Chapter 4. Kalmyk Buddhism and the State from 1922 to 1939
4.1. Religious Situation in the Soviet Union
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Chapter 4. Kalmyk Buddhism and the State from 1922 to 1939
4.1. Religious Situation in the Soviet Union
Our second period under examination starts in 1922 and ends in 1939. We purposely left out the years of the Russian Civil War (1917-1922), as there was not unified policy on religious issues, due to the existence of more than one government. Furthermore, since we agree with position of Araltan Baskhaev, that by the end of 1930 Kalmyk Buddhism stopped its forma existence as a social institution,169 we took 1939 as the end of our second research period.
Generally speaking, the whole time of the Soviet Union can be characterized as the period of the oppression for all religions, including former state religion of the Imperial Russia–the Orthodoxy.
Although, the degree of oppression varies depending on the precise time and religion, the ultimate political goals of the Soviet Union authorities always remained an entire elimination of all religions.170
Despite the constitutional guarantees of freedom to hold religious services, in practice, the Soviet authorities employed a range of official measures to discourage religion and curb the activities of religious groups, as they seen the religion as an adversary to the Marxist’s scientific materialism.171
In 1922 under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was founded a key organization in the fight with the religion, which is known as the Antireligious Commission.
Originally, the function of the Antireligious Commission was to separate the Church from the
169Baskhaev, BuddijskayaCerkov' Kalmykii, 181.
170Igor' Kurlyandskij, Stalin, Vlast’, I Religiya (Stalin, Power, and Religion) (Moscow: Kuchkovo Pole, 2011), 190-191.
171Inen, Kimmo. Religion in Russia after the Collapse of Communism: Religious Renaissance or Secular State(Lewiston, NY: E. Mellen Press, 1998), 21.
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sentiments grew the responsibilities of the Antireligious Commission.172Already in 1923, the Soviet authorities started to close the churches, temples, and pray houses, and to confiscate the buildings and other property.173 Moreover, the antireligious propaganda increases all over the Union, as the Soviet government lounged the first antireligious newspaper
“Bezbozhnik”, as one of its antireligious tools.174
In 1923 the new decree “On the registration of religious communities and permit of the convening of such congresses” introduced the new demands to the religious organizations. From now on, the religious communities had to attain an official state registration from the local administration. Each religious organization had to have at least 50 members and an official Charter, which had to be approved by the local state’s authorities.175
Although, the existence of religious communities was allowed, the state control posed on them was too severe. Moreover, its goal to eliminate the religion the Soviet government targeted not only the doctrines and communities, but the clergy. Thus, both former and active clergy were deprived from their elective suffrage.176 The discrimination also spread over to the working sphere, former clergy were either refused to be employed, or if they were employed they were
172 Ibid.
173Igor' Kurlyandskij, Stalin, Vlast’ i Religiya, 72.
174Evgenij Kuznetsov, “Antireligioznaya Agitaciya i Propaganda Sovetskoj Vlasti v Pervye Poslerevolucionye Gody”
(Antireligious Agitation and Propaganda of the Soviet Authorities in the First Years after the War), accessed March 18, 2014 http://www.bogoslov.ru/text/728835.html.
175"Postanovlenie ot 15 Aprelya 1923 goda. O poryadke Registratsii Religioznykh Obshhestv i Vydachi. Razreshenij na Sozyv S’ezdov Takovykh (The Decision of April 15, 1923. On the Procedure of Registration of Religious Communities and Issuance. Permissions on Convocation of the Congresses Such)", accessed March 15, 2014, http://www.libussr.ru/doc_ussr/ussr_1616.htm.
176"Dekret VTSIK ot 04.11.1926 "Ob utverzhdenii Instruktsii o Vyborakh Gorodskikh i Sel'skikh Sovetov i o Sozyve S’ezdov Sovetov" (The Decree of the Central Executive Committee from 04.11.1926 "On approval of the Instruction on the elections of city and village councils and on convocation of the congresses of Soviets")". accessed March 15,2014 http://www.lawmix.ru/sssr/16219.
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activities outside the churches and temples, classifying them as propaganda.178 The new law was largely used by the NKVD (English: the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) for the persecutions of the religious clergy, especially more influential one. Usually the NKVD used the accusation in the counterrevolutionary activities and anti-governmental propaganda to persecute the clergy.Although during the Second World War Stalin reduced anti-religious policies in order to inspire the general population to fight with the Nazi Germany, and allowed to reopen some Churches pray houses,179 it was a temporary measure, which ended soon after the War. The same softening of the antireligious policies happened after the death of Stalin, however already in 1959, the new leader Nikita Khrushchevbegan a new antireligious campaign.180
Overall, the Soviet authorities were fairly consistent in their policies in regards of religion. The religion was a threat, a delusion, which had to be destroyed, what indeed, happened with our research subject – Kalmyk Buddhism.
4.2. The Political Theology of Kalmyk Buddhism
The traditional political theology of Kalmyk Buddhism with the the nobility and ecclesiastic
177D.A. Dorzhieva, “Antireligioznaya Politika v Pervye Gody Sovetskoj Vlasti (1917-1928) (Antireligious policies of during the first years of the Soviet rule), in Budiiskoe Dykhovenstvo i Kultura Kalmytskogo Naroda, ed. Nina Ochirova et al. (Elista: Dzhangar, 2004), 60.
178"Postanovlenie VTSIK, SNK RSFSR OT 08.04.1929. O Religioznykh Ob’edineniyakh (The Decree of the Central
Executive Committee, People's Commissars of RSFSR from 08.04.1929 on Religious Associations)", accessed March 16, 2014 http://russia.bestpravo.ru/ussr/data04/tex16632.htm.
179Denis Janz, World Christianity and Marxism(New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 38–39
180 Vladimir Stepanov. “Rabota po Otrivy ot Tserkvi” (The Work of the Separation from the Church). Mirt, (Evangel’skaya Gazeta), April 6, 2014, 2009, accessed at http://gazeta.mirt.ru/?2-11-912--1.
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being on top of the social ladder181 came to an end with the Russian Empire. And starting from 1922 until its formal annihilation in the end of 1930s, Kalmyk Buddhism tried to adapt to the new Soviet reality in order to survive. For that reason, the official political theology of Kalmyk Buddhism expressed wide-range support for all state’s policies. Thus, for instance, Kalmyk Buddhist sangha tried to emphasize the similarity between the Buddhism and the Communism.182 Thus, instead of confronting the state, Kalmyk Buddhism started to adapt its political theology in accordance to the new political reality.
In 1928, the Spiritual Congress of Kalmyk Buddhists adopted a special decree that “the sangha’s relation with the Soviet authorities is normal. The Soviet authority truly fulfils the decree about the separation of the church from the state, the freedom of conscience, and does not get involved in the religious affairs. The fulfilment of all Soviet authority’s orders is the holy duty of all the Buddhists and the sangha.”183
In our opinion, this position of the Kalmyk Buddhism can have ambivalent interpretation. On one hand, in this official statement the Kalmyk Buddhism framing the Soviet state’ commands to be the holy duty for all Buddhists and the sangha. However, as we all know, the Soviet state’s policies were far away from the original Buddhists democratic and humanistic ideas. Therefore, we might say that the Kalmyk Buddhism’s support of the Soviet policies made it an ally of a tyranny.
On another hand, the Soviet state’s fierce control of the all information channels, and the imminent threat of repressions, made it difficult for any institution or even an individual to
181Zhitesky, Ocherki Byta Astrakhanskikh Kalmykov, 40-41.
182Baskhaev, Buddhiskaya Tserkov’ Kalmykii,21.
183National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia.Ф.П-3. Оп.1. Д. 301. Л. 1-5 об.
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express any kind of opposition to the Soviet policies. For this particular reason, we should look at the political theology of the Kalmyk Buddhism during the period from 1922-1939 with a considerable criticism.
The same goes for the official statements of Kalmyk Buddhist sangha, which were published in the newspapers.All their statements appealed to the accepting of the Communism, as a sole valid belief. For instance, in 1928 the head bagshi N. Khalyaev declared“Lenin is the God. Lenin turned poor into rich, which means he is the God. I am from proletarian origins, and I stand behind the poor, in one word, I am the Bolshevik”.184
Another statement was made by twelfth ecclesiastics from Sharnutovskij khurul, after they monkhood in 1929: “we were searching for the real God, but everything was in wane, and we realized there is no God. We solemnly declare that we will work equally with the rest of working Kalmyk for the sake of all society, and we encourage others to remove monastic clothes”.185
At the same time, the report of the Antireligious Commission of the Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast from May, 19, 1928 contradict to the official statements of Kalmyk sangha, and described their political mood as follow: “all Buddhist clergy accepted the political authority of the Soviet power rather inertly; the Buddhist clergy does not participate in discussions of the election, redistribution of land; the Buddhist clergy does not read the books, as they are uneducated.
There are some protests on the part of clergy, but single ones.…”186
Unfortunately, there are not many valid sources on the political theology of Kalmyk Buddhism
184Dordzhieva, Buddijskaya Tserkov' Kalmykii, 64.
185 National Achieve of the Republic of Kalmykia. P-3. Po.2 D.1302. L.112. Краснаястепь 13 сентября 1929 (Red Steppe 13 September 1929).
186Dordzhieva, Buddijskaya Tserkov' Kalmykii, 62-61.
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during this particular period. Moreover, as we already noted, even those sources that existed should be considered with a certain degree of the criticism. The vicious combat of the Soviet authorities with any statements which were not government approved, as well as the governmental control of the media channels make it difficult for us to grasp a real picture of the political theology of the Kalmyk Buddhism during this certain period.
However, if we take the tendencies of the Kalmyk Buddhism to lean towards the centralized power, as we saw in the previous research period, and a natural strive for survival, we might as well deem aforesaid statements to be accurate.
4.3. The Religious Polity of Kalmyk Buddhism
In order to examine the religious polity of Kalmyk Buddhism during the Soviet period, we will look at thelaw introduced at The Spiritual Congress of Kalmyk Ecclesiastics and Believing Laymen in 1923, July 19.
The Congress was authorized by the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR.
The total number, of the delegates was 142, out of which 70 laymen and 72 ecclesiastics.187
The new law, which determined the new religious polity of the Kalmyk Buddhism, was “The Provision about the Governance of Spiritual Affairs of the Kalmyk Buddhists in the Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast”. Adopted “The Provision” set a system of unified administrative government system for Kalmyk khuruls .According to “The Provision” the Spiritual Congress of Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast represented by both laity and ecclesiastics, governed all affairs of all Buddhist communities. The Congress had an authority to manage incomes and expenditures
187National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia F. P-3.Оp.2. D.509. L. 13.
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of khuruls; to conduct checkups and revisions; and to persecute the sangha for violation of the Vinaya code.188
“The Provision” also founded the supreme executive body of the Spiritual Congress– the Central Spiritual Council. The Central Spiritual Council governed Kalmyk Buddhist affairs between the Spiritual Congresses, which were held every three years. The Central Spiritual Council consisted of seven members: the Shadzhin Lama of Kalmyk people, three laymen, and three ecclesiastics.
The Central Spiritual Council was supposed to implement the decisions of the Spiritual Congress, manage work of ecclesiastics, and cooperate with the state’s authorities on the religious matters.
All the decisions of the Central Spiritual Council were submitted to the Spiritual Assembly for the approval.189
The head of the Central Spiritual Council was Shadzhin Lama of the Kalmyk people. Shadzhin Lama and other members of the Central Spiritual Council were elected by the Spiritual Congress from the representatives of the laity and ecclesiastic for three years. On the local level, the religious affairs were also governed by the elected spiritual leader of one ulus.190
Moreover, “The Provision” of 1923 also founded the Revision Committee for checkups of the activities of the individual ecclesiastics and khuruls. The Revision Committee consisted of two laymen and one ecclesiastic.191
Although the reform of the Kalmyk Buddhist polity was caused by necessity to adapt to the new political realities, we cannot deny that it was a big step break towards its democratization. For
188Baskhaev, Buddhiskaya Tserkov’ Kalmykii, 103.
189 Dordzhieva, Buddijskaya Tserkov' Kalmykii, 39-40.
190Ibid, 38.
191Ibid, 39.
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the first time since the Kalmyks adopted Buddhism as their official religion, the laity obtained the power to intervene and influence Kalmyk Buddhism.
However, despite the democratization of the administrative system of Kalmyk Buddhism, all the decisions which made by the Spiritual Congress were just nominal, without the approval of the Soviet secular authorities.
Another document, which we will examine in order to explore that the religious polity of Kalmyk Buddhism is“The Charter about the Internal Life of Monastics in the Buddhist Khuruls of Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast”, which was adopted at the same Spiritual Congress of 1923.
The new changes introduced in “The Charter” were: the 16 years old age barrier for becoming madzhi;192 the clothes regulations, according to which the sangha was required to wear monastic clothes made of the cheap material, as the clothes and hats made of fur, silk, brocade, and leather wereforbidden;193and housing regulations for all sangha.194
Articles 13 to 16 of “The Charter” announced that the all property of monasteries’ and ecclesiastics’ belong to the lay believers. It included such property, as buildings, houses, livestock and even an income from the Buddhist services. Moreover, according to the new rules, the property could not be bought, sold, or rent without a permission from the Central Spiritual Council and the secular authorities. According to the new rules, without having a special permission, Kalmyk Buddhist sangha was not allowed to fulfill the spiritual requests of the laity.
Moreover, if Kalmyk Buddhist sangha was fulfilling the spiritual requests of the laity, they were
192Ibid.
193Baskhaev, Buddhiskaya Tserkov’ Kalmykii, 103.
194Dordzhieva, Buddijskaya Tserkov' Kalmykii,39.
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not allowed to receive the payment.195
Overall, similarly to the “The Provision”, the definitive goal of the new charter was to provide more rights to the laity, and to legalize the institutional checkups on the sangha in order to prevent the abuse of their authority.
From all aforesaid, we can come to a conclusion thatть during the 1920s the religious polity of the Kalmyk Buddhism underwent a large democratization process. Ironically, the democratization of the Kalmyk Buddhist polity was initiated by the Soviet state, which at the same time tried to extent its power over all spheres of the social and political life of its citizens.
Unfortunately, the democratic changes of the Kalmyk Buddhist polity did not save the Kalmyk Buddhism from the destruction that was brought by the state in the end of 1930s.