The Sangho in the Age of Degradation. Responses of the Russian Buddhists to the Russian Revolution and Civil War

Abstract

The Buriat Buddhists who constituted the majority of the Buddhist population of the former Russian Empire did not stay away from the revolutionary events. The secular segment of the Buriat society viewed the collapse of the monarchy as the unfolding opportunity to get rid of the colonial legacy, including discrimination of their reli‑ gion. However, already in 1918 the deviation of the positions of cleri‑ cal and secular segments of the Buriat society became obvious. If the Buriat nationalists remained hostile to the idea of Restoration, the official Buddhist circles supported admiral Kolchak, whereas a part of rank‑and‑file lamas consolidated around the idea of Buddhist the‑ ocracy. After the Soviet regime firmly established in Trans‑Baikal area, a part of the Buddhist monks, the Buddhist renovationists un‑ der leadership of Agvan Dorzhiev, attempted to come to terms with the Bolsheviks. These attempts ended in the total defeat of the organ‑ ized Buddhist community by the late 1930s.