부랴트 민족정체성 구축을 위한 종교적 요소의 선별

Abstract

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, in the process of strengthening the ethnic identity of the Buryats, divided into two territorial groups living, respectively, in the northwest and southeast of Lake Baikal, Buddhism and shamanism came to the fore. Buddhism is a religion that was mainly followed by the eastern Buryats. However, it has become the ethnic marker of the common Buryat national culture for the following reasons. First, the eastern Buryat Buddhists outnumber the Western group. Secondly, the Republic of Buryatia - the center of the Buryat people - was formed on the territory of the eastern group. Thirdly, Buddhism is one of the world religions and deserves to stand shoulder to shoulder with Orthodoxy. Fourth, it is the ethnic marker that clearly distinguishes Buryats from Orthodox Russians and other dominant religious groups in Russia. On the other hand, shamanism seems to have had some shortcomings from the point of view of the Buryat intelligentsia in the 1990s, which prevented it from being promoted as a marker of national culture. First of all, shamanists were mainly small Western Buryats. It was also important that shamanism, unlike Buddhism, does not have a clear organizational structure, as well as unity in form, content and shamanic rituals. Thirdly, there are no mass shamanic rites that would cover the entire Buryat people, and consequently, there are no generally recognized shamans who would lead such rites. Finally, there was some negative prejudice against shamanism as a primitive and uncivilized beliefs. However, in the life of the Buryats, shamanism was constantly reproduced, represented in family rituals. In the process of acquiring an identity after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Buryats grew more interested in their own roots, that is, in their clan and tribe, which naturally made them pay more attention to shamanism. In addition, the originality and historicity of shamanism as a purely Buryat religion, and not someone else's religious teaching, such as Orthodoxy or Buddhism, was emphasized. At present, Buryat shamanism has gone beyond tribal communities, and covers the issues of integration of broader structures, i.e. of the entire Buryat people. However, the various transformations that took place in shamanism in the process of its transformation gave rise to the problem of its authenticity. Shamanism emerged as an element of the Buryat ethnic culture and draws its strength from its originality and legitimacy as the first and original Buryat religion. However, in the process of its popularization and reproduction, there is a danger of losing this legitimacy, which gives rise to a serious contradiction.