Buddhism in the Mid-to-Late Nineteenth-Century Russian Empire

Introduction. The mid-to-late 19th century was witnessing transformations that had begun during the reign of Alexander II, and the former were to affect virtually all aspects of Russian public life — including those relating to the then religious situation. Goals. So, the article attempts analytical insights into religious affairs of Buryats and Kalmyks throughout the mentioned period, examines archival documents and legislative acts of the Russian Government to identify the legal status of the Buddhist Church, reviews some essentials pertaining to control over the Buddhist clergy. Materials and methods. The work considers a variety of archival documents, including statistical data and materials of the First General Census of the Russian Empire of 1897 and the Regulations on Lamaist Clergy (1853). Theoretically and methodologically, the study employs the principles of scientific objectivity and historicism, such general research approaches as structural and systems ones, including methods of historical and religious investigation. The study covers actual historical contexts, describes positions of the Buddhist denomination among Mongolic peoples of Russia, i.e. Buryats and Kalmyks Buddhists, the latter’s legal status, numbers of believers, monks and temples. Special attention is paid to specific features of Kalmyk and Buryat Buddhist communities, their relations with Russia’s authorities in 1855–1897. Results. The completed analysis concludes that in domestic religious affairs the Government was guided not only by confessional issues proper but also by the then foreign policy agenda. The latter factor was directly related to Russia’s economic interests in Asia — the maintenance of the status quo in advantageous trade with China. The examined documents attest to these were primarily aimed at isolating Kalmyks and Buryats from Buddhist centers and hierarchs of Mongolia and Tibet; secondly, at limiting the rapid spread of Buddhism; and thirdly, at establishing control over the Church and regulating economic and administrative activities of Buddhist monasteries. Conclusions. Despite all the restrictions, the examined period in the history of Buddhism across the Russian Empire was characterized by that Buddhist monasteries would consolidate Kalmyk and Buryat peoples and become centers of cultural interaction with neighboring countries and communities. By the late 19th century Buddhism became a remarkable religious and political force that had its impacts on lives of Buryats and Kalmyks — and largely shaped their ethnic identities. As for Buryats, the period was marked by a strengthening of the unified Buddhist church system that grew independent of foreign centers and developed individual governance tools completely concentrated in the hands of a single executive — Pandita Khambo Lama. The Regulations on Kalmyk People’s Governance (1847) established some undivided clerical authority of the Lama of the Kalmyk People over the bulk of the ethnic community, except for the local group of Don Kalmyk Cossacks clerically headed by Senior Bakshi Lama of theirs.

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