‘Alien’ Lamas: Russian Policy towards Foreign Buddhist Clergy in the Eighteenth to Early Twentieth Centuries

Abstract

This article analyses the Russian policy towards foreign Buddhist clergy who penetrated into the Russian Empire from Mongolia and Tibet between the eighteenth and early twentieth centuries. Drawing on archive materials, the origins of this policy are identified. The attitude of the official Buddhist administration of East Siberia led by Khambo Lama to the so- called alien lamas is discussed.