2022 Volume 11 Issue 1 Pages 79-114
The unprecedented emergence of hagiographic Buddhist museums in Singapore in the 2000s superficially appears to be attempts by the Buddhist community to memorialize their deceased venerables. While this is undoubtedly true, the choice of modern museums rather than traditional memorial halls or stūpas signifies that other formative forces may be at work. This article argues that rather than being isolated commemorative events, the successive establishment of these museums points to certain etic socioreligious factors affecting the local Buddhist community in the preceding decades. Through a review of the historical evidence, interviews with crucial museum stakeholders, and surveys of museum visitors, I posit that the museums are a manifestation of the confluence of the effects of the community’s response to religious rivalry, Buddhist intellectual and pedagogical reforms, conjoined with the adoption of nontraditional methods for the memorialization of charismatic reformist monks. Lastly, I investigate hagiographic Buddhist museums as sites of didacticism, heuristics, and skillful means.
