Buddhists Cling to Faith in an Inhospitable Climate

A bo tree, symbol of Buddha’s enlightenment, stands behind double-paned glass in a heated building at the last major Buddhist temple in the Soviet Union.

The tree, sheltered from the rigors of Siberian winters, has survived since 1956, when Buddhist monks planted seedlings brought from India. The tree, also known as a pipal, or sacred fig, flourishes in that country’s semitropical heat.

Similarly, the Buddhist faith has survived in the Soviet Union despite a harsh political climate that promotes atheism at the expense of organized religion.

The picturesque temple, about 25 miles south of Ulan Ude, is a rare reminder of prerevolutionary times, when there were scores of Buddhist monasteries and thousands of monks in what is today the Soviet Union.

Built in 1946

The temple was built in 1946 and is a magnet for followers of Buddha among the Buryats, a minority group descended from Mongol nomads who first came to this area more than 600 years ago.

About 3,000 to 4,000 worshipers were expected to observe an ancient tradition by attending the current lunar new year celebrations, despite temperatures that often plunge to 40 below zero Fahrenheit.

Blazing bonfires during this time represent the burning of evil. In recent years, as Buddhist leaders have followed the Soviet foreign policy line, bits of paper bearing such words as “war” and “arms race” have been consumed in the flames.

Delegations from many countries--among them American believers in Tibetan Buddhism, with headquarters in Berkeley, Calif.--make the pilgrimage to the temple here each summer.

Novices Train in Mongolia

Only a relative handful of monks keep the faith at this showplace of Buddhism. Since there is no Buddhist monastery for novices in the Soviet Union, they travel to Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia, about 250 miles south of here, to enroll in a five-year training course. Some monks go to India for additional training.

The Tibetan language, which is used in the religious services, is taught only in Leningrad, more than 3,500 miles away in the northwest corner of the Soviet Union.

Zhamian Shagdarov, a senior lama at the temple, said that fewer than 50 people, including caretakers and guards, live here permanently. Monks come to the temple after training in Ulan Bator, he said, to continue independent study or to read the sacred books that are kept in the library.

In addition, practitioners of Tibetan medicine treat patients with ancient remedies. Many people of Russian nationality, as well as Buryats, seek this treatment from the monks.

Distinctively Oriental

Unlike the simple wooden houses of Russian construction in the compound, the temple is a three-tiered pagoda with a distinctive Oriental flavor. Inside, the smell of incense is in the air. On a recent day the collection plates were filled with ruble notes and coins. The monks wore red woolen robes, fur mufflers and felt boots to ward off the chill.

A picture of the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetans, was displayed prominently. Many Buryat people have professed belief in Tibetan Buddhism for centuries, and Buryats still spin the prayer wheels in the temple compound.

Buryats, whose slanting eyes and high cheekbones are reminders that the Mongolian border is less than 100 miles away, were once dominant in this area. But since the completion of the trans-Siberian railway in the final years of the last century, people of Russian nationality outnumber the Buryats, who account for only a fifth of the population in the autonomous republic bearing their name.

Link Criticized

The link between Buryat nationalism and Buddhism has been criticized in the past by Soviet commentators who wanted to discourage religious rites.

“Given the remnants of nationalism that can still be found in some places,” one writer said in 1979, “we must be certain to make our atheist upbringing internationalist as well. . . . Our atheist work must go beyond a critique of religious ideology to include efforts to develop the national culture . . . and to create non-religious rituals.”