The article deals with the details of the court proceedings in the “case against Buddhists” in Ulan-Ude and their spiritual leader Bidiy Dandarovich Dandaron, as well as the subsequent international response from human rights activists and the Buddhist community, the reaction of the Soviet authorities and the Central Spiritual Administration of Buddhism in the USSR. The focus of the author is on the religious aspect of the activities of Dandaron's Buddhist tantric group. The sources for this study include records from the State Archive of the Russian Federation and the National Archives of Buryatia. Several archival documents have been introduced for the first time, revealing that the criminal case was opened after a conflict that escalated into a quarrel accompanied by a physical altercation between followers of Dandaron's teachings and a former follower who had left the teachings. The true goals of the authorities, as subsequent events showed, were the elimination of the "sect" and the forced isolation of Dandaron through court rulings both from his religious group and from his indirect influence over the Buddhist community. The arrest of active members, and then Dandaron himself, caused widespread international reaction. The activities of the heir to the “Tsar Lama” and reincarnated lama (khubilgan, tulku) Dandaron who was twice convicted under “anti-Soviet” charges in Buryatia were completely unacceptable in the current system of relations between the state and Buddhism. This situation was further exacerbated by factors such as the sect's activities outside the framework of Soviet religious law; following tantric teachings not accepted by the traditional Soviet sangha, unusual initiation methods and ritual practices that did not conform to accepted social norms of Soviet society. The new postulates proposed by Dandaron regarding the existence of “social karma” were also clearly unacceptable, as they both indirectly and directly pointed to the imperfections of the Soviet system. The activities of the tantric group and the spiritual search of B. Dandaron left a significant mark on the religious history of the USSR / Russia.
Key words: Buddhism, trial, Bidiya Dandaron, tantric practices, state-confessional relations, international reaction
DOI: 10.22250/20728662-2025-3-150-157
About the author
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Alexey V. Gorbatov – D.Sc. (History), Professor at the Department of General History and International Relations, Kemerovo State University; Leading Researcher, Altai State University; 6 Krasnaya Str., Kemerovo, 650000, Russia; 66 Dimitrova Str., Barnaul, 656049, Russia; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |