The Characteristucs of Buddhism in the Chita Region in the Early 1980s
The article analyzes a previously uninvestigated page of Chita history, namely the history of the spread of Buddhism in the Chita Region (East Zabaykalye) in the early 1980s. The aim of the research is to investigate the characteristics of Buddhism in the Chita Region, its spread and adaptation during the aforementioned period. The author underlines an appalling scarcity of published materials on the issue, which necessitated the use of documents of the State Archive of the Russian Federation. The corpus of analyzed archival documents is mainly constituted of official documents, reports issued by the representatives of the Council for Religious Affairs of the USSR in the Chita Region, information reports, and letters. The analysis of various sources enables the author to conclude that in the early 1980s Buddhism, unlike other religions, experienced little oppression. The majority of believers lived in the Agin-Buryat Autonomous District of the Chita Region. There was a Buddhist monastery, Aginsky Datsan, which was the only functioning Buddhist monastery in the East Zabaykalye. There were regular religious services (khurals) that were attended by hundreds of believers who donated quite large sums of money. Vast amounts of money were received as a compensation for ritual services. A. I. Borodin, a representative of the Council for Religious Affairs of the USSR in the Chita Region, attempted to show in his reports that believers were primarily elderly people, a statement the author of the article is rather skeptical of. Buddhist priests expressed some contradictory views on certain issues. The author of the article believes that it is necessary to continue investigating the history of Buddhism in East Zabaykalye during the Soviet era.