Ayur Zhanaev

The Buryat Transbaikalia (Russia) by the end of the 19th century was one of the largest centers of book-printing of Buddhist literature in Inner Asia. The Buryat monasteries produced the full range of literature of canonic character; these works were, however, not accessible to the laity, and one of the major ways of spreading Buddhism among masses was didactic literature. Lamas writing these texts had a goal to introduce the basics of Buddhist morality and “improve” the lay society according to their vision of social order. These texts could be considered an important source of social thought of the Buryat Buddhists of that period. The research project would give an insight into the ways Buddhism was spreading in Inner Asia and influenced the local forms of social reflexivity.