Popularity
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Currently Kalmykia, a territory of Russia, is the place in Russia where Buddhism is practiced the most. Initially, the Soviet Union was likely opposed to the idea of religion. However, they did not intervene or target people who practiced Buddhism for fear of alienating groups that did practice Buddhism. While prejudice still exists in Russia today, Buddhism is still alive and practiced. Especially in Kalmykia which is significant considering that the population makes up for over half of the republic itself. There is a large number of people in Kalmykia who self-identify as Buddhists, showing that it still stands strong despite its preconception from those in the Soviet Union.[1] With it not being so popular in some Russian territories, it is more common in countries such as China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Vietnam. [2]
Buddhism Reform Movement
editThis movement was started in Buryatia in 1922 by Agvan Dorzheiv. This was with the intention of purifying Buddhism and bring it back to its proper spirit. Also, so it could accommodate the new socialist order of Russia.[3]
Challenges
It is very hard to find information that is connected to Buddhism in Russia without having to go through very large articles that may or may not have information i'm trying to look for. I've said before that the information in the article feels lacking, but it is just as hard to find the information that are in those missing blanks in the article
It is also difficult to find useful information that I can use considering the best article I found had 20 pages of info that I needed to condense.
- ^ Holland, Edward C. (2015-07-03). "Competing Interpretations of Buddhism's Revival in the Russian Republic of Kalmykia". Europe-Asia Studies. 67 (6): 948–969. doi:10.1080/09668136.2015.1054259. ISSN 0966-8136.
- ^ University, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown. "Demographics of Buddhism". berkleycenter.georgetown.edu. Retrieved 2020-05-02.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Andreyev, Alexandre (2018). "Agvan Dorzhiev and His Contribution to the Modernization of Tibet: Education of Young Tibetans in Russia in the Early 20th Century". The Tibet Journal. 43 (2): 3–20. doi:10.2307/26634915. ISSN 0970-5368.
(after the last sentence in History) However Buddhism had not disappeared yet because of Bidia Dandaron a Tsydenov follower as well as a famous Buddhologist and thinker. Dandaron attempted to revive Buddhism in an atheist state by introducing the concept of Neo-Buddhism a combination of Buddhist teachings and current Western philosophy with scientific theories. Dandaron was later arrested for creating a religious community and eventually died within a prison camp, however his disciples played a key role later in the 1990's with the revival of Russian Buddhism.