ABSTRACT
Buddhism has a long history in Indonesia, its golden era being the times of the Śailendra dynasty of Mataram (c. mid-eighth to mid-ninth century), Śrivijaya (seventh to thirteenth centuries) and Majapahit (thirteenth to fifteenth centuries). From the thirteenth century onwards Islam began to penetrate the archipelago unremittingly, and the Buddhists in Sumatra were unable to resist the proselytizing impact of the Muslim missionaries. In Java, Buddhism rapidly lost its hold over the aristocracy, too, and was at least formally supplanted in the rural areas. By the time the Dutch had fully established their authority in Java, Buddhism had almost entirely disappeared from view as a living religion. Certainly the Dutch did not classify it as one of the religions practised by the Javanese. The latter were considered to be either Muslims or Christians: no other alternatives such as the syncretistic Agama Jawi of the Javanese or the Agama Budha of the Tengger were recognized. However, by the middle of the twentieth century, Buddhism had once more established itself as a living religion. This was perhaps not very important in quantitative terms, but it was of significance in the sense that it was the religion that appealed to people of very different ethnic backgrounds: Chinese, Indians, Europeans and Javanese. Members of all these ethnic communities resident in the archipelago made significant contributions to the Buddhist revival. It is the objective of this chapter to make some remarks on the beginnings of this revival, and in particular to show the diversity of the ethnic backgrounds of the people involved in it. A very brief outline of the position of Buddhism in contemporary Indonesia will also be included.
