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Two HAMBO LAMAS IN THE DISCOURSE
OF BUDDHIST REVIVAL IN BURYATIA
Darima D. Amogolonova
Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Institute for Mongolian,
Buddhist and Tibetan Studies, Ulan-Ude!
This paper deals with the importance of two Hambo Lamas (Tib. mkhan po bla ma,
Khal. xamba lam) — Heads of the institutionalized Buddhism in Buryatia — in the
present-day religious revival in Buryatia. The first one is Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov
whose sensational return in 2002 was and still is an unsolved riddle and miracle
contributing to the image of Buryatia as a sacred land. The second one is Damba
Ayusheev — the head of the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia since 1995. The
author argues that the influence of these two figures over the public sphere goes far
beyond the limits of religion: it reflects and defines the state of Buryat public thought.
In the Russian Empire, Buryats nearly without exception were the “holders and
transmitters of the traditional (religious) worldview,” while at present public minding
differentiates the religious and secular spheres. Focused on desecularization of the
Buryats, Buddhist clergy highly secularaze themselves by means of wide participation
in politics, ideology and various social projects aimed at returning back to nomadic
stock-breeding, revival of the heritage of ancestors including the ethnic language,
and inadmissibility of russification. Itigelov’s phenomenon has become a tool for
both religious revival and rallying around the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia,
which is the keeper of the ‘Precious and Unquenchable Body.’
The title of Pandito Hambo Lama was established in 1741 in order to institutio¬
nalize Buddhism among Buryat Buddhists and make this person fully responsible for
his flock to the Russian imperial authorities. For this reason, during the Tsarist era,
the Hambo Lamas were considered both religious leaders and officials performing
bureaucratic functions entrusted to them by the state. Bound by numerous restrictions
aimed first of all at preventing the spreading of Buddhism among Buryat shamanists,
the Buddhist clergy nevertheless benefited from the recognition of Buddhism as one
of the religions of the subjects of the Empire. In this connection, Nikolai Tsyrempilov
marks: “Lamas needed Empire ... Beginning from the very first attempts to create
the stable religious institutions, the Buddhists showed live interest in authorization
of these institutions by the empire at both regional and supreme state level.” The
imperial tradition of Buddhism adaptation persisted throughout the soviet regime
and has been largely reproduced in the post-soviet period.
! Project XII.191.1.3. State Registration No. AAAA-A17-117021310263-7 Comprehensive study on the
religious, philosophical, historical, cultural, and sociopolitical aspects of Buddhism in the traditional
and modern contexts of Russia, Central Asian and East Asian countries.
Cf. Tsyrempilov’s publication: Cyrjempilov, N. V.: Rossijskaja impjerija buddistov glazami burjatskih.
Vostok 2010. No. 5, p. 58.
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