Abstract
This paper aims at outlining the history of modern Indonesian Buddhism in two parts. The first part, which covers the period up to 1952, deals with four groups or individuals that were instrumental in the Buddhist revival in Java : the Theosophical Society; the International Buddhist Mission, Thaton, Burma; the Ven. Narada Thera from Ceylon; and a peranakan writer, Kwee Tek Hoay. The second part examines the shift of leadership after the death of K. T. H. in 1952. Under the dynamic leadership of the Ven. Ashin Jinarakkhita, the revived Buddhist religion burgeoned to such an extent that a bhikkhu sangha was established to produce native monks and novices.
The political climate of the Republic after the 9.30 Coup compelled the Indonesian Buddhists to search for a "Tuhan Yang Maha Esa" within their religion, which is often considered "godless." The Ven. Ashin Jinarakkhita successfully overcame the difficulty by referring to the "Adi Buddha" found in an old Javanese Buddhist treatise as tantamount to "the One God." This, however, eventually caused a schism, since the conservative Theravadin felt the accomodation heretical and tried to find a solution within the framework of the orthodoxy. Later the unity of the Buddhist minorities in the Islamic Republic was restored, when the two factions agreed in Bogor, in May, 1979,to respect each other's interpretations of the "Tuhan Yang Maha Esa" by considering them "one and the same in essence."
