Oldal 122 [122]
VLADIMIR USPENSKY
The Soviet government made attempts to establish contacts with Tibet. Three secret
Soviet missions were sent to Tibet in 1922, 1924, and 1927.” Needless to say that any
information about the antireligious policy and ideology of the Russian government
would have made the establishment of relations with the Dalai Lama’s govern¬
ment impossible. Meanwhile, in Soviet Russia, antireligious policy and antireligious
propaganda were getting stronger.
Agvan Dorzhiev (1854-1938), who had the status of the Tibetan envoy and who
was a very authoritative lama, made attempts to come to terms with the Soviet
government. He became the leader of the “renovationist movement” (Russ.
obnovijencjeskoje dvizjenije) which promulgated the need for the Buddhist clergy
to abandon worldly aims and to return to simple living according to Vinaya rules.
However, he was opposed by the “conservative” part of the Buddhist clergy. The
First Congress of Buddhists of the USSR was convened in Moscow from 20 to 29
January 1927. Agvan Dorzhiev and his fellow renovationists got the upper hand.
The Soviet government planned to send another mission to Tibet headed by Agvan
Dorzhiev and staffed by the “renovationists.” They had to counteract the image of
Soviet Russia as a country where Buddhism was persecuted and to convince the Dalai
Lama that Buddhism in Russia was flourishing.* The Soviet and Communist Party
authorities in the Buryat Mongol Republic were ordered to soft-pedal antireligious
propaganda and to avoid personal criticism of Agvan Dorzhiev.
The Third Meeting of the Buryat Mongol Buddhists was convened in August
1928. It appointed the members of the delegation who were supposed to visit Tibet.
However, this expedition was refused proper finance and the requested quantity
of rifles and machine guns. In October 1928 the Politburo decided to “postpone”
sending the mission to Tibet and in fact the mission was cancelled. This was the
last attempt of the Soviet authorities to establish contacts with Tibet and their last
goodwill approach towards Buddhism, however motivated by political expediency.
In the following decade the Soviet policy towards Buddhism became openly hostile
which led to the destruction of Buddhist monasteries and repression of lamas.
The letter to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama which was to have been delivered by the
delegation was approved by the Third Meeting of the Buryat Mongol Buddhists.
Needless to say that Agvan Dorzhiev and the other lamas could not lie to the Dalai
Lama. So this letter contains several facts which — although true — are torn out of
historical context. Thus the general picture composed of separate true facts became
untrue. For example, the Soviet authorities are praised for exempting lamas from
the military service. However true, the reason for such an exemption was the new
legislation which proclaimed Buddhist clergy “non-working people” who were also
2 See Andrjejev, A. I.: Tibjet v politike carskoj, sovjetskoj i postsovjetskoj Rossii. Izdatjel’stvo Sankt¬
Pjetjerburgskogo universitjeta; Izdatjel’stvo A. Tjerjent’jeva «Nartang», Sankt-Pjetjerburg 2006, pp.
241-247, 261-269, 291-294.
About the plans to send a new mission to Tibet see Andrjejev, A. 1.: Tibjet v politikje ..., pp. 309-315;
Sinicyn, F. L.: Krasnaya burja: Sovjetskoje gosudarstvo i buddizm v 1917-1946 gg. Izdanije A.
Tjerjent’jeva i Fonda «Sohranim Tibjet», Sankt-Pjetjerburg 2013, pp. 49-50, 329-330.
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