Paul
Goble
Staunton, April 12 – Saying that he
was proud that Russia is the only country in Europe where Buddhism is
officially recognized as a traditional religion, President Vladimir Putin told
the leaders of the two million followers of that tradition yesterday that he
and the Russian government will back that community “100 percent.”
During his tour of the Trans-Baikal
region, Putin visited the Ivolgin datsan, the seat of the Buddhist Spiritual Directorate
the Soviets in 1946 to represent the Buddhists of Buryatia, Kalmykia, and Tuva
as well as other regions and met with Damba Ayushev, who serves as the head of
that body (sangharussia.ru/news/detail.php?ID=11251).
The Russian
president praised Russia’s Buddhists for helping others in both their “grief
and joy,” noting that it was “well known how Buddhists helped during the First
and Second World Wars,” and he expressed regret that they suffered in Soviet
times “just as other confessions did but always remained with the people” (vesti.ru/doc.html?id=1074514&cid=5).
Having
secured the agreement of the Buddhist Spiritual Directorate for his idea that
university students should serve in the military during summer holidays and
noting that the Buddhists are distinguished by their modesty, Putin said that
they “could count on the support of the state in all things” (interfax-religion.ru/buddhism/?act=news&div=50774).
Specifically,
the Russian leader said that he was ready “to continue financial support” for the
Zayaev Buddhist University and the Agin Buddhist Academy and provide funds for
the development of Buddhist architecture and sculpture. And noting that Russia’s Buddhists have
always been modest in their demands, Putin invited them to propose other
projects.
The
Buddhists for their part asked first of all for the construction of a new road
between their datsan and the outside world – Putin himself came and went by
helicopter – support for expansion of the Buddhist center in St. Petersburg and
land for a Buddhist shrine in Moscow which doesn’t have one despite Buddhism’s
status as a “traditional” religion.
Putin’s
response to that was not reported, but one news agency did note that as
recently as December 2012, residents of the Russian capital’s Otradnoye
district had demonstrated against the construction of a Buddhist facility there
(nazaccent.ru/content/7446-putin-poobeshal-okazat-podderzhku-rossijskim-buddistam.html).
Nor
has there been any public comment on what surely figured in the private
discussions between the Russian president and the Russian Buddhist leadership:
the desire of the latter to expand ties with the Dalai Lama and the reluctance of
the former to take steps that would anger the Chinese authorities.
The Dalai Lama has been to Russia
six times since 1979, but his last visit was in 2004. Then he spent 36 hours in
Kalmykia. Russian Buddhists have invited
him many times since then but have been unable to get the necessary visa (rediff.com/news/interview/want-to-ask-putin-why-dalai-lama-cant-get-russia-visa/20121223.htm).
The exiled Buddhist leader for his
part has shown increasing interest in the Buddhists of the Russian Federation,
hosting special sessions for them at his residence in India over the past three
years (dalailama.com/news/post/889-his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-teaches-a-group-from-russia-in-delhi---day-one).
Also not mentioned in the Russian
accounts of Putin’s visit but perhaps equally sensitive are the expanding ties
between the Buddhist communities of the Russian Federation and their co-religionists
abroad, including with the active Kalmyk community in the United States (npr.org/2013/02/10/171630978/wests-allure-dulls-monkhoods-luster-for-some-buddhist-reincarnations).
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