Oldal 353 [353]
COMBINING THE ANCIENT AND THE MODERN
Buddhism developed its own characteristics in each of these regions. There were
separate national ecclesiastical structures with very distinctive architectural styles
for the monasteries: Kalmykia khurul, Buryatia datsan and Tuvan (previously known
as Uriankhai) khure. In the 20" century in the USSR there was a fierce struggle with
religion in all three republics and practically all the monasteries were burnt to the
ground or otherwise destroyed and they disappeared without trace.
Precise information about how many and where these religious entities were and
their history are not easy to find in any public forum at the current time. It is also
known that some of the data on the old monasteries that existed before the destruc¬
tion in each republic is not always accurate. Also, it is scattered, sporadic, and often
inaccessible to the public, even about the most famous monasteries.
The authors have embarked on a study of the monasteries in the current territory
of the Russian Federation, which have a long Buddhist tradition. Primarily this means
the study will focus on Buryatia, Kalmykia and Tuva where Vajrayana Buddhism
spread and was practiced until the early part of the 20" century before undergoing
a revival in the last decades of the century.”
Goal of the Project
The goal of the project is to locate and name, and collect historical information about
all the traditional Buddhist monasteries that once existed within the territory of the
Russian Federation. While the emphasis will be on the monasteries still standing at
the beginning of the 20" century records will also be made of more historical mo¬
nasteries, which no longer existed at that time. The project is modelled on a similar
body of work, the Documentation of Mongolian Monasteries,’ which sought to locate
all the monasteries (large and small) in Outer Mongolia. In that project a nationwide
survey was conducted largely by Mongolians in 2007, which located and surveyed
the sites of over 1000 religious establishments in the territory ranging from the great
! There are some notable exceptions to this. For example: the main walls of the grand Tibetan style
temple building in Upper Chadan (Rus. Bepxne-Yadaanckoe Xype) in Tuva remain to this day and
are much revered by local population; the central temple of the magnificent Khosheutovsky khurul
(Rus. XomeyTosckuä xypyı) now in Astrakhanskaya Oblast (Rus. AcTpaxanuckaa O61aCTb), was not
destroyed and has now been restored.
? Itis 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. Now forgotten, there
were Buddhist communities in the Tungus-Manchu state of Bohai in the territories of Primorye in
Amur in the 7" to 10" centuries AD as there were in the Khitan Empire of Liao in the 10" to the 12"
centuries. Archeological evidence and texts show how Buddhism was practiced in these historical
periods. Cf. [baxoza, O. B.: Tocydapcmeo Boxati: apxeonozua, ucmopua, nonumuka. Mocksa 2014;
Aptempes, A.P.: IIAMATHHKH ŐYJIJIHÜŰCKOŰ KYIIBTYDBI B HH30Bbax Amypa. // Bonpocet ucmopuu
7 (2000), 144-149; E JIyx-nu: Âcmopua 2ocy0apcmea kudaneü (Hudane 20 uxcu). (({TaMATHAKH
TIHCRMeHHOCTH Bocroka». XXXV) MocxBa 1979. and others Y YY Y. In the southern regions of Russia,
Astrakhan, Volgograd, Saratov regions, the remains of former Buddhist monasteries of the 17-18"
centuries have also been studied and recorded by academics.
> See www.mongoliantemples.org. Documentation of Mongolian Monasteries Project (DOMM).
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