AHC: Buddhist Russia

[FilipovsFolly]

Is this possible at all? Historically, a lot of the steppe tribes in what is now Russia were buddhist or had buddhist leanings. Is there any way to make this spread to Russia as a whole?

If it's totally ASB, what about some kind of neo-manichean Buddhist-Christian-Islamic syncretistic faith?

 

[The Uchronian]

Is this possible at all? Historically, a lot of the steppe tribes in what is now Russia were buddhist or had buddhist leanings. Is there any way to make this spread to Russia as a whole?

If it's totally ASB, what about some kind of neo-manichean Buddhist-Christian-Islamic syncretistic faith?

Maybe if the Mongols managed to actually conquer, and then permanently hold, most or all of OTL Russia.....but then again, it wouldn't be "Russia" as we'd know it IOTL.

 

[FilipovsFolly]

Maybe if the Mongols managed to actually conquer, and then permanently hold, most or all of OTL Russia.....but then again, it wouldn't be "Russia" as we'd know it IOTL.

Haha, true that. I should have used *Russia. But I'm talking an ethnically Russian, russian speaking, buddhist (or crypto-buddhist) nation.

Is there any way it could happen before, or around the same time as the christianization of the Rus?

 

[Youngmarshall]

Is this possible at all? Historically, a lot of the steppe tribes in what is now Russia were buddhist or had buddhist leanings. Is there any way to make this spread to Russia as a whole?

If it's totally ASB, what about some kind of neo-manichean Buddhist-Christian-Islamic syncretistic faith?

Abrahmaic religions tend to be hard to budge once established, your best bet is for something like a mongol conquest to happen to a russian people who are still pagans.

Kill jesus maybe.

 

[Hrvatskiwi]

Like a previous poster said, Abrahamic religions are difficult (but not impossible) to dislodge.

Maybe you could have a situation where a primarily Kalmyk horde establish dominance over Muscovy, and institute a policy where only Buddhists can hold higher public offices. Mix this with a Janissary-type policy where they take Russian boys and educate them in more martial interpretations of Buddhism, whilst breaking the social power of the Orthodox church through a mix of persecution and structural suppression. Replace them with the Buddhist temples as financial power centres and the Buddhist minority will call the shots.

Plus if any Orthodox-Russian bandits/ dissatisfied locals attack the temples, they can be repelled by monks who have trained in both Eastern styles of martial arts and traditional *Russian and Caucasian wrestling and fist-fighting styles.

 

[Delvestius]

Kill jesus maybe.

That's exactly what they did, and look what happened.

Let him live, on the other hand....

 

[FilipovsFolly]

Like a previous poster said, Abrahamic religions are difficult (but not impossible) to dislodge.

Maybe you could have a situation where a primarily Kalmyk horde establish dominance over Muscovy, and institute a policy where only Buddhists can hold higher public offices. Mix this with a Janissary-type policy where they take Russian boys and educate them in more martial interpretations of Buddhism, whilst breaking the social power of the Orthodox church through a mix of persecution and structural suppression. Replace them with the Buddhist temples as financial power centres and the Buddhist minority will call the shots.

Plus if any Orthodox-Russian bandits/ dissatisfied locals attack the temples, they can be repelled by monks who have trained in both Eastern styles of martial arts and traditional *Russian and Caucasian wrestling and fist-fighting styles.

I like this Idea, and it might be a good way to get in some of the syncretism I'm looking for. Maybe an interpretation surfaces that sees Christ and/or the various Saints as a Buddhas or Boddhisatvas?

Abrahmaic religions tend to be hard to budge once established, your best bet is for something like a mongol conquest to happen to a russian people who are still pagans.

That's what I was aiming for. Does anyone have any info on which steppe tribes were buddhist during the pagan period of Russia? How about if Buddhism got tweaked to be a bit more missionary?

That's exactly what they did, and look what happened.

Let him live, on the other hand....

This made my day.