Abstract
In the early twentieth century, Indonesia was a predominantly Muslim majority colony under the Dutch Christian colonial authorities. The 1930 volkstelling (census record) conducted by the Dutch colonial government recorded four religions being practiced in the archipelago; Buddhism was not one of them. Nevertheless, sources such as newspapers and private magazines published by various organizations showed that Buddhism was being practiced in Java. In the 1930s, several organizations published books and translations on Buddhism. The first organization that exclusively identified itself as Buddhist, the Java Buddhist Association, was established in 1929 by Dutch Buddhists in West Java. Five years later, Peranakan Chinese in Batavia established a second Buddhist organization. This article seeks to explore two issues, namely: the history and development of Buddhist institutions during the late colonial and early post-Independence Indonesia; and the transnational networks of these institutions in the promotion of Buddhist knowledge in modern Indonesia.
Highlights
Buddhism in modern Indonesia experienced a resurgence in the early twentieth century, when the Indonesian archipelago was under Dutch colonial rule
This study seeks to contribute to the historiography of Indonesia, especially during the late Dutch colonial period and early independence. In the former period, Religions 2022, 13, 217 the encounters of Buddhists in colonial society on Java provided an opportunity for the Peranakan Chinese to manifest modernity through establishing Buddhist organizations, institutions whose establishment was inspired by colonial modernity and the awakening of a sense of nationalism at the time
This article concludes that Buddhist organizations established by European and Peranakan Chinese Buddhists were cosmopolitan
Summary
Buddhism in modern Indonesia experienced a resurgence in the early twentieth century, when the Indonesian archipelago was under Dutch colonial rule. This study seeks to contribute to the historiography of Indonesia, especially during the late Dutch colonial period and early independence In the former period, Religions 2022, 13, 217 the encounters of Buddhists in colonial society on Java provided an opportunity for the Peranakan Chinese to manifest modernity through establishing Buddhist organizations, institutions whose establishment was inspired by colonial modernity and the awakening of a sense of nationalism at the time. The organizations discussed are exclusively Buddhist organizations, and earlier organizations deemed crucial to the study and dissemination of Buddhism These organizations are the Theosophical Society, the Java Buddhist Association, Sam Kauw Hwee, and the Batavia Buddhist Association. The discussion is limited to the 1950s because Buddhism in Indonesia was not yet stressed under choices between following a certain school of Buddhism under one prominent Buddhist leader named Ashin Jinarakkhita
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