Literary and religious mystifications and Buddhist problems in the essays of V.B. Korobov

Statement of the problem. The article analyzes the essays of V.B. Korobov, included in the cycle Unknown and Little-Studied Cults (2006). These essays were previously devoted only to brief critical analyses; they were not in the center of attention of Russian literary scholars. This is what determines the novelty of the article. The purpose of the article is to analyze the essays "Far Eastern expeditions of Prince E.E. Ukhtomsky and the tantric mysteries of ni-kha-yung-sle’i man-su-ro-bha. (From the history of semiotic cults)" and "Brief information about the cult of the light transformations" from the point of view of the presence and interpretation of Buddhist ideas in them. The relevance of the study is determined by the interest of Russian literary studies in complex genre formations and in the phenomenon of the ‘religious text’ manifested in fiction. Review of the scientific literature on the problem. The possibility of analyzing V.B. Korobov’s essay in the selected perspective is supported by the works of V.N. Toporov, R.F. Bekmetov, T.V. Bernyukevich, G.A. Sorokina, M.S. Ulanov, and P.V. Alekseev. Methodology (materials and methods). The article, created as part of a major study devoted to the ‘Buddhist text’ of modern Russian literature, uses the method of hermeneutic analysis. Research results. It is determined that the aforementioned Korobov essays can be characterized as philosophical essays, placed in the shell of literary and religious mystifications, parodies of scientific research. In addition, it is revealed that the problematic of the "Far Eastern expeditions of Prince E.E. Ukhtomsky and the tantric mysteries of ni-kha-yung-sle’i man-su-ro-bha. (From the history of semiotic cults)" and "Brief information about the cult of the light transformations", as well as the article "Marginal notes on Prajnaparamita" is closely connected with the problematic of Buddhism and touches upon issues about the ability of language to change reality, about the true idea of sacrifice, about the difficulty of liberation based on a darkened consciousness. The intellectual researchers, the narrators of the stories framing the main content of the essay, against the backdrop of Buddhist reality, appear in V.B. Korobov’s works only as unbelieving and doubting observers, symbolizing the modern state of the weak rationalized secular mind.