Religious Situation in the Russian Federation

Chapter 5. Kalmyk Buddhism and the State from 1988 to 1995

5.1. Religious Situation in the Russian Federation

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Chapter5.Kalmyk Buddhism and the State from 1988 to 1995

5.1. Religious Situation in the Russian Federation

1988 was chosen as the starting point for our third research period, due to the shift in the Soviet government policies in regard of religion. In 1988 the President of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev held a meeting with Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Pimen and the members of the Synod.

At the meeting was discussed the matter regarding the celebration of the millennium of Christianization of Kievan Rus’. In April 29, 1988 the country's leadership issued an official resolution, which provided a permission to celebrate the Millennium of the Christianization of Rus', as a major historical and cultural events in the country’s life.²¹³

Despite the fact that up until 1990there was no change in the legislation, the ideological shift of the political authorities’ position towards religion can be reflected in some statistical data. Unlike before, when the Soviet central government vigorously controlled the registration of the religious organization, and mostly refused to all new applications; starting from 1988, the Soviet legislation practically let the local authorities decide whether or not satisfy applications for registration of a religious organization. Consequently, from 1988 the number of annually registered religious organizations saw ten times increase. (See the table 5.1.)

213 Michail Shakhov,Veroispovedatel'naya Politika Rossiiskogo Gosudarstva (Faith Policies of the Russian State) (Moscow: RAGS, 2003), 50.

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Table. 5.1. The statistical data of the number of the registered religious organizations.

Source: Michail Shakhov,Veroispovedatel'naya Politika Rossijskogo Gosudarstva (Faith Polciies of the Russian State) (Moscow: RAGS, 2003), 50.

In 1990 religious believers, and even clergy, began to appear in the press and electronic media;

the first religious leaders were elected to the Soviet parliament in 1989; a weekly religious newspaper was launched; and a religious presence began to establish itself in charity and education.²¹⁴

October 1, 1990, the new law “On the Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations”

214Stephen White, Ian McAllister, and Ol’ga Kryshtanovskaya, “Religion and Politics in Postcommunist Russia”,Religion, State and Society, Vol. 22, No. 1, 1994.

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indicated the complete alteration of religious politics of the Soviet state. From now on, all religious organizations were recognized to have legal personality, which also meant that religious organizations were allowed to have a property. The state registration of religious organizations to obtain the legal personality became voluntarily. The law also granted the participation of religious organizations in public life, their access to the media and the charity events. The discrimination or taxation of religious organizations and clergy was eliminated.²¹⁵

The law "On Freedom of Conscience” from October 25, 1990, became the main legal document, for seven years determining the Russian state religious policy. It guaranteed the freedom of religious beliefs, practices, religious education, and spread of the religious beliefs for all Russian citizens. The law decreased the number of citizen-founders for registration to ten persons.

However, in orders to obtain the status of legal personality the organization were required to have a charter. Furthermore, the new law granted the religious organization and individual citizens with the permission to maintain international contacts, and invite foreign citizens to participate in religious activities, and to conduct religious education.²¹⁶

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the direction of the Russian state’s religious policies remained liberal. In 1993, the same religious rights and freedoms were incorporated in the Constitution of the Russian Federation.²¹⁷

Although, the Article 4 of the Constitution stated the secular nature of the Russian state, forbade any religion to be established as a state one, and made the religious associations equal for the

215Shakhov, Veroispovedatel'naya Politika Rossiiskogo Gosudarstva, 52.

216Ibid., 54.

217“Constitution of the Russian Federation”.Accessed May 8, 2014. http://www.constitution.ru.

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law²¹⁸, in fact, the religious hierarchy was developed in new Russia, with the high position being returned to the Russian Orthodox Church, followed by Islam, Judaism and Buddhism, and others.

The primary place of the Russian Orthodoxy in the political life of the state can be seen in the following examples: Moscow patriarch participated in the inauguration of the newly elected Russian President Yeltsin in July 1991²¹⁹, which reminded the coronation of the Tsar, when the patriarch was responsible for passing God’s authority to the ruler; and the Orthodox Christmas became a public holiday for everybody, unlike other religious holidays.²²⁰

Despite Moscow’s favoritism of Orthodoxy, the change of the governmental policy had a positive impact on the all confessions. 1990s are marked by increased interest of the general population towards religion. According to the study conducted by Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the percentage of people who believed in God sharply increased. The table below provides the data in the shift of religiosity among Russian population.

Table. 5.2. The degrees of belief in 1991, 1993 and 1996.

1991 1993 1996

Believer 23% 32% 34%

Seeker 28% 28% 30%

Non-believer 7% 30% 24%

Atheist 35% 5% 6%

Do not know 7% 4% 6%

218Ibid.

219Dmitrij Kravtsev “Ego Democraticheskoe Velichestvo” (His Democratic Highness), Expert Online, accessed May 15,: http://expert.ru/russian_reporter/2012/17/ego-demokraticheskoe-velichestvo.

220Vladimir Lagovsky, “S Rozhdestov Khristovym” (Merry Christmas), Komsomol’skaya Pravda, accessed May 17, 2014, doi: http://www.kp.ru/daily/23435/35633.

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Source: Kaariainen, Religion in Russia After the Collapse of Communism, 91.

5.2. Political Theology of Kalmyk Buddhism

The liberalization of the Russian state religious policies, lead to the religious renaissance of all confessions, including Kalmyk Buddhism. In 1988, for the first time since 1939, Kalmyk Buddhist organization succeeded in obtaining the registration.²²¹ And already in 1991 was founded the the Buddhist Union of Kalmykia, which united all Buddhist organization in Kalmykia.²²²

The Charter of the Buddhist Union of Kalmykia actually claimed “non-involvement in the matters of the political parties and government, and does not participate in the elections to the state’s governmental bodies. However, as individuals, the members of the Union have the same rights as the other citizens to participate in the elections to the state’s governmental bodies and the political life.”²²³

Although, the Buddhist Union of Kalmykia claimed its non-involvement in the political matters, the fact that as individual its members could participate in the politics, lead to an extraordinary situation, when already in 1991, Tuvan Dorzh –the first Shadzhin Lama of Kalmykia after the period of oppression was elected as a member of Supreme Council of Kalmyk ASSR, and the famous Buddhist ecclesiastic - Rinchen Dagva was elected as a member of City Council in

221Ochirova, “Buddhist Clergy and Development of Kalmyk Culture”, 10.

222 Nina Ochirova, et al., Istoriya Buddhisma v SSSR i Rossiiskoj Federattsii (The History of Buddhism in the USSR and the Russian Federation in 1985-1999) (Elista: Ministry of education, culture and science of the Kalmyk Republic, 2011), 71.

223The Charter of the Buddhist Union of Kalmykia. 1991. 1.

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Elista.²²⁴

Thus, the period from 1988 to 1995 saw not merely the religious renaissance of the Kalmyk Buddhism, but the revival of traditional relation akin of the alliance of the two powers: secular and religious.

The division between religious and political was completely erased in June 1993, when during the People’s Khural (Parliament) of the Republic of Kalmykia by majority of vote revoked the separation of state and religion. Consequently, the period from 1993 until 1995was a very special period of life for Buddhist in Kalmykia, when the religion was announced to be a part of the state’s policy.²²⁵Subsequently, the President of Kalmykia founded a Department of Religious Affairs under the President of the Kalmyk Republic. The second Kalmyk Shadzhin Lama Telo Tulku Rinpoche together with the head of the local Russian Orthodox Church Father Zosima became one of the chairmen of the Department.²²⁶ It is necessary to emphasize, that, despite the historical tradition of Kalmyk Buddhism begin closely linked with the Kalmyk people, in the Department of Religious Affairs, the Buddhists and Orthodox objectives were equally important.

However, we do not concentrate on the Russian Orthodoxy, due to our time constraint.

Once again, the second time in a row, when the head of Kalmyk Buddhism was holding the political mandate, as the Department of Religious Affairs was one of the Republican bodies of the executive power. Moreover, we believe that acceptance of the political post indicate the Kalmyk Buddhism’s support of the President Ilyumzhinov’s²²⁷ policies. Therefore after the end

224Ochirova, et al., Istoriya Budhisma v SSSR i Rossijskoj Federattsii, 71.

225Ochirova, et al., Istoriya Buddhisma v SSSR i Rossijskoj Federattsii, 77-78.

226National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia. The Decree of President of the Kalmyk Republic from 12 July 1993, No.145.

227“Kirsan Ilyumzhinov”, last modified June 21, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirsan_Ilyumzhinov

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of Ilyumzhinov’s presidency, the Shadzhin Lama Telo Tulku Rinpoche expressed the gratitude towards Ilyumzhinov “on the behalf of all Buddhists for his help and assistance to the Buddhism renaissance”.²²⁸

The Department of Religious Affairs was assigned the following functions: to assist in providing the Constitutional rights of citizens to the freedom of performing religious ceremonies; to study of forms and methods of religious organizations activities, and their influence on the population;

to participate in the preparation of the bills, if they are in the competence of the Department, and if the President asked for it; to execute the building of the cultural objects, the repair works in the premises of religious organizations, and other financial help to religious organizations; to execute the international connections with religious organizations.²²⁹

At the same time, the main purpose of the Buddhist Union of Kalmykia are “to revive the lost national tradition of Kalmyk people and develop the Buddhist teaching in accordance with the tradition of ShakyamuniBuddha”.²³⁰ And the objectives of the Buddhist Union of Kalmykia comprise the following paragraphs: to take care of the Dharma (Buddha teaching) in the Republic of Kalmykia; to study of Dharma and to organize prayers, and other religious rights and rituals; to spread the teaching in the society, directly and through the media, to develop and implement the programs of religious education in accordance with Dharma; publishing activities, publication of books, pamphlets, booklets, albums and other non-periodical publications relating to the Buddhist culture, the publication of the bulletin of the Union; search of citizens and legal

228“Shadzhin Lama Kalmykii Telo Tulku Rinpoche”, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, accessed May 9, 2014, http://www.kirsan.org/2010/shadjin-lama/#more-1203.

229Ochirova, et al., Istoriya Buddhisma v SSSR i Rossijskoj Federatsii, 77-78.

230Elza Bakaeva “Ob Osobenostyakh Sovremenoj Religioznoj Situacii v Kalmykii: Buddhism i “Posvyashenye””

(About the Pecularity of the Modern Situation in Kalmykia: Buddhism and “the Dedicated”), Etnos i Kultura, 3 (2004): 34.

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sponsorship activities for the implementation of the objectives of the Union; and last but not least, to develop and implement of educational programs in coordination with government authorities, public organizations, enterprises and citizens.²³¹

As we can see the functions of the Department of Religious Affairs largely correspond with the objectives of the Buddhist Union of Kalmykia, which suggests the inclusion of the Kalmyk Buddhist renaissance matters in the political sphere. It is necessary to mention that despite the prioritizing the Buddhist revival programs, the Department of Religious Affairs also provided some material support to the Russian Orthodoxy.²³²

The political theology of the Kalmyk Buddhism was clearly expressed by the coordinator of the Union Dordzhi Lama. He stated that “religious organizations should not stand apart from the political struggle”. According to him, although religious organizations have not legal rights to participate in the elections, but they can express their political support to one or another candidate. He claimed that the Buddhism is a reason for the political stability in Kalmykia.

Dordzhi Lama also said that “nowadays for ordinary citizens, religious leaders act as influential mentors not only in everyday life but also in the political decision-making. It determines the active participation of religious leaders in the in political life of national republics”.²³³

The representatives of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama in Russia geshe Dzhapma Thinley, who from 1993 to 1995 was performing the functions of the Shadzhin Lama of Kalmykia, in one of his

231The Charter of the Buddhist Union of Kalmykia, 1991.

232National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia.The Decree of the President of the Republic of Kalmykia “About the Rehabilitation of the Kalmyk People and Governmental Support of its Renaissance and Development”, 25.December, 1993, No. 2290.

233“Vysteplenie Dordzhi-Lamy, Koordinatora Ob’edineniya Buddhistov Kalmykii” (The

Speech of Dordzhi-Lama, a Coordinator of the Buddhist Union of Kalmykia, accessed May 3, 2014, http://eurasia.com.ru/dorji3005.html.

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statement to Kalmyk media also clarified the position of the modern Buddhist authorities towards the political issues: “We do not seek to rule the Buddhism in Russia. …our goal is to help Kalmyks to restore their own independent Kalmyk Buddhism,…. The important is the Buddhism.

The Teaching should be preserved in purity. As what kind of institutional form the Buddhism developed into, what kind of teaching will become prioritized in one or another monastery or Dharma center should be decided by the people. …This is our principal difference from the other sectarian organizations, which are seeking to entice more people into the sect in order to manipulate them for political purposes….”²³⁴

This statement denied the presence of the political goal in the Buddhism, and indicated the freewill of Buddhists to choice any form of Buddhism they want to.

The position of Telo Tulku Rinpoche towards the interreligious dialogue contributes to the notion of the peaceful interreligious situation in Kalmykia. Thus, according to his official profile, he pursues the policies to support the peaceful coexistence and cooperation of all traditional confessions in Kalmykia. Furthermore, in one of his official statements, he said that “Today people of different ethnicities and believes live in our multiethnic republic. All of them live in peace and harmony, in friendship and mutual understanding. And because of this, we feel pure joy”.²³⁵

As the Shadzhin Lama possesses the highest spiritual authority in the Kalmyk Buddhism, we will assume that the position of geshe Thinley and Telo Tulku Rinpoche expresses the position of the Kalmyk Buddhism in general. Consequently, by denying the political goals of the Buddhism,

234Buddhism in Russia http://www.buddhismofrussia.ru/buddhism-of-russia/br23.

235“Telo Tulku Rinpoche”, Golden Abode of Buddha Shakyamuni, accessed May 11, 2014, at http://khurul.ru/?page_id=29.

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acknowledging the freewill of people to choice their own path of spiritual development, and promoting the multiethnic dialogue and peace, the Kalmyk Buddhism demonstrates the democratic nature of its political theology.

As was aforesaid, we believe, that the period from 1988-1995 saw the renaissance of the relations akin the alliance between the secular and religious powers, which existed in the seventeenth-eighteenth centuries. The objectives of the political and the Buddhist authorities intersect, which caused the other reason for the alliance. Thus, the Kalmyk Buddhism supported the rule of the secular rulers, the Kalmyk elite; and the secular power was providing the Kalmyk Buddhism with the financial and material support.²³⁶

In this manner, as we follow the definition of the democratic political theology, we can argue that the positive relations between Kalmyk Buddhism and the state, its support for the spiritual and political equality matches the definition, proposed in Chapter 2.

5.3. The Religious Polity of Kalmyk Buddhism

In order to examine the religious polity of Kalmyk Buddhism, we will further continue examining “the Buddhist Union of Kalmykia”.

One of the famous Kalmyk Buddhist scholars of Elza Bakaeva argued that despite its original goal to create a strong centralized religious organization, the Buddhist Union of Kalmykia failed.

Sheviewed the causes of the failure in the work of leadership of the Union, namely Shadzhin-Lama Telo Tulku Rinpoche and the Vice-President geshe Dzhampa Thinley. Moreover, the fact

236Elena Ostrovskaya, “Rossijskij Buddhism v Oprave Grazhdanskogo Obshestva” (Russian Buddhism in the Frame of the Civil Society), in Dvadtsat’ let Religioznoj Svobody v Rossii, ed. Alexej Malyshev and Sergej Filatov

(Moscow: Rossnep, 2009), 311.

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that both Telo Tulku Rinpoche and Dzhampa Thinley resided outside of Kalmykia did not contribute to the efficiency of their work.²³⁷

However, in order to make our own judgment about the religious polity of Kalmyk Buddhism, we will first examine the Charter of the Buddhist Union of Kalmykia.

According to the Charter, the participation in the Buddhist Union of Kalmykia is voluntarily.²³⁸ The voluntarily participation promotes the independency of the local religious organizations and individuals, since if there are dissent with the policies of the Union, they can easily leave it.

Moreover, the Union can only suggest the general direction of the religious activities of organizations therein, it cannot appoint local leaders.²³⁹

The Buddhist Union of Kalmykia is governed by the following bodies: the Conference of the members of the Union, the President of the Union, the Vice-President, the Council of the Union, and the Revision Comittee of the Union.²⁴⁰

The Conference of the Union is the supreme governing body of the Buddhist Union of Kalmykia, which can decide all the matters in regard to the activities of the Union. The Conference should be held no less than every five years. Moreover, the Council of “the Union”, Revision Committee, or more than 50% of the members of the Union has the right to call for an emergency Conference.²⁴¹

The Conference has exclusive rights “to adopt the main program of activities of the Union; to

237Bakaeva “Ob Osobenostyakh Sovremenoj Religioznoj Situacii v Kalmykii: Buddhism i “Posvyashenye””, 34.

238The Charter of the Buddhist Union of Kalmykia, 1991, 1.

239Ibid.

240Ibid.

241Ibid, 2.

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make changes and additions to the Charter of the Union, as well as adoption of new edition of the Charter of the Union; to approve annual report, estimate expenses and balance of the Union;

to approve the size and term of the admission fees; to elect and recall of the governing bodies of the Union”.²⁴²

The decisions of the Conference of the Buddhist Union of Kalmykia only have the power, if no less than 50 % of members were present. Moreover, the general questions at the Conference are decided by the open or close voting. The decision is adopted one, if 2/3 of present members vote in favor.²⁴³

During the period between the Conferences, the governing functions are executed by the Council of the Buddhist Union of Kalmykia. The Council implements the main program of activities of the Union; adopts the programs, learning courses and disciplines; takes care of economic activities; accepts in the members of the Union,; and other questions given him by the Conference.²⁴⁴ The head of the Council is the President, who is elected by the Conference for term of life.²⁴⁵ The President of the Buddhist Union of Kalmykia becomes the Shadzhin Lama of Kalmykia. It is necessary to emphasize that the Shadzhin Lama can only be an ecclesiastic with

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