Oldal 122 [122]
OCR
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 government 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 SanktPjetjerburgskogo 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. 120
