The Birth of Buddhist Organizations in Modern Indonesia, 1900–1959

In the early twentieth century, Indonesia was a predominantly Muslim majority colony under the Dutch Christian colonial authorities. The 1930 volkstelling (census record) conducted by the Dutch colonial government recorded four religions being practiced in the archipelago; Buddhism was not one of them. Nevertheless, sources such as newspapers and private magazines published by various organizations showed that Buddhism was being practiced in Java. In the 1930s, several organizations published books and translations on Buddhism. The first organization that exclusively identified itself as Buddh... Mehr ...