Zandan Zhuu and the Buryat Sangha: History and Present State
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2006 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| Conference | The Ecological Problems and Spiritual Traditions of the Peoples of the Baikal Region |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Philosophy and religion |
| Keywords | Zandan Zhuu; Sandalwood Buddha; Buryatia; Tibetan Buddhism; Udayana Image |
| Description | The statue of Zandan Zhuu (a recent depiction of the statue of the Sandalwood Buddha, located in Buryatia since 1901) has, from the point of view of religious history, an origin that can be traced back to Udayana statue during life of the Buddha in India. However, there is more than one version of the mythologic or legendary story. For common believers it is only religious history that has any sense and the existence of “their” statue as the Sandalwood Buddha is from their standpoint undoubtable. The textual legitimization of this claim is based on the Tibetan text of the sutra written by the 3rd Jangiya Khutuktu. The text is published in Russian and translated from Mongolian and Tibetan; the text is updated until 2004. It represents a mythological line of the Zandan Zhuu story, it is a part of the religious history of the Buddhist Buryatia. The latter line intersects with the other line representing the history of religions in Asia only in certain precisely defined and provable points. |
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