Among the five official religions of Indonesia, according to the state ideology of
Pancasila
Under
Suharto, Buddhism is the oldest one (with Hinduhism).
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 2.3% of Indonesia's population Buddhist.
[1][2]
See also
★
Religion in Indonesia