Sochi Buddhists fined for meditation without permission
FSB and office of public Prosecutor has considered illegal the meeting of the faithful missionary.
A resident of Sochi fined by court for carrying out collective meditation for Buddhists, the followers of the Karma Kagyu tradition. The Department of the FSB and the Prosecutor’s office considered the meeting of the Sochi Buddhists illegal missionary activities, stating that the religious Association has not been registered in the Ministry of justice. The organizer of the meditations pleaded guilty, explaining that he did not know about the need to obtain permission to conduct meditations.
Krasnodar region Prosecutor’s office announced the prosecution of a 32-year-old resident of Sochi, who conducted missionary work on behalf of the centralized religious organization “Russian Association of Diamond way Buddhists of Karma Kagyu tradition” without permits.
As explained “Kommersant” in supervising Department, public Prosecutor and FSB became aware that a local resident for several years held in the boathouse collective meditation, which was going about a dozen of his associates.
“The meeting facilitator was not actively attracting new followers and have not advocated their practices in the media, for the meditations gathered a certain small circle of people, — explained “Kommersant” employee of the Prosecutor’s office.— However, his work in fact is the missionary, which involves the registration of a religious Association in the Ministry of justice”.
The Central court of Sochi found the man guilty of violating the law on freedom of conscience, religion and religious associations (part 4 of article 5.26 of the administrative code) and fined 5 thousand rubles. According to prosecutors, the illegal missionary activity ceased.
The organizer of the meditations admitted his guilt and explained that he was not aware of the need to register the Association. According to prosecutors, the documents for registration of the Association of followers of the Karma Kagyu tradition recently submitted to the regional Department of the Ministry of justice.
Karma Kagyu is one of the four main Tibetan Buddhist traditions, with particular attention paid to this tradition of meditation and the direct experience of mind’s nature under the guidance of a teacher. Russian Association of Diamond way Buddhists of Karma Kagyu tradition is the largest Buddhist organization in the Russian Federation on representation in the regions.
According to the resource Buddhism.ru Buddhist practice in Sochi appeared thanks to the blessing of the first European Lama OLE Nydahl. “For a joint study of Buddhist philosophy and practicing Buddhist practitioners of the Buddhist Sochi are collected regularly according to schedule — reports.— Our community is currently in the process of official registration as a local religious organization that operates in General conformity with the centralized religious organization “Russian Association of Diamond way Buddhists of Karma Kagyu tradition”.