The task of building a new “synthesis” was sharply posed in the works of prominent
fi gures of the Silver age. From the concept of unity through the universal sense, the
thought of Russian philosophers of modernity leads to the fi eld of deep experience. The interest in Oriental types of spirituality (Buddhism) and the search for spiritual synthesis is manifested in the creative heritage of artists and thinkers of the Silver age.
The author identifi es different areas of Russian Orientalism. Analysing the works of V.
Solovyov, N. F. Fedorov, E. P. Blavatskaya, N. Roerich, Helena Roerich, the author of
the paper shows the transition from external stylisation to the attainment of the moral
essence of Buddhism, which was described in the famous work “The Dhammapada”. The author outlines the development of the Buddhist concept of desire in E. P. Blavatskaya’s doctrine and the teaching of Living Ethics of the Roerichs. The latter develops the idea of a phased, intensive building of a hierarchy of desires. Deeply feeling the widespread disruption of morality, the Roerichs substantiated and largely developed E. P. Blavatskaya’s ideas. The doctrine of the Roerichs brought together the internal and external, personal, and outer, Cosmism and Orientalism.
Buddhism, nirvana, supramoralism.
References
1. Bely Andrei. Rudol’f Shteyner i Gyote v mirovozzrenii sovremennosti. M., 1917. 344 s.
2. Darmakirti. Obosnovanie chuzhoy odushevlennosti. S tolkovaniem Vinitadevy. / per. s tib.
F. I. Shcherbatskogo. Pg., 1922. 79 s.
3. Kozhevnikov V. A. Buddizm v sravnenii s khristianstvom. T. 1. Petrograd: tip-ya Merkusheva, 1916.
633 s.
4. Ol’denburg S. F. Zhizn’ Buddy, indiyskogo Uchitelya Zhizni. Lektsiya akademika S. F. Ol’denburga,
chitannaya pri otkrytii vystavki 24 avg. 1919 g. Peterburg: izdanie Otdela po delam Muzeyev i okhrane pamyatnikov
Iskusstva i stariny, 1919. 52 s.
5. Ol’denburg S. F. Pervaya buddiyskaya vystavka v Peterburge. Peterburg, 1919. 41 s.
6. Ol’denburg S. F. Svyazi Zapada s Vostokom starinnye… // Vostok – Zapad. Issledovaniya. Perevody.
Publikatsii. M., 1982. 293 s.
7. Rerikh N. K. Iz literaturnogo naslediya. Listy dnevnika, izbrannye stat’i, pis’ma. M., 1974. 286 s.
8. Rerikh Yu. N. Izbrannye trudy. M., 1967. 573 s.
9. Rerikh Yu. N. Skazaniya o Rame v Tibete. M., 1960. 10 s.
10. Rozenberg O. O. Vvedenie v izuchenie buddizma po yaponskim i kitayskim istochnikam: v 2 ch.
Tokio-SPb, 1916–1918. Ch. 1. Svod leksikografi cheskogo materiala. 569 s.
11. Rozenberg O. O. Vvedenie v izuchenie buddizma po yaponskim i kitayskim istochnikam: v 2 t. Pg.,
1918. T. 2. Problemy buddiyskoy fi losofi i. 368 s.
12. Rokotova Natal’ya (E. I. Rerikh). Osnovy buddizma. Ulan-Bator, 1926. 67 s.
13. Sent-Iler Zh. (E. I. Rerikh). Kriptogrammy Vostoka. Parizh: Rus. knigoizdatel’stvo Ya. Povolotskogo
i K., 1929. 136 s.
14. Solov’yov V. S. Opravdanie dobra. Nravstvennaya fi losofi ya //Solov’yov V.S. Sochineniya: v 2 t. M.,
1988. T. 1. 892 s.
15. Fyodorov N. F. Filosofi ya obshchego dela: v 2 t. M.: AST, 2003. T. 1. 699 s.
16. Shcherbatskoy F. I. Izbrannye trudy po buddizmu. M., 1988. 426 s.
17. Shcherbatskoy F. I. Uchenie o kategoricheskom imperative u brakhmanov. Petrograd, 1918. 370 s.
18. Roerich G. N. Indology in Russia // The Journal of the Greater Indian society. Vol. 12. July. 1945.
№ 2. P. 69–98.
