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COMBINING THE ANCIENT AND THE MODERN: PROVIDING A DOCUMENTED RECORD OF RUSSIA’S PAST AND PRESENT BUDDHIST MONASTERIES WITH OPEN ACCESS ON THE WEB Surun-Khanda D. Syrtypova Institute of Oriental Studies of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow Susan C. Byrne Independent Researcher, London This paper outlines how the goal and approach of the Documentation of Mongolian Monasteries project (DOMM) are being adapted to find and locate the sites of the monasteries in the three Republics and associated territories in the Russian Federation which have a long Buddhist tradition: Buryatia, Kalmykia and Tuva. The team of Russian researchers all of whom are involved in Buddhist or Oriental studies is described. It will describe the systematic approach being taken and the parameters being set for the intended data collection. It also details the work done to date on locating sources and historical information and photographs prior to studying archives in three Republics and adjoining areas as well as in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and explains some of the challenges the project faces. The project will focus on locating the monasteries existing in the three territories up to and immediately before their destruction though it is intended that there will be a section on the website that addresses the longer historical perspective of the presence of Buddhism in the land now known as the Russian Federation dating back to the 7" century. Buddhist Monasteries in the Russian Federation In the 17" century, groups of Oirats migrated from the steppes of southern Siberia on the banks of the Irtysh river to the lower reaches of the Volga, part of which is now the Republic of Kalmykia, bringing with them the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition. Not long after this the Buryats and other peoples of the Transbaikalian region began to adopt Buddhism and in 1741 the Russian Empress Elizaveta (1709-1762) had to recognize the existence of the Buddhist clergy there. The Queen’s decree was issued at the insistence of the Orthodox Christian Church who wished to limit the official number of Buddhist lamas to 150, and the decree itself is noted as the legitimization of Buddhists in Russia. The territory of Tuva where Buddhism was introduced from Mongolia with first monastery being built in the 1770s joined the USSR in 1944 (after the fall of the Qing Empire in 1911, although from 1913, Uryankhaiskii Krai was under the protectorate of the Russian Empire). 350
