About Maldivien Buddhism

Abstract

　Although there are numerous studies on Buddhism, there is limited research about Maldivien Buddhism, which lasted until 1153 AD; the reason for this remains unknown. In 2008, 2010, and 2013, our Tokyo team traveled to the Maldives to explore world religion. Maldivien Buddhism is important for the study of Buddhist evangelizing because it involves a simple model of Buddhist economy (capitalism). In 2012, extremists broke into the national museum in Malé, but, fortunately, we had photographed the museum’s exhibits in 2008. From now on, however, study of Maldivien Buddhism will require excavation of the islands. Hopefully someone would study the Maldivien Buddhism and unknown areas’ Buddhism. We’ll get certain results of Buddhism study.