Review: The Edo period (1603-1868) holds a special place in the history of Japan. Despite the fact that since 1641, the Tokugawa Shogunate isolated Japan from the outside world, this period is known for significant transformation in various levels of social life. This article is dedicated to the changes in the religious and cultural spheres of the country during the Edo period based on the example of origination of the Obaku School, new movement of Japanese Buddhism founded by the migrants from China. Particular attention is given to the creative path and biography of Ingen Ryuki (1592-1673) as the founder of the school, who familiarized Japan with the cultural achievement of Ming China. The scientific novelty is defined by the absence of special works dedicated to the Obaku School and its founder in the national Japanese Studies. Therefore, the author focused on the writings of English and Japanese authors. Based on the example of separate aspects of Japanese cultural life, such as calligraphy, the author reviews the magnitude of cultural impact of Ingen Ryuki and his followers. The main conclusion lies in the statement that despite Japan’s isolation and conservative policy of the shohunate, the new cultural ideal borrowed from China and passed on through the monks-emigrants has entwined in the culture of Edo period. The emergence of “Chinese styles” in calligraphy and painting are the vivid illustration of the power of creative heritage of the Obaku teaching, as well as the talent and charisma of its founder.

Keywords: the Tokugawa shogunate, calligraphy, Ingen Ryuki, Ōbaku, Japanese culture, the Edo period, Japan, the Ming dynasty, Buddhism, Zen

Review: In early 20th century part of the Buddhist Sangha started a process of revising its organization forms as well as its theoretical and practical heritage. Two essentially different movements existed in that sphere. They had different tasks and quite different approaches for solving those tasks. On the one hand, the activity of such Buryat enlightenment scholars as B. Baradin, Ts. Jamsarano as well as representatives of the clergy such as A. Dorjiev, Ch. Iroltuyev, Ganjurova-Gegen were part of the renewal processes in Buddhism that took place in many countries where it was spread. The renewal process was a reaction against the ideological and economic expansion of the colonialist countries and was designed to develop the ideological basis for preserving the national identity of the colonized nations. On the other hand, Lubsan Sandan Tsydenov and his followers had quite a different task: to reform Buddhism in order to enable it to develop in a new social and cultural environment – in the Western culture of Russia. Their task was not so much preserving the national identity as developing the Buddhist tradition in a new cultural environment, which also solved the question of identity in an indirect way.

Keywords: Russian Buddhism, renewal movement, neobuddhism, Tantra, Sangha, Tibetan Buddhism, Buryat Buddhism, Dandaron, Tsydenov, Dorzhiev