Buryats

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

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 religion. However, already in 1918 the deviation of the positions of clerical and secular segments of the Buriat society became obvious.

Religion and Identity in Buryatia: Competition between Orthodoxy and Buddhism in Late Imperial Russia (On Materials from St. Petersburg Archives)

This paper discusses the political importance of religious identity in the context of competition between Orthodoxy and Buddhism in the Buryat spiritual space in the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. Christianization of Buryats as well as other non‑Russians in the remote regions of Russia seemed a necessary tool for strengthening the borders of the empire, which were under threat from Qing China.