Panel
4. Seeing from the Neighbourhood: States, Communities and Human Mobility
In post-independence Indonesia, Indonesian Buddhists connection with Buddhist society in south and southeast Asian networks was intensified. In the first decade after the independence, several figures of Buddhists activists were found to make journeys to South and Southeast Asia countries. Tee Boan An, a Chinese descent from Bogor, West Java, made his journey to Burma to study Buddhism under the tutelage of a Buddhist master named Mahasi Sayadaw, a renown monk in the country. Next, A group of Buddhist activists, together with Indonesian officials from the ministry of religious affair made a journey to Burma to participate in the celebration of Buddhajayanti held as a conclusion of grand event The Sixth Great Buddhist Council by the Burmese’s government in 1956. Later, in the same year, several Buddhist activists, men and women, among whom also Indonesian Philologist, went to India to participate in scholarly event named the Buddhism’s contribution to Art, Letters and Philosophy in New Delhi, Indonesia.
The journey of Indonesian Buddhists to other countries was new realities the history of Buddhism in modern Indonesia. In contrast to what happened in the colonial period, the Indonesian Buddhist took active roles in creating new connections and producing knowledge about Buddhism by visiting different countries. This article argues that the birth of Indonesia as an independence nation state has brought a new development among the Indonesian Buddhists, of which at least in two ways: towards a new interasian network and Buddhist scholarly works.
Yulianti Yulianti
Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia