Buddhism in Indonesia

Among the five official religions of Indonesia, according to the state ideology of Pancasila According to Suharto, Buddhism and Hinduism were Indonesia's classical religions.This is the reason why, Buddhism in Indonesia has a long history dated back in the ninth century where Buddhist temples on Java island were built, for instance, Borobudur. The Buddhist pilgrim I-tsing visited Srivijaya in Sumatra on his voyage to India. Other Buddhist monks that visited Indonesia were Dharmapala, a professor of Nalanda, and the South Indian Buddhist Vajrabodhi. Many ancient Buddhist ruins and stupas are still left in Indonesia. Buddhism also flourished in Java and Bali.

Two important Buddhist Javanese texts are the Sang hyang Kamahaanikan and the Kamahayanan Mantranaya.

Nowadays, Buddhism is mainly followed by the Chinese and some indigenous groups of Indonesia, with 1% (Buddhism only) to 2.3% (including Taoism and Confucianism) of Indonesia's population of Buddhists. [http://www.depag.go.id/index.php?menu=page&pageid=17] [http://religiousfreedom.lib.virginia.edu/nationprofiles/Indonesia/rbodies.html]

ee also

*Religion in Indonesia