Buddhist vanguard: transformations of Buryat Buddhist Sangha in Russia (XVIII – the beginning of XX cc.)

Based on the hitherto unknown Mongol and Tibetan manuscripts and documents from the Russian State Historical Archives, the article is the first attempt in the Russian historiography to reveal the transformation of the Buddhist institutes in the Russian Empire. Special attention is paid to the establishment and development of the administrative system of the Buddhist community and the transformation of Buddhist political conceptions in the Buddhist sangha. The author makes the conclusion that Buriat-Mongolian Buddhists were able to elaborate a model of interaction with a European state as well as to translate it to Mongolia and Tibet.