The Making of Buddhism in Modern Indonesia: South and Southeast Asian Networks, 1900-1959

This book explores the making of Buddhism in modern Indonesia, arguing that it re-emerged due to local actors and transnational networks, bringing together and into conflict various ethnicities, nationalities, and schools of Buddhism. Chinese-Indonesian communities, European society, Theosophists, and international Theravada Buddhist organisations played a significant role in rooting Buddhism firmly in Indonesia. Buddhism continued to develop in post-independence Indonesia, with inter-Asian Buddhist networks and the growth of Indonesian Buddhist organisations in the 1950s.

Format: Hardback
Length: 290 pages
Publication date: 23 July 2024
Publisher: Leiden University Press

Buddhism in Modern Indonesia: A Second Life
Buddhism experienced a resurgence in modern Indonesia, particularly during the turbulent years of late colonial and independent Indonesia. This study contends that the re-emergence of Buddhism was driven by key local actors and transnational networks, in which both women and men played significant roles. Modern Buddhism brought together and into conflict the diverse ethnicities, nationalities, and schools of Buddhism present in Indonesia. Chinese-Indonesian communities, European society, Theosophists, and international Theravada Buddhist organizations played a pivotal role in establishing Buddhism firmly in Indonesia. Budding Buddhist networks interacted with the growing sense of nationalism and modernity in the Dutch colony, while newly founded Buddhist organizations generated new forms of knowledge production and transformed Indonesian Buddhist practices, material cultures, and literature, thereby integrating Buddhism in Indonesia with global Buddhism.
After exploring the revival of Buddhism in the colonial period, this study examines how Buddhism continued to develop in post-independence Indonesia. It highlights the crucial role of inter-Asian Buddhist networks and the continued growth of Indonesian Buddhist organizations in the 1950s. From its smaller niche in the late colonial period, Buddhism rapidly expanded and branched out widely across independent Indonesia's diverse ethnic communities.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9789087283940