Buddhism in Indonesia
Buddhism has a long history in Indonesia, and it is one of the six recognized religions in the country, along with Islam, Christianity, Hinduism and Confucianism. According to 2023 estimates roughly 0.71% of the total citizens of Indonesia were Buddhists, numbering around 2 million. Most Buddhists are concentrated in Jakarta, Riau, Riau Islands, Bangka Belitung, North Sumatra, and West Kalimantan. These totals, however, are probably inflated, as practitioners of Taoism, Tridharma, Yiguandao, and other Chinese folk religions, which are not considered official religions of Indonesia, likely declared themselves as Buddhists on the most recent census. Today, the majority of Buddhists in Indonesia are Chinese Indonesians, but communities of native Buddhists also exist.
History
Antiquity
, especially Indonesian Esoteric Buddhism, is the second oldest outside religion in Indonesia after Hinduism, which arrived from India around the second century. The history of Buddhism in Indonesia is closely related to the history of Hinduism, as a number of empires influenced by Indian culture were established around the same period. The arrival of Buddhism in the Indonesian archipelago began with trading activity, from the early 1st century, by way of the maritime Silk Road between Indonesia and India. The oldest Buddhist archaeological site in Indonesia is arguably the Batujaya stupas complex in Karawang, West Java. The oldest relic in Batujaya was estimated to originate from the 2nd century, while the latest dated from the 12th century. Subsequently, significant numbers of Buddhist sites were found in Jambi, Palembang, and Riau provinces in Sumatra, as well as in Central and East Java. The Indonesian archipelago has, over the centuries, witnessed the rise and fall of powerful Buddhist empires, such as the Sailendra dynasty and the Mataram and Srivijaya empires.According to some Chinese sources, the Chinese Buddhist monk I-tsing, while on his pilgrim journey to India, witnessed the powerful maritime empire of Srivijaya based on Sumatra in the 7th century. The empire served as a Buddhist learning center in the region. A notable Srivijayan revered Buddhist scholar is Dharmakīrtiśrī, a Srivijayan prince of the Sailendra dynasty, born around the turn of the 7th century in Sumatra. He became a revered scholar-monk in Srivijaya and moved to India to become a teacher at the famed Nalanda University, as well as a poet. He built on and reinterpreted the work of Dignaga, the pioneer of Buddhist logic, and was very influential among Brahman logicians as well as Buddhists. His theories became normative in Tibet and are studied to this day as a part of the basic monastic curriculum. Other Buddhist monks who visited Indonesia were Atisha, Dharmapala, a professor of Nalanda, and the South Indian Buddhist Vajrabodhi. Srivijaya was the largest Buddhist empire ever formed in Indonesian history. Indian empires such as the Pala Empire helped fund Buddhism in Indonesia; specifically funding a monastery for Sumatran monks.
File:Mendut Temple Magelang.jpg|thumb|Mendut Temple in Magelang, Central Java, IndonesiaA number of Buddhist sites and artifacts related to Indonesia's historical heritage can be found in Indonesia, including the 8th century Borobudur mandala cmonument and Sewu temple in Central Java, Batujaya in West Java, Muaro Jambi, Muara Takus and Bahal temple in Sumatra, and numerous statues or inscriptions from the earlier history of Indonesian Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms. During the eras of the Kediri, Singhasari and Majapahit empires, Buddhism — identified as Dharma ri Kasogatan — was acknowledged as one of the kingdom's official religions along with Hinduism. Although some of the kings may have favored Hinduism, harmony, religious tolerance, and even syncretism were promoted as a manifestation of the national motto, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, which was coined from the Kakawin Sutasoma, written by Mpu Tantular to promote tolerance and coexistence between Hindus and Buddhists. The classical era of ancient Java has also produced some of the most exquisite examples of Buddhist art; such as the statue of Prajnaparamita and the statue of Buddha Vairochana and Boddhisttva Padmapani and Vajrapani located in the Mendut temple.
Decline and revival
Coming of Islam
In the 13th century, Islam entered the archipelago, and began gaining a foothold in coastal port towns. The fall of the Hindu-Buddhist Majapahit empire in the late 15th or early 16th century marked the end of Dharmic civilization in Indonesia. By the end of the 16th century, Islam had supplanted Hinduism and Buddhism as the dominant religion of Java and Sumatra. For 450 years after that, there was no significant Buddhist practice in Indonesia. Many Buddhist sites, stupas, temples, and manuscripts were lost or forgotten as the region became predominantly Muslim. During this era of decline, few people practiced Buddhism; most of them were Chinese immigrants who settled in Indonesia when migration accelerated in the 17th century. Many kelenteng in Indonesia are in fact a tridharma temple that houses three faiths, namely Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism.First missionary effort
During the 1920s, Kwee Tek Hoay became actively engaged in the Tridharma. He ensured that the Buddhist temple in Jakarta also served as an institution for lessons on Buddhism. He is credited with the publication of the first Indonesian-language magazine on the teachings of Buddhism, Dharma Moestika.In 1934, Narada Thera, a Theravada Buddhist missionary monk from Sri Lanka, visited the Dutch East Indies for the first time as part of his journey to spread the Dhamma in Southeast Asia. This opportunity was seized by local Buddhists to revive Buddhism in Indonesia. A Bodhi tree planting ceremony was held on the southeastern side of Borobudur on March 10, 1934, under the blessing of Narada Thera, and some lay followers were ordained as monks.
Old Order era
State-recognized religions
On January 27, 1965, under the Soekarno administration through Presidential Decree No. 1/PNPS/1965, the legal foundation for the "five religions embraced by the population of Indonesia" concept was established. This document was the first to list the religions within its official elucidation, namely Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism and Buddhism.The three teachings
Although the belief system is called "Buddhism" and the followers identify themselves as "Buddhists," many of them were actually practicing Tridharma, a Chinese syncretised form of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism.Later, it was the figures from Tridharma who then separated themselves and formed various modern Buddhist organizations that still survive, such as the Indonesian Buddhayana Council and the Sangha Theravada Indonesia.
National Vesak celebration
The first modern Vesak celebration after Indonesia's independence was held in 1953 at Borobudur Temple, marking a pivotal moment in the national revival of this tradition. Looking back, however, the celebration of Vesak at Borobudur and Mendut temples had actually begun as early as 1929, initiated by the Theosophical Society of the Dutch East Indies. This nascent tradition then came to a complete halt during the Indonesian National Revolution from 1945 to 1949, before finally being revived in 1953 and later officially established as a national holiday in 1983.Inter-sectarian Buddhayana
In 1955, Ashin Jinarakkhita formed the first Indonesian Buddhist lay organisation, Persaudaraan Upasaka Upasika Indonesia. In 1957, the PUUI was integrated into the Indonesian Buddhist Association, in which both Theravada and Mahayana priesthood were united. Nowadays, the PUUI is called Majelis Buddhayana Indonesia.In 1960, Jinarakkhita established the Sangha Suci Indonesia, as a monastic organisation. In 1963, the name was changed to Maha Sangha of Indonesia, and in 1974 until the present day, the name was changed into Sangha Agung Indonesia. It is a community of inter-school monastics from the Theravada, Mahayana and Tantrayana schools.
New Order era
Belief in one supreme God
Following the downfall of President Sukarno in the mid-1960s, Pancasila was reasserted as the official Indonesian policy on religion to only recognise monotheism. In 1965, after a coup-attempt, Buddhist organisations had to comply with the first principle of the Indonesian state ideology, Pancasila, the belief in one supreme God. All organisations that doubted or denied the existence of God were outlawed. This posed a problem for Indonesian Buddhism, which was solved by Jinarakkhita by presenting Nibbāna as the Theravada "God", and Adi-Buddha, the primaeval Buddha of the region's previous Indonesian Esoteric Buddhism, as the Mahayana "God", although this interpretation of the Buddha is controversial and not widely accepted by the Theravada school of Buddhism. According to Jinarakkhita, the concept of Adi Buddha was found in the tenth-century Javanese Buddhist text Sang Hyang Kamahayanikan.Restriction of Chinese religions
During the New Order era under President Suharto, the "state-recognized religions" policy was implemented with great rigidity. Through Presidential Instruction No. 14 of 1967, the public practice of Chinese folk religions, beliefs, and customs, including Confucianism, and Indonesian folk religions were severely restricted and suppressed. As a consequence, only five religions were de facto recognized and facilitated by the state, which strongly reinforced the public understanding of there being "five official religions." Many formal Chinese traditional beliefs such as Confucianism and Taoism were also incorporated into the Buddhist practices of Chinese Indonesian Buddhists who were mostly of the Mahayana school, labelling the folk religions as a part of "Buddhism". During this time, many Chinese temples changed their names from Chinese names to Pali or Sanskrit.Chinese Indonesians, in particular, had increasingly embraced Christianity. Catholic growth prior to World War II was slow, but subsequently saw some success, most notably after 1965 and the New Order, where all Indonesians were required to proclaim an approved religion. For example, between 1950 and 2000, the Catholic population grew from 1.1% to 8.7% in the Archdiocese of Pontianak, while in the Diocese of Sintang, it grew from 1.7% to 20.1%. Catholicism and other minority religions have experienced enormous growth especially in areas inhabited by large numbers of Chinese Indonesians and ethnic Javanese. In 2000, there were 301,084 Catholics in Jakarta, compared to only 26,955 in 1960. This means the Catholic population increased elevenfold while in the same period the population of Jakarta merely tripled, from 2,800,000 to 8,347,000. In the early 2000s, some reports also show that many Chinese Indonesians converted to Christianity. Demographer Aris Ananta reported in 2008 that "anecdotal evidence suggests that more Buddhist Chinese have become Christians as they increased their standards of education".