Buddhist Lamas in the Unofficial Life of Local Communities of Transbaikalia: An Anthropological Perspective Cover Image

Buddyjscy lamowie w nieoficjalnym życiu społeczności lokalnych Zabajkala – perspektywa antropologiczna
Buddhist Lamas in the Unofficial Life of Local Communities of Transbaikalia: An Anthropological Perspective

Author(s): Albert Jawłowski
Subject(s): Social Sciences
Published by: Instytut Stosowanych Nauk Społecznych Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Buddhism; Buryatia; Russia; USSR; lamas; repressions; ritual; Tibetan medicine; social authority; social order; worldview; cosmogony; culture; tradition

Summary/Abstract: After Joseph Stalin’s death only about 600 repressed Buryat lamas were able to return to their family villages. Some of them secretly continued their ritual and medical activities. They were called various names: starik, diedushka, akhay. According to the holistic perception of reality in Tibetan Buddhism, it is impossible to separate the sphere of belief, cosmology, from prosperity, health, norms and values, social structure, hierarchy, power, and identity, etc. In this case, the identity would be created by a specific system of practices and procedures of behaviour consistent with the symbolic and social order, embedded in the cosmogonic order that originally related to it. The unofficial role of the lamas was to maintain the traditional foundations of the social order and its relationship with the wider cosmogonic foundations.

  • Issue Year: 2021
  • Issue No: 32 (2)
  • Page Range: 231-254
  • Page Count: 24
  • Language: Polish