Buddhist Baron R. Ungern von Sternberg and the Right-Wing Literature

Abstract

The article describes the way Russian right-wing literature reflected the Buddhist component of the image of Baron R. Ungern von Sternberg. The author used the interpretive and comparative methods to study the works by E. Limonov, A. Dugin, and L. Prozorov, as well as poets and essayists from the Black Corps Almanac published by the Brotherhood of St. Rev. Joseph Volotsky. Each of these authors had their own perception of R. Ungern’s image, but he remained a symbol of struggle against the wrong world order. For E. Limonov and A. Shiropaev, he was an anti-Western, anti-bourgeois, and revolutionary-minded warrior who became Mahagala, a Mongol-Buddhist god of war. For A. Dugin, he was a universal Pratyekabuddhayāna who was to bring a purifying destruction upon the world as a forerunner of Bodhisattva Maitreya. For the team of the Black Corps Almanac, he was a Buddhism-related Christian warrior who opposed the red ideology. For L. Prozorov, R. Ungern was a demonic mystical being who chose fascism as a means to conquer the world but thought himself equal to Buddha and Christ. In all these cases, the image of Baron R. Ungern existed in a high stylistic register while his real biography and religious issues faded into the background, overshadowed by his symbolism. As a result, Baron R. Ungern turned into a principle that still inspires the modern right-wing, Eurasian, and traditionalist idea.

Keywords

• r. ungern von sternberg
• buddhism
• right-wing literature
• apology
• symbolization
• mysticism
• e. limonov
• a. dugin