Reading a 1908 Buryat Schoolbook on Buddhism in the Light of its Socio-Cultural Setting

In this article, I consider the text “A Concise Teaching of Buddha Shakyamuni’s Religion for Instructing the Buryat Children…” published in 1910 by lama Danja-a Erdeniyeb. I have attempted to trace its complex discursive story, which shows the way the religious didactic narrative was transformed into a textbook for secular Buryat schools of the time. The story of this transformation requires a comprehensive comment on the historical and cultural setting of the early 20th century tsarist Russia in which the author and his text were both embedded. In the appendix to the article, the reader will find my translation and transliteration of this peculiar document.