The functions of Buddhist practices in the works of L. Yuzefovich

Abstract

The aim of the research is to analyze the features and functions of L. Yuzefovich's appeal to Buddhist religious practices in the book “The Autocrat of the Desert. Baron R.F. Ungern-Sternberg and the World in Which he Lived", the novel “Prince of the Wind”, the story “The Murderer” and the poem “Burkhan”. This topic has not previously been in the spotlight of Russian literary criticism, which determines the scientific novelty of this study. The Buddhist practices in the works of Yuzefovich within the framework of the concept of the “Buddhist text” of modern literature are comprehended. The results showed that the writer uses the practice of visualizing a dokshit, or Buddhist protector, appearing in the plot as one of the ways to characterize characters who outwardly coincide with the frightening deity, but internally diverge from him in terms of motivation. Buddhist meditation on impurity reveals in Yuzefovich the problem of the opposition of creative and religious intentions: the hero of the novel “Prince of the Wind” chooses the path of asceticism, closing for himself the possibility of literary creation, which inherently multiplies samsaric images. Meditation associated with the figure of the Bodhisattva of compassion allows the writer to designate in his works a transcendent reality that enlightens the landscape and transforms the suffering world, bringing harmony to the plot of life's tragedy and catastrophe.