Buddhism in Russia

Chitinsky Datsan

From the earliest documented encounters with Buddhism and Buddhists, Russians had mainly negative impressions about the faith and their adherents. Conservative secular Russians and Christians regularly lambasted Buddhism, seeing it as a roadblock to the Christianization and Russification of Siberia. Russian thinkers saw Buddhism as a superstitious but advanced religion espousing the opposite of a rational and scientific worldview. Views of Buddhism for the Russians were molded more by the polemics of Christian missionaries and geopolitics than by the academic world.[7]

When the Cossacks first encountered Buddhism (in its Tibetan form) during their conquest of Siberia, they characterized Buddhism as a form of paganism. Early Russian explorers and Christian missionaries described Tibetan Buddhism as a "superstition", "false creed", or "idolatry" among other similar labels.[7] Russian Christian literature regularly referred to Buddhist temples or monasteries as pagan shrines. Buddhist religious services were denounced as witchcraft, quackery or "shamanic orgies".[7]

Throughout the 19th and early 20th century, Russian researchers began studying Tibetan Buddhism. However, because of Orientalism and the frequent Christian or missionary background of the scholars, their works are not considered academic in modern times, with many scholars of the time assuming that Buddhism was defective and utilizing little textual material to enforce their biases.[7] With the advent of Buddhist studies in western Europe in the 19th century, Russian society was similarly exposed to the idea that Buddhism contained an impressive philosophy and history. However, Russian elites and academics saw true Buddhism a religion of the past or existing in certain regions like Sri Lanka. Siberian Buddhism was seen as backward throughout the 19th and early 20th century. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, parts of Russian society began having positive views of Tibetan Buddhism but advocating for the Europeanization of Buddhism and closer incorporation of Buddhists in an effort to "civilize" them.[7]

Hambyn-Hure Datsan in Ulan-Ude

By 1887, there were 29 publishing houses and numerous datsans. In 1917 these ethnic regions had among them approximately 20,000 Buddhists and 175 temples.[8]

When the Soviet Union came into being, all religions including Buddhism began to be viewed as "tools of oppression", and Buddhists in positions of authority were looked upon unfavourably.[9] By 1917, Joseph Stalin had ensured that no datsans remained open in the country.[10] The USSR sought to remove Buddhism and other religions, as they believed that a lack of religion combined with urbanization would result in an increase in production.[11] In 1929 many monasteries were closed down and monks were arrested and exiled.[12] By the 1930s, during the Stalinist repressions, Buddhists were suffering more than any other religious community in the Soviet Union[2] with lamas being expelled and accused of being "Japanese spies" and "the people's enemies".[1] In 1943 all Kalmykians were forcibly exiled to Siberia due to government suspicions that they were collaborating with Nazi Germany when it had occupied part of Kalmykia.[13] About 40% of the Kalmykian population died while in exile and those who did survive were not able to return to their homeland until 1956.[14][5]

However, Buddhism did not disappear from Russia as a result of the efforts of Bidia Dandaron, a follower of Tsydenov and a famous Buddhologist and thinker. Dandaron attempted to revive Buddhism in the atheist state by introducing the concept of Neo-Buddhism, a combination of Buddhist teachings and contemporary Western philosophy with scientific theories. Dandaron was later arrested for creating a religious community and eventually died in a prison camp. Nevertheless, his disciples played a key role in the 1990s with the revival of Russian Buddhism.[15]

In 2022, Khambo Lama Damba Ayusheev, the head of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia (BTSR), the largest Buddhist denomination in Russia, voiced support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[16] In October 2022, Erdne Ombadykov, the Supreme Lama of Russia's Republic of Kalmykia, condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and fled Russia to Mongolia.[17] In January 2023, he was recognized in Russia as a foreign agent.[18]