Buddhism in Estonia

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The Buddhism in Estonia has a relatively young tradition and history. The fact that the Lutheran or Catholic Baltic states and Buddhist regions of Russia ( Buryatia , Kalmykia , parts of the Caucasus ) belong to the Tsarist empire since 1721 initially had no consequences for intercultural exchange.

It was not until the beginning of the 20th century that the Estonian Karl Tõnisson (1873–1962) started his own Buddhist tradition in Estonia and Livonia .

Karl Tõnisson

In 1893 the Estonian Karl Tõnisson went to Buryatia for the first time and came into direct contact with Buddhism. Tõnisson received a Buddhist "training" in the Agaa monastery in Buryatia. He was the first Estonian to travel to Lhasa . After his return from the Himalayas he was active at the Buddhist temple in Saint Petersburg , which was completed in 1915 . The XIII. Dalai Lama (allegedly) appointed him in 1923 as "Brother Vahindra" as Buddhist Archbishop for Latvia and Sangharaja (head) of Buddhists in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Brother Vahindra became a famous and colorful figure in the inter-war Baltic states . In 1931 he finally emigrated to Southeast Asia and died a saint in Burma in 1962 . After his death in Rangoon , he was made a bodhisattva . Vahindra's pupil, the Baltic German Friedrich Voldemar Lustig (1912–1989), continued the work under his Buddhist name "Ashin Ananda".

Ungern-Sternberg novel

The Baltic German baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg (1886–1921, one of the “bloody barons” in history) propagated Buddhist ideas in Estonia - non-violence was not one of them. He fought on the side of the whites during the Russian Civil War and later in Mongolia , where he was proclaimed monarch in 1921, and on Lake Baikal , before he was executed by the Cheka in September 1921 .

Taola

In the 1970s, interest in Buddhism increased in Estonia. With the connivance of the Soviet state power exercised the "Buddhist Brotherhood of Estonia" ( Eestimaa Budistlik Vennaskond or Taola , Estonian town of Dao ) from 1982 to 1988 of their duties. She was committed to the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism . Estonians interested in the Far East, including the artist Jüri Arrak , practiced Buddhist ceremonies together under the leadership of Vello Väärtnõu, translated Buddhist literature into Estonian and erected small stupas , especially in western Estonia . The alternative medicine specialist Vigala Sass and the artist and architect Leonhard Lapin also felt connected to the movement.

The community had close contacts with the Iwolga Buddhist monastery in Buryatia , a branch of the Tibetan Gelug school. In 1988, however, the activities of the Estonian Buddhist Brotherhood were disrupted by the Soviet authorities when the Estonian Buddhists voted for Estonia's national independence from the Soviet Union.

Buddhism in Estonia Today

Today there are two major Buddhist centers in Estonia: the Estonian Buddhist Congregation Center of Drikung Kagyu Shri Ratna, founded in 1993, and the Nyingma Estonian Congregation of the Tibetan Buddhism, established in 1997 . Its membership is very small and is supported by individuals. The Estonian composer Sven Grünberg (* 1956) brought Far Eastern meditative music to Estonia since the late 1970s and is now the director of the Estonian Buddhism Institute.

In the largely secularized society, Buddhist ideas offer more and more Estonians a spiritual alternative. The two official visits by the Dalai Lama to Estonia in 1993 and 2001 at the invitation of the University of Tartu were well received.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Latvian Karlis Alexis Tennissons