«There Will Not Be a Dignified Life Without a Flock of Sheep»: Negotiating Religion in the Context of Socially Engaged Buddhism in Buryatia
https://doi.org/10.22394/2073-7203-2020-38-1-106-122
EDN: WIHBIE
Abstract
The article looks at the Social Flock (sotsial'naia otara) project whereby the sangha gives sheep to laypeople and other locals as a kind of socially engaged Buddhism in Buryatia. It places the Social Flock project into a broader context of moral economy in the region, where through various acts of help, support and other kinds of giving the sangha establishes itself as a “pillar” of society. The article also critically discusses the very concept of socially engaged Buddhism. While it is often understood in the literature as a distinctly novel kind of movement that takes on particular institutional forms, the article explores it instead as a more general ongoing negotiation of the religious realm, which has in fact been present and relevant throughout Buddhist history. Finally, it explores the implications of religious social engagement for contemporary “secular” modernity in Russia and the post-Soviet region more generally.
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Review
For citations:
Jonutytė K. «There Will Not Be a Dignified Life Without a Flock of Sheep»: Negotiating Religion in the Context of Socially Engaged Buddhism in Buryatia. State, Religion and Church in Russia and Worldwide. 2020;38(1):106-122. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22394/2073-7203-2020-38-1-106-122. EDN: WIHBIE
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