Towards a History of Buddhist Renaissance in Buryatia and Mongolia, 1960s–1970s: A Case Study of Purbo B. Baldanzhapov’s Personal Archives

The purpose of the article is to provide new information about the initial stage of the process of restoration and revival of Buddhist traditions after the period of repression and atheistic prohibitions. It shows the role of representatives of the Buddhist clergy in the person of the Khambo lamas of the USSR and the MPR Zh.-D. Gomboev, S. Gombozhav and P. B. Baldanzhapov in establishing international relations between the countries, in the creation and opening of the Buddhist Institute in Ulaanbaatar at the Gandantekchenlin Monastery in 1970. The article is written mainly onthe source base of archival materials stored in the private personal archive of P. B. Baldanzhapov kept in the funds of the Center of Oriental Manuscripts and Xylographs of the IMBT SB RAS, such as personal correspondence, copies and drafts of letters of appeals to government and other administrative organizations, plans and programs of visits and receptions of foreign delegations, reports and messages, drafts of articles, photographs. While writing the article, such research methods were used as historical retrospective, which showed the reason for the decline of Buddhist traditions by the early 60s of the last century, a comparative method that allowed assessing the contribution of Buddhist figures in historical perspective, as well as content analysis used for working with archival documents. Results. It has been stated that since the late 50-ies the policy of the Soviet government towards all confessions, including Buddhist, has changed. The main reason for which were political interests of the state aimed at improving its political image in the world, in expanding international relations of the USSR with the states of Southeast Asia, which allowed the Central Religious Board of the Buddhists of the USSR to establish ties with foreign Buddhist organizations and prominent religious public figures of other countries. Since the mid-60-70-ies, due to the joint efforts of Buryat and Mongolian Buddhist figures, actions were initiated for obtaining permission to open a Buddhist educational institution in Ulan-Bator, with the opening of which in 1970 the main threat to the existence of the Buddhist church among the Mongolian peoples was solved t.e. the disappearance of the system of education and training of young lamas.

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