Non-Christians in the Orthodox State: Buddhism in Late-Imperial Russia (Evidence from Buryatia)

The paper ‘Non-Christians in the Orthodox State: Buddhism in Late-Imperial Russia (Evidence from Buryatia)’ discusses the problem of relations between institutionalized Buddhism and the only state religion of the Empire - Russian Orthodoxy. Drawing evidence from various archival and scientific materials, the author examines the history of the competition between Orthodoxy and Buddhism in the late-imperial times on conditions of full support to the state religion on behalf of the state. The author argues that despite recourse to administrative resources, Orthodox clergy failed to achieve significant success in suppressing Buddhism in Transbaikalia. Moreover, despite wide-scale baptizing policy among Buryats, Buddhism found its way in the Prebaikalia areas inhabited by Buryats-shamanists who were the main object of Christianization. Buddhist leaders saw their task in preserving the Buddhist community and strengthening its positions in Russia. The mechanism for this was in the big adaptive ability of Buddhism that allowed it to get incorporated into the Russian political culture. In addition, according to an ancient tradition, the Buddhist clergy promoted upbringing of Buryats in the spirit of loyalty to the monarchy up to deification of the Tsars and their families.