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Woman's Status in the Kalmyk and Buryat Buddhist Tradition

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Woman's Status in the Kalmyk and Buryat Buddhist Tradition Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences 2020 13(7): 1195-1206 DOI: 10.17516/1997-1370-0636 УДК 294.3 Woman’s Status in the Kalmyk and Buryat Buddhist Tradition: History and the Current State Mergen S. Ulanov, Valeriy N. Badmaev and Andrey V. Radionov* Kalmyk State University named after B.B. Gorodovikov Elista, Russian Federation Received 23.05.2019, received in revised form 04.06.2020, accepted 10.07.2020 Abstract. The article deals with the problem of the woman’ status in the history of Buddhism of the Mongol-speaking peoples of Russia, such as the Kalmyks and the Buryats. Special attention is paid to the female clergy issue in the religious history of these indigenous groups. The authors note that with the spread of Buddhism, women in Buryatia and Kalmykia acquired a higher social and religious status, which is enshrined in legal documents. At the same time, in the traditional Kalmyk and Buryat society a woman was generally excluded from active social life and could not make a career in the religious sphere. In the 20th century, the position of Kalmyk and Buryat women in the society underwent significant societal changes. The Soviet state sought to involve the women of Kalmykia and Buryatia into building a new society, actively fighting against the Buddhist religion and conducting the nation-wide atheistic propaganda. All these contributed to the significant decrease in the religiosity of the population in these regions, including its female part. Today, the position of women in the religious life of Kalmykia and Buryatia is characterized as ambivalent. On one hand, in traditional Buddhist organizations women can only occupy the positions of worshipers, secular employees, or perform certain religious duties during rites. On the other hand, the women’s role in the laity is more significant. They take an active part in the life of Buddhist communities and organizations, study Buddhist philosophy and medicine. Buddhist activists in modern Buddhist communities in these regions of Russia make a great contribution to the revival of Buddhism. Even though the majority of the Buddhist clergy is made up by men, these are women who constitute the majority of lay practitioners both in Kalmykia and Buryatia. Keywords: Buddhism, women, gender, Kalmyks, Buryats, female monasticism, Mongolian peoples. © Siberian Federal University. All rights reserved * Corresponding author E-mail address: [email protected], [email protected] ORCID: 0000–0002–6749–7424 (Ulanov); 0000–0003–1066–8314 (Badmaev) – 1195 – Mergen S. Ulanov, Valeriy N. Badmaev… Woman’s Status in the Kalmyk and Buryat Buddhist Tradition… The study was prepared with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation, project No. 19-18-00118. Research area: history, culturology. Citation: Ulanov, M.S., Badmaev, V.N., Radionov, A.V. (2020). Woman’s status in the Kalmyk and Buryat Buddhist tradition: history and the current state. J. Sib. Fed. Univ. Humanit. Soc. Sci., 13(7), 1195-1206. DOI: 10.17516/1997-1370-0636. Introduction focus of Buddhology for a long time, and on Buddhism is known to be the oldest of the other hand, regardless of its popularity in the world religions. It takes its origin in the the West, feminist theology has hardly ever countries of Central, South, Southeast, and addressed the issue of women in Buddhist cul- East Asia. In the 20th century, this religion ture. This situation is partially explained by the began to spread actively around Europe and fact that feminist theology mainly developed in America. Besides, Buddhism gained ground in Europe and North America where Buddhism some areas of Russia, particularly among the has been poorly represented until recently. Be- Kalmyks and Buryats. In those regions of the sides, the tolerance of the Buddhist tradition, world where Buddhism became the dominant which extends to the gender issue, forced many religion, Buddhist values have a great signif- representatives of religious feminism to refrain icance, since religion is an essential element from criticism, and consequently, special re- of the traditional culture and in many respects search in this area. guides the spiritual development of countries Currently, there is a relatively small and nations. The human, his or her place in the amount of research devoted to this issue. The world and the society, the relationship between problem of the place of women in the Buddhist people are important objects of contemplation culture of the Mongolian peoples of Russia, and understanding in Buddhist philosophy. In namely the Kalmyks and Buryats, is regretta- this regard, the attitude to women is of particu- bly understudied. The present work is dedicat- lar importance. Buddhism has its own opinion ed to this problem. about women equalizing their rights with those of men in matters of religious salvation. Adopt- Women in the history ed by a new country, it often brought changes of Kalmyk Buddhism to previous ideas about women, raised the so- The early history of Kalmyk Buddhism is cial and religious status of women, immediate- closely connected with the history of Buddhism ly stimulating the progressive development of development among the Oirats, the ancestors of the society. the Kalmyks, who learned Buddhism from the In the modern era, Buddhism is beginning Tibetan Red Hats in the era of the Mongolian to gain wider popularity in the world commu- empire. However, the spread of Buddhism be- nity due to its tolerant attitude to other religious gan only in the 16th-17th centuries after the in- traditions, the absence of claims to exclusive- troduction of the Gelug school (order), which ness, and openness to the interfaith dialogue. became dominant among all Mongolian peo- This process coincided with the uprising of the ples. Among the famous Oirat enlighteners and international women’s movement struggling Buddhism disseminators, there were Neiji-Toin for rights when women began to play a crucial and Zaya Pandita. Their biographies may trace role in the political, economic, social and reli- quite a few references to female Buddhists. gious life of the society. The biography of Neiji-Toin mentions that he Touching upon the extent of research of preached about the ways and rules for taking this topic, it is necessary to point out that on tantric vows “to many vanities, noyons, pious one hand, gender issues have been beyond the representatives of imperial origin, princesses – 1196 – Mergen S. Ulanov, Valeriy N. Badmaev… Woman’s Status in the Kalmyk and Buryat Buddhist Tradition… and noble women ...” (Biography of Neiji-Toin, nov, Tyumidova, 2018: 177). She had to hold 1984: 89). Besides, he actively transferred mo- 8 vows: not to kill, not to lie, not to steal, to nastic and lay vows, starting with the vows of observe celibacy, not to take alcohol (and other the ubashi, ubasansa, bandy, getzula, and ge- intoxicants), to change her outfit for a monastic long (Biography of Neiji-Toin, 1984: 89). robe, to change the name for a monastic one, Neiji-Toin also ordained his son Erdem-un to change the mind (abandon narrow-minded Dalai along with his wife. It happened when the cares and aspirations). preacher was in the territory of Manchuria in The Mongol-Oirat laws of 1640 (Iki Mukden with his son, his wife and children ar- Tsaadzhin Bichik or Ikh tsaaz) the legal system riving from Dzungaria. However, the lama did of the Oirats and Kalmyks rested upon for a not wish to see his relatives for several days, long time, defended the rights of the Buddhist saying that as a monk he could not have a son, clergy, including its female part. Shabagansas a daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Howev- and Ubasansas were mentioned here as fol- er, the local noblemen were very insistent and lows: “For insulting bandi or shabagansa a fine persuasive, so he agreed to meet only provided of five coins is given. And the one who beats that his family got ordained. As a result, Er- them is punishable by nine coins. For insulting dam-un Dalai became a gelong monk, whereas ubashi or ubasansa a mulct of a horse is to be his wife became his shabbantsa (Biography of paid.” (Ikh tsaaz..., 1981: 17). Neiji-Toin, 1984: 75). The biography of anoth- It should be noted that Buddhism made er Oirat enlightener, Zaya Pandita, says that he a significant impact on Iki Tsaadzhin Bichik. often took the vows of gelong, getzula, bandi, These laws lack the brutality of the Great Yasa ubashi and ubasansa (Radnadadra, 2003: 182). of the Mongols (Ulanov, Badmaev, Matsakova, In the biography of Zaya Pandita it is men- 2016: 1071). The Buddhist humanism influ- tioned that he sometimes even gave initiation ence on the Mongol-Oirat laws of 1640 can be into the female monastic rank of getzulma, seen in the article concerning the punishment which required taking 36 vows, which is an of women for adultery. For example, a woman extremely rare custom among the Mongolian accused of disloyalty to her husband was pun- peoples. One ubasansa brought Zaya Pandita ished only with a relatively small fine in favour a yurt decorated with silver, twenty camels and of the head of the ulus, “If a married woman ten horses along with many other things. After converges with an outsider by mutual consent that, she was ordained to the monastic rank of and mutual love, then the woman is to pay four getzulma and given the name of Badma (Rad- and the man five heads (of cattle)” (Ikh tsaaz ..., nadadra, 2003: 186). 1981: 24). Meanwhile, in Yasa, those accused Thus, at the dawn of Buddhism among the of adultery were subject to the death penalty. Oirats, there were women who took the spiritu- The spiritual vows of an ubasansa were of- al vows of ubasansa and shabagansa.
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