The Path of Buddhism to Lithuania During the Soviet Era

Date

19 May, 2026

Time

18:00

Type

Public lecture

Location

Stasys Museum

Another Turn of the Sleepers

Programme of Accompanying Events

Public Lecture
The Path of Buddhism to Lithuania During the Soviet Era
Prof. Dr. Audrius Beinorius

How did Buddhist ideas reach Lithuania, and under what circumstances did the first communities of practitioners begin to form? This public lecture presents a little-known yet significant chapter in Lithuania’s religious and cultural history – the arrival of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition in the 20th century. The lecture focuses on the Lithuanian community that preserved a Tibetan Buddhist tradition brought from Buryatia, along with its teacher, Bidia Dandaron (1914–1974) – a prominent Buddhist teacher of Buryat origin, philosopher, and one of the most important proponents of Buddhism during the Soviet era. It explores how his teachings and personality attracted a wide circle of students, including Lithuanians, and how this tradition was both persecuted and sustained under the difficult conditions of the Soviet period. The lecture will also address the role of Lithuanian students within this milieu; the transmission of Buddhist practices and texts through informal intellectual networks; the spread of Buddhist ideas in Lithuania during the late Soviet period; and the significance of this tradition for contemporary understandings of Buddhism in Lithuania.

The lecture is intended for anyone interested in the history of religions, Eastern philosophy, Lithuanian cultural history, and alternative spiritual movements during the Soviet era.

 Audrius Beinorius is a Doctor of Philosophy and Professor at the Institute of Asian and Transcultural Studies, Faculty of Philosophy, Vilnius University. His research interests include Indian philosophy and religion, comparative religious studies, cultural psychology, and postcolonial theory. Beinorius studied in India and has worked at universities in the United States, Japan, India, and across Europe. He has also taught as a visiting professor at Sapienza University of Rome, the University of Malta, Ghent University (Belgium), Reykjavík University, the University of Tartu, Dev Sanskriti Vishwavidyalaya, and the University of Calcutta (India). To date, he has published five books: Sąmonė klasikinėje Indijos filosofijoje (Consciousness in Classical Indian Philosophy) (2002), Imagining Otherness: A Postcolonial Perspective on Indian Religious Culture (2007), Budizmo raida Indijoje (The Development of Buddhism in India) (2011), Indija ir Vakarai: kultūrų sąveikos pjūviai (India and the West: Aspects of Cultural Interaction) (2012), and Samvada: filosofiniai pokalbiai su Indija (Samvada: Philosophical Conversations with India) (2024). He has also prepared Lithuanian translations of the Dhammapada (2005), from Pali, and the Upanishads (2013), from Sanskrit. In addition, he has published over 90 scholarly articles in Lithuanian and international academic journals.