The Perception of Buddhism in the Lyrics of Russian Poets at the Turn of the 19th–20th Centuries: Konstantin Balmont

The article studies the phenomenon of the interest in and artistic engagement with Buddhist themes and concepts among Russian poets of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Symbolist poet Konstantin Balmont addressed Buddhist ideas in a par-ticularly systematic and consistent manner. From this perspective, his four poetry col-lections from the first five years of the 20th century are especially significant: Burning Buildings (1900), Let Us Be Like the Sun (1903), Only Love (1903), and The Liturgy of Beauty (1905). The reception of doctrinal Buddhist ideas as they relate to the worldview and the destiny of the human being forms a central theme in specific sec-tions across all four collections. The soteriological aspect, associated with the over-coming of feelings and desires, is treated in a more ambiguous and debatable manner in Balmont’s lyrical works, as are the concepts of karma and reincarnation. In Only Love, formulas of Indian Buddhism emerge as criteria for evaluating various phenomena and are even applied to non-Buddhist concepts. In the final collection, the ideas of whole-ness and unity prevail, expressed in a polemic with the rational mind in favor of the primacy of feeling. Overall, the Buddhist cosmological framework enabled the poet to create a brighter vision of the world and to arrive at a deeper form of self-knowledge.