out from among the Russians. There are small groups of Jews, catholic Polish, Moslem Tatars as well as people of various ethnic groups – adherents of Protestantism and Adventism from western parts of the country, and followers of modern religions, such as krishnaism, bakhaism, munism, etc. In 1997 the Association of Christian churches was formed on the basis of twelve Protestant churches. In 1998 in Ulan-Ude the building of a Moslem temple was started. Such is in very short the general information of the present day religious situation in Buryatia. From this statistical data it is quite vividly seen how varied and active the religious life in contemporary Buryatia is. Shamanism is not included here, because it is a special subject. In contemporary Buryatia, alongside with the teaching of traditional Gelugpa school, some other schools of Buddhism, like Nyinma, Kargyud, Karma, Sakya started spreading. The Tibetan esoteric sect Dzogchen is also becoming quite popular. Some Korean and Chinese schools of Mahayana Buddhism, Thevaradin schools from Thailand and Burma, and some other East and Southeast Asian countries have also attempted to establish their centres in Buryatia.

A new phenomenon is noticed during this period that is of the appearance of lay religious unions. Some of them contain a mixture of Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and other teachings, for example, ‘The community of Krishna’s consciousness’, ‘Society of the disciples of Shri Chinmoy’, ‘Roerikh’s society’, Bahai, etc.

A specific everyday syncretism was and still is the distinguished feature of the inhabitants of the Transbaikal region, people paying respect to several religions at the same time. Of course, these everyday actions in many cases are far from being the true belief. In spite of the complex ethnic and confessional structure of its population, the Republic of Buryatia is considered by specialists to be one of the most stable territories of Russia. This is mainly due to the two leading religions of Buryatia – Buddhism and Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). At present the relations between Russian Orthodox and Buddhist churches are not strong, but in general they are quite correct and are of a constructive character. Interreligious tolerance characteristic for Buryatia has its historical foundation: Russians confess Christianity, Buryats confess Buddhism and shamanism. The adepts of each religion consider their religion as their own national and cultural property and don’t try to make other peoples the object of their religious missionary conversion and in turn they are not afraid of religious expansion from the opponent side. There is difference between Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and Buddhist organisations in their activities and attitude towards everyday social life. As far as it concerns the ROC in Buryatia it mainly conducts traditional religious, cultural and proselytising activities that are aimed mainly at temple reconstruction, spreading and publishing religious literature. It calls monks to restrain from direct participation in any political actions, movements and parties (not a single candidate from ROC run for the elections). Buddhist church, laymen as well as the clergy, take active part in the activities of social, political organisations and in different political campaigns. Lama Samayev F. and Choibonov M. were elected as deputies to the People’s Khural (legislative body of the Buryat Republic), lama N. Ilyukhinov run for the elections for the State Duma of Russian Federation, earlier lama E. Tsybikdorzhiyev was elected a deputy (member) of the State Duma. In 1996 Buddhists took an active part in the foundation of the Congress of the Buryat People, the chairman of the ‘Buddhist foundation’ became its president. Even the Buryat branch of Christian Democratic Party of Russia, named as Buddhist-Christian Union, was organised by Buddhists with neutral or if to be more precise indifferent attitude of ROC and other Christian confessions to this fact (Zhukovskaya 2000: 69). In the fall of 1997 B. El'tsin accepted a new Law, concerning religions that limited the rights of religious minorities and formally restored the state control over religious life. According to this law the registration only of those religious communities (faiths) that have a period of more than 15 years of staying in Russia (called ‘traditional’, namely, Orthodoxy, Islam, Buddhism and Judaism) were allowed. By this law limits to foreign religious groups were imposed. Yet this law could not restrict the reviving spectrum of religious life, neither in Russia nor in Buryatia. As far as it concerns the contemporary situation of Buddhism in Russia in general, by the end of 1999 there were 160 Buddhist organisations and associations. Eight of these were in Moscow, eleven in Saint Petersburg and two or three in Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Samara, Vladivostok etc. The religious situation in the Buryat Republic may be judged from the data received from the Ministry of justice. In 2002 there were registered 168 different religious organizations and associations in the Republic. Out of these were 40 Buddhist temples and communities. The Buddhist clergy keeps mainly to the same Buddhist doctrines, but in the organizational aspect they look rather diverse. There are two organisations that have received registration at federal level. They are the Buddhist traditional sangha of Russia (pandita khambo-lama Damba Ayusheev) and the Central religious board of Buddhists of Russian Federation (lama Ilyukhinov Nimazhap). At the Buryat republican level two organisations have been registered: ‘Maidar’, headed by Danzan Khaibzun lama (Samaev Fyodor) and the Union of Buryat buddhists, headed by Choidorzhi-lama (Budaev Aleksandr, the ex-khambo-lama of the Buddhist church). Eighteen organizations, either temples, dugans or communities, belong to Buddhist traditional sangha of Russia, three belong to the Central religious board of Buddhists of Russian Federation (two of them are situated outside the Republic), five belong to the ‘Maidar’, six belong to the Union of Buryat buddhists and the rest are registered as self-dependent organisations.

Governing Bodies

In 1922, at the first congress of Buddhists of Buryat-Mongolian Autonomous districts of the Far-Eastern Republic and the RSFSR, the Central Religious Council of Buddhists (CRC) was set up, which was to be the supreme board in charge of the activities of soviet Buddhists. In the 1930s, as a result of repression, the CRC ceased its activity. In 1946 it resumed its activity under the name of the Central Religious Board of the Buddhists of the USSR (the USSR CRBB). One should note that the Federal Law on ‘The freedom of consciousness and religious organisations’ which was passed on 25 October 1990 wholly deprived the government of the control over the religious processes in the country. This accounts for the situation that is being observed now in Buryatia with the Buddhist confession that formerly had a pronounced hierarchy and independence in the body of the USSR CRBB. Now the former USSR CRBB and the Buddhist sangha broke into separate independent communities: the Traditional Sangha headed by khambo-lama D.Ayusheev; the Religious Board of Buddhists of Russia (or Dharma-centre), headed by N.Ilyukhinov, each of them regarding itself as the heir of the USSR CRBB. In this situation numerous autonomous small private temples (dugans), lamas and believers take a neutral position. On the background of this situation which had weakened positions of the Buryat Buddhist church and clergy, the Kalmyk and Tuva Buddhist communities had announced their autonomy by registering their own religious boards. In 1991 a Union of Kalmyk Buddhists was organised with Telo-rinpoche as a head of it and in 1997 ‘The Board of Kambu-lama of Tyva’ was formed as an independent community. Obviously there are strong centrifugal and separatist tendencies among the Buddhist clergy in contemporary Buryatia. For instance, almost every community or rich lama wants to build an individual monastery or temple. One should note, however, that the crisis of economy and culture in modern Russia has also influenced the state of religion in Buryatia. Recently the activities of lay Buddhist social, cultural and educational organisations, foundations, different units of Buddhist laity and some others have increased such as ‘Society of Friends of Tibet’, Agvan Dorzhiev’s foundation, Akhalar foundation, Aryabala community, Green Tara, etc.

Education of Monks Untill the 1970s all religious sermons and duties were performed by old Buddhist monks who had survived from repressions. The previous monastic educational system was destroyed and there was an urgent need to teach novices. To this purpose it was decided to found a higher Buddhist educational institution in Mongolia. The training course lasted for 5 years. This period was far from the previous standard system of education of more than 10 years. Nevertheless this Buddhist Institute has prepared a new generation of young monks that have continued the Buddhist tradition in Buryatia. From 1970 to 1995 45 young monks received diplomas at the Buddhist Institute in Ulaanbaatar (Soninbayar 1995: 39). In 1991 a Buddhist school was opened at the Ivolginskii datsan. In 1999 it has received the official status of the Buddhist Institute. About 120 pupils from different parts of the country now study there under the tutorship of well-educated Tibetan, Mongolian and Buryat monks. At Aginski datsan, that restarted functioning in 1946, a monastic school was opened in 1990. It has also received a status of an Institute in 1993 when besides the faculty of philosophy a medical department, a branch of the Institute of Tibetan medicine and astrology of Dharamsala, was opened there. This Institute received a state license of the Russian Ministry of education in 1998. This temple was famous for its philosophical faculty (opened in 1858-1870) and medical faculty (opened in 1884) and it’s learned scholars in Tibetan medicine and Buddhist philosophy before its destruction. At present reconstruction work is taking place at this temple and the number of monks has increased to over 40. At the Ivolga temple the process of restoration of the jud (tantric) practice as well as the Kalachakra tantra was started with the help of Tibetan teachers as well as the meditative practice. For this purposes special places were organised in Alkhanai and Kurumkan. A lot of people from all over the Russia gather there for the meditational practice in summer time. The Board of the Traditional Buddhist sangha of Russia is trying to undertake measures for improving the situation with educating young monks. On the 24 April 1999 there was a meeting of all head-lamas of Buddhist temples of ethnic Buryatia and the heads of Buddhist lay communities. At this meeting it was decided to establish three-stage structure of monastic education, giving the certificates of bachelor, magister and doctor. This system already began working at Aginski monastery. 70 students are studying there now (40 of them are lay people), they will study there for 10 years, and the best of them will continue studying at the Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in India for 6 years. The Ivolga Buddhist Institute and other schools will gradually accept this system. Now new requirements were accepted concerning the age and the educational status of a student. It is necessary to have a compulsory secondary education for the people who want to become a student of a monastic Institute. At this Meeting also the ‘Rules of certification and licensing Buddhist clergymen’ were adopted. These measures were caused by uncontrolled appearance and increase of a number of charlatans, and mainly by the necessity to keep strictly the rules of the canonic teaching, to improve the quality of religious teaching. The most important step in this direction has been done several years ago when dozens of Buryat young boys were sent to Tibetan Buddhist monasteries in India. But in general the system of Buddhist education is not regularly supported financially.

Missionary Work Of special interest is the missionary work of Tibetan monks-refugees, some of which have received Russian citizenship; most of them teach at Buddhist educational institutions and lead active missionary work. One of the most vivid personalities is geshe Jampa Tinley, former representative of His Holiness Dalai-lama to Russia. He came to Russia for the first time in April 1993 and received Russian citizenship in 1998. He was born in 1962 in South India in a family of Tibetan refugees and has graduated the 7-year courses at Varanasi; at 25 he took monk's vows. In one of his interviews to a local newspaper he told that his main task is to help to revive Buddhism and Buddhist education for monks and to create Dharma centres for the lay people. Due to his proselytising talent his activities are quite successful. He has acquired lots of disciples all over the Russia who consider him to be their guru. All his sermons were published in Russian in large editions. Also rev. Eshi-Lodoi Rinpoche, another well-educated Tibetan high-ranked monk, is worth mentioning. Before being sent by Dalai-lama to Mongolia and Buryatia for restorating Buddhism and Buddhist tradition he served as a high librarian at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala. He has also received Russian citizenship and settled down in Ulan-Ude (geshe Jampa Tinley – in Moscow). He is most popular among the population of the Republic and he has a lot of followers all over the Russia. This year he is finishing the construction of a large Buddhist temple with auxiliary buildings that is supposed to be a new centre for the further dissemination of Buddhism in the region. In general there is a special kind attitude and interest towards all Tibetans from the side of the Buryat people. It has historic roots, as all Tibetans are connected with the name of Dalai-lama and Tibet itself, which was traditionally considered by Buryat believers to be a holy land inhabited by gods. Buddhists of Buryatia traditionally had close relations with Buddhist communities of Mongolia and Tibetan lamas from India, relations that are now being restored as a stimulus for the development of Buddhism. Buddhists of Buryatia are quite active in some international political problems, in particular, regarding the status of Tibet. Lay communities like ‘Society of Friends of Tibet’, ‘Green Tara’, Agvan Dorzhiev’s foundation, ‘Aryabala’ promote active propaganda in support of the struggle of ‘Tibetan people for independence from communist China’. In common all Buddhists unofficially support the position of Dalai-lama in this question.

Buddhist Women

Quite a new phenomenon for Buryatia is the feminine Buddhist movement, where women take active part in the process of revival (see Bareja-Starzynska and Havnevik, this volume). Lay communities of women, such as ‘Green Tara’ and ‘Buddhist women’s centre’ were organised. Though the latter’s members have not taken strict nun’s vows they managed to construct a special building that is planned to be the first Buddhist nunnery in Buryatia. This centre works in close co-operation with the nuns (khandamas) from Mongolia. Women also are active mediators between Buddhist church (monks) and family religious needs. Buryat women always played a leading role in traditional (popular) Buddhism, did various work for the temples, sew monks cloths and garments and so forth. After reaching old age they passed their household duties to daughters-in-law, cut their hair and took religious vows of geninma (lowest religious vows for lay people). For many years when visits to Buddhist temples were impossible women and the elders were the only thread that connected Buryat population with Buddhist temples and monks. Though Buddhist traditions during the Soviet period were almost totally broken, three centuries of Buddhist sermons among Eastern Buryats have formed a special type of traditional culture in which Buddhist rituals and outlook, Buddhist artistic and folk ideas and values have become an inseparable part and has penetrated the consciousness of the people.

Legality and Control

Obviously the new situation has demanded a new attitude from the ruling bodies. A series of normative documents regulating relations between the state and the church have been signed and some are still under discussion. But there is some kind of a juridical vacuum now, with no thoroughly worked-out and thought-over religious policy. In this connection there rises the question of what direction the complicated process of religious revival in Buryatia may take, what effect it may have on political and socio-economic development, and whether it can be manipulated to some degree or if it is quite uncontrolled and might cause unpredictable results, as may be observed in other regions of the former USSR. Together with Orthodox Christianity and Shamanism Buddhism was officially recognized as a traditional confession of the Buryat Republic (in Kalmykia shamanism does not have the status of a traditional religion). The difference in the religious situation or official status between Buryatia and other republics with Buddhist population is vividly seen in the content of the laws on religion issued in Buryatia, Kalmykia, Tuva and Mongolia. The laws of Tuva (issued on the 16.03.95), of Kalmykia (31.10.95) with few inconsiderable exceptions in their preambles wholly double or correspond to the Russian Federal law and there is no any essential difference in their contents. But there is another situation in which the law gives predominance to one religious confession. This is seen in the Mongolian Law ‘About relations between the church and the state’ issued in 1993. It states the following: ‘Taking into account the unity of the Mongolian people, its historical traditions of culture and civilisation, the State will give respect to the predominant position of Buddhist religion in Mongolia. But it will not object from confessing other religions’ (The Law of Mongolia About the relations between the church and the state. Chapter II, article 4, item 2). At the same time the state tries to have the control over the Buddhist church: item 8 of the same Chapter pronounces: ‘The quantity of lamas and the places of churches are to be controlled and regulated by the State’. In the draft of the Buryat law “On religious activities on the territory of the Buryat Republic” (of 1994) all this was taken into consideration. It was stated that it is necessary to take into account historic peculiarities and modern realities of the religious life in the Buryat Republic, the increasing role of religion and church in culture, education and politics, to acknowledge the religion as an important integral part of spiritual culture of any ethnos and as one of the main factors of national ethnic identity and agreement not only in Buryatia, but in the Baikal region in whole where the Buryats live. This draft was rejected by the Russian Ministry of justice as containing too many discrepancies with Federal Law. After being worked over there appeared a new edition issued on the 23 December 1997 (No 610-1). In general the process of revising laws is not yet finished and the position and the status of religion in Buryatia will mainly depend on its content and quality. Before the October revolution Buryat people mainly lived in the country. The number of Buryats settling in the cities (Verkhneudinsk, Irkutsk, Chita, Khyakhta) was never large. That is why Buddhist monasteries were built in the rural locality and functioned among countryfolk that had regular contacts with monastic educational centres of Mongolia, Tibet, Amdo, etc. An intensive process of urbanisation among the Buryats began in the 1930s, connected with the formation of the Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1923, with its administrative, territorial, industrial and political organisation and with the formation of the system of middle and higher educational institutions, mainly in its capital city, Verkhneudinsk (now Ulan-Ude). People freed from the camps usually settled in the city as it was prohibited for them to return back to their native places. Beginning in the 1990s the situation changed along with decollectivization and the crisis in agriculture: rural population started moving into towns where they form religious communities, often concentrated around their communal dugans. These communities are places for conserving local and national identities, while adapting to a new urban environment. Now there are Buddhist monasteries, temples and chapels (dugans) in both towns and villages. The village temples are mainly communal, built with joint efforts of the parishers, while in towns there have appeared many private dugans. Buddhism in the city intensively undergoes the processes of innovations, since in the city the social processes proceed more active. Through urban Buddhist temples Buddhism reconciles the countryfolk traditions with the social changes in their life. Therefore urban temples play the social role of solving the complex process of adaptation of nomads to the settled, urban life, they help them to adjust to the changed way of life, to get rid of stresses obtained as a result of migration, giving psychological comfort. At the same time public Buddhist religious ceremonies create a new space for the indigenous culture to represent itself publicly making thus notions of Buddhist temples as cultural centers. The religious processes and the contemporary religious situation in Buryatia are clearly manifestations of the all-Russian tendency of a great span of religious revival: from attempts of restoration of the pre-revolutionary situation to a wide pluralism of religious life, and from the attempts of authorities to control and manipulate religious communities and to the acknowledgement of their independence. The characteristic feature of this process is that alongside the restoration of Buddhism an active process of revival of shamanism and neo-shamanism is going on. Other important characteristics are the individualisation of Buddhist religious practices, effecting their secularisation and withdrawal from the monasteries, and a process of feminisation. Current changes in the sphere of religious communities have both quantitatively and qualitatively changed the confessional situation in Buryatia; these processes constitute important themes for future research.

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