Buddhists struggle for survival in the USSR

Abstract

The official Soviet attitude to Buddhism depends largely on where Buddhists question are located. In Soviet Union, they are generally treated as adherents of a reactionary cult practising traditional medicine and barbarous old customs a relic of past which has to be swept out of existence. But if they happen to live outside Soviet Union, they are often accepted as potential friends or allies and encouraged to lenf,l their support to Soviet political schemes. A Buddhist movemeht was set up Ulan Bator (Mongolian People's Republic) 1970, and a peace held Ulan Bator June of that year adopted resolutions noting the importance of increased efforts on part of Asian believers struggle against aggression and imperialism and condemning U.S. policy Indochina. Only three non-communist countries (Malaysia, Singapore and Japan) were represented at conference, but atmosphere was so charged with politics that delegates from these three countries did not participate final session of conference. The conference set up a Committee for Coordination of Asian Buddhist activities in struggle for peace, with Venerable S. Gombojab, High Lama of Gandantekchenling Monastery Ulan Bator as its chairman. The Committee has been meeting more or less regularly since then, organizing conferences and maintaining official relations between Buddhists Soviet Union and other countries. Some Asian Buddhists have suggested that there is a certain irony choice of Ulan Bator as an international Buddhist centre, since Buddhism People's Republic of Mongolia has been almost swept out of existence as a result of official persecution: it is estimated that there are now little more than 100 monks whole country compared with 7,000 at Gandantekchenling Monastery alone before 1921. In Soviet Union itself, most Buddhists live Buryat, Tuvinian and Kalmyk Autonomous Republics, as well as several other Buryat-populated areas Siberia. Soviet Buddhists, too, have had to face a long history of persecution. Under Stalin, organized Buddhism was crushed with a severity experienced by few other religious groups USSR. In Buryat Autonomous Republic number of lamas was reduced from 16,000 1916 to a few dozen by 1960 (according to