Oldal 354 [354]
SURUN-KHANDA D. SYRTYPOVA — SUSAN C. BYRNE
khüree once housing hundreds if not thousands of monks to simple dugan, jas or
khurul deep in the countryside used only on special occasions in the religious cycle.*
In this project the locations of the datsan, khure and khurul operating in the Rus¬
sian Federation at the time just before the destruction will be sought and confirmed
with the emphasis on the three Republics where Buddhism was widely practiced
in the past and where the religion has been revived in the years since glasnost and
perestroika.
Archives and other academic and government sources will be used to gather the
history of these establishments. One challenge will be to obtain information about
the nomadic ‘yurt’ khure/khurul and individual lama practitioners. For example,
a Tuvan monk explained that in Tuva it was common for monks returning from Tibet
to prefer to operate as individual practitioners from a yurt “temple” as they did not
want to enter the sangha in one of the khure in the country. Nomadic “wagon” (Rus.
KHOHTKa) khurul were also common in Kalmykia though some eventually settled in
one place with permanent buildings.
In addition to this, the Russian project will aim to identify, locate and record all the
active traditional Buddhist monasteries in the Federation and document the changes
from the late 1980 to the present time.
The intention is that all the information collected on the historical and modern
religious establishment will be presented on a globally accessible website.
The project will begin by finding and recording information about the histori¬
cal Buddhist establishments before moving on to studying the Buddhist temples /
monasteries in the Russian Federation that are active today. This paper addresses the
research approach and work done to date on the historical datsan / khure / khurul.
Discussions were held with experts in the field in order to scope the project, and
the research team has been formed accordingly. In addition, the Tuvan part of the
project has now received state approval.
The Research Team
The two authors of this paper have assembled a team of Russian researchers all of
whom are involved in Buddhist or Oriental studies with a lead researcher based
in each of the three Republics. Susan C. Byrne (London) is the project manager.
Surun-Kando D. Syrtypova who is based in Moscow is the scientific tutor for the
project. Andrei Bazarov (Ulan-Ude) is the lead researcher in the Republic of Burya¬
tia. Ulyana Bichildey (Kyzyl) is the lead researcher in the Republic of Tuva. Delyash
Muzraeva (Elista) and Elsa Bakaeva (Elista) are the lead researchers in the Republic
of Kalmykia.
4 For a full explanation of the project see Byrne, Sue: Preserving Mongolia’s Buddhist Past as Memo¬
ries and Traces Fade: the Documentation of Mongolian Monasteries Project. A Collaboration by
International Researchers and the Arts Council of Mongolia. In: Mongolian Buddhism: Past, Present
and Future. Ed. Birtalan, Agnes — Teleki, Krisztina — Majer, Zsuzsa — Fahidi, Csaba — Rákos, Attila.
L’Harmattan, Budapest 2018, 241-265.
352