The Impact of the Socio-Cultural Context on the Process of Religious Conversion

The article is devoted to a comparative analysis of the influence of the socio-cultural context on religious conversion on the example of the communities of Western Buddhism in two post-communist countries, Russia and Poland. The comparison is made following four criteria: striving for integration into the socio-cultural milieu of the country, political neutrality, official status and leadership. The object of the research is the Russian Association of the Diamond Way Buddhism of the Karma Kagyu tradition and the Diamond Way Buddhism Association of the Karma Kagyu lineage in Poland, which are the most numerous according to the number of followers among the organizations of Western Buddhism. The author concludes that in Poland, the interaction of the Diamond Way Buddhism Association with the government, society and other religious organizations is based on democratic principles, implies greater openness, support and interest from the side of the state, and therefore favorable conditions for religious conversion. In Russia, the Russian Association of the Diamond Way Buddhism faces the lack of formal instruments for resolving conflict situations. The need for demonstrating loyalty to the authorities, for seeking approval from other religious organizations and the scientific community, which indicates the relative closed nature of interaction with the environment, creates the necessity to adapt to changes in the legal field and therefore limits the possibilities of conversion to Western Buddhism.