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DARIMA D. AMOGOLONOVA
“Td like to reveal a noble historical dependence. Empress Elizabeth having as¬
cended to the throne in 1740 in 1741 issued a decree that secured the Buryats
aright to practice Buddhism. Further, Catherine the Great, who became Empress in
1762, established the Pandito Hambo Lamas’ Institution in 1764. In 2000, Vladimir
Putin became the President of the Russian Federation and in 2002 we gained the
Precious Body of Hambo Lama Itigelov. This has to be understood through the
prism of history.”
Having fully monopolized Itigelov, the Buddhist Traditional Sangha of Russia
(BTSR) became the body that is most involved in the Itigelov’s miracle thus streng¬
thening its own positions on both all-Russian and Buryat level. It is suffice to say
that sometimes the highest Russian officials visit the Ivolginsky Datsan by passing
the authorities of the republic. No wonder that the BTSR leader has achieved the
position, which no previous Hambo Lamas occupied in the sense of influence
and closeness to the Russian political establishment. In present-day Russia, he
is probably the most known and authoritative Buryat. Of course, the atmosphere
of desecularization in post-soviet space gives main impact on rising importance of
religion and clergy. Officially recognized religion doesn’t need looking for tricks to
save itself and its flock; now the principal problem exists in attracting people to the
temples. Simultaneously, Damba Ayusheev’s personal qualities play uncommon role
in both his elevation to the position of the head of one of the religious communities
in Russia and attainment of status comparable with that in much more numerous
Orthodoxy and Islam. Moreover, in Buryatia where ethnic Russians (who are for the
most enrolled to Christianity at least nominally) compose the majority of population
(69 percent), while Buryats are an ethnic minority (29.5 percent), the image of the
republic is coloured in Buddhist tones. Damba Ayusheev is doing his best to make
the republic of Buryatia the centre of Buddhism in Russia having left Kalmykia
and Tuva far behind. Besides Buryatia, the BTSR is widening its activities in other
regions of Russia. For example, Buddhist temples in Saint-Petersburg, Zabaikal’skiy
kray, Irkutsk, and Yakutsk are under aegis of the BTSR.
While Itigelov’s return and his world-wide fame are undoubtedly related to Dam¬
ba Ayusheev’s efforts, the differences between the two are evident. Dashi-Dorzho
Itigelov was a highly educated Buddhist scholar with deep experience in medicine
and pharmacology. For those times, it was a necessary condition that a Buddhist
leader possessed profound knowledge in philosophy and practical science. Damba
Ayusheev became a Buddhist hierarch in the rather different social, cultural and
political situation. At the time of his election as Hambo Lama he was only 32 years
old, and he had a reputation as an energetic person with a modernist outlook. This
was felt to be particularly important, since religious revival was taking place in the
conditions of the post-totalitarian society, in which religion occupied a peripheral
position in mainstream social practices. Ayusheev’s task was to decide numerous
and complicated problems concerning organizational unity of the community in the
'S Cf. Ayusheev’s publication: Ajuëjejev, D.: Sagan haraar! Sagaalganaar! AiF v Burjatii 6 (2008), p. 4.
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