Publication details
Dandaron Mandala : Unofficial Buryat Buddhist Sangha during the Soviet Era
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2013 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Acta Universitatis latviensis |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Philosophy and religion |
| Keywords | Bidya D. Dandaron; Mandala; Buryat Buddhism |
| Description | As a case-study of the history of Buddhism in Russia this paper discuss the founding of a new form of Buddhism within the traditional Buryat sangha. In the mid 1960s a small but important, Buddhist community originated in Ulan-Ude. An unofficial or clandestine micro-sangha formed around Bidia D. Dandaron, a Buryat Buddhist scholar, which existed until 1972, the year of Dandaron's imprisonment. Subsequently he was sentenced to five years in the prison, where he died in 26th October 1974. One of his first disciples was Alexandr I. Zheleznov, who painted the Vajrabhairava mandala which was both untraditional and innovative. This Dandaron Mandala may be perceived as the visual part of the collective memory of one particular group of Buddhists in Buryatia. This group includes both the members of Dandaron's group who got acquainted with the mandala shortly after its origination and its present interpreters. |
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