Are Indonesian Buddhists Atheists? By Widiyono Background It is hardly found any scholars who write about history of Buddhism in Indonesia in modern period academically. Even so, they wrote about the condition of Buddhism in Indonesia in the state of few years ago, which obviously now has changed in many aspects. For instance, we can refer to the writing of Mayeda in his “Buddhist Ritual for Laymen, Recently Formulated in Indonesia as seen in Pancaran Bahagia.”1 This article was published in 1978. It discusses about the ritual practice among Buddhist Indonesia which based on a guidance book named “Pancaran Bahagia.” In fact, this time, no any Buddhists or Buddhist Schools in Indonesia use the book as their guidance, since each of their religious institution has their own book guidance. Another scholar, Barkker, J. W.W. in his “Contemporary Buddhism in Indonesia”2 also discusses about the condition of Buddhism in the year 1976, which once again it is not up to date anymore. When he was writing the article, the schools of Buddhism in Indonesia was not as complex as at present time. Based on such a background, I am interested to discuss about the condition of Buddhism at present time in Indonesia. Here my emphasis is on the response of each Buddhist school to the government enforcement on the idea of Belief in One and Only God (Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa) as stated in the first precept of the ideology of the 1 Mayeda, E. 1978. Buddhis Ritual for Laymen, recently formulated in Indonesia as seen in Pancaran Bahagia. Japan: Bukkyokenyu. pp. 9-16 2 Bakker, J.W.W. 1976. Contemporary Buddhism in Indonesia in H. Dumoulin F, C Maraldo Edd. Buddhism in Modern World. New York. pp. 147-152 1 nation, Pancasila. This is obviously one of the impacts of September 30 1965 movement to the Buddhist Community in Indonesia. Moreover, I will clarify of how Buddhist people or each school of Buddhism establishing in Indonesia accommodate the concept “Belief in the One and Only God, the first precept of Indonesian ideology. As we know, in the earliest form, Buddhism in spite of recognizing the importance of morality, does not make the idea of God as the central point or fundamental teaching. However, after September 30th movement there is a necessity authorized by Indonesian government that every religion in Indonesia must have the concept of Belief in One and Only God. In other words, every religion which is recognized by the government must include the concept of Belief in One and Only God. Due to the enforcement made by the Government about the Belief on One and Only God, Buddhist people or each Buddhist school in Indonesia interprets differently to the concept stated in the First Precept of Pancasila, Belief in One and Only God. It seems that each Buddhist school has certain historical and religious background in formulating their concepts. Nevertheless, in spite of the differences in accommodating the concept, they have an agreement to respect one another’s concept. Therefore, here I would like discuss in this article based on the formulation of problems as follows. How Buddhist people in Indonesia integrate the concept of Belief in the One and Only God? Why do they have to accommodate the concept? What is the consequence of accommodating the concept? 2 Methodology The method which I use in this article is mainly based on library research, although I did not neglect my certain observation in the field, especially which I have done among Buddhist communities. I collected various data from books, article and also from material accessed from the internet. After the data were collected, I tried to classify them according to the theme and them analyze them accordingly. After that, I describe them as systematic as possible. Moreover, some experiences which I observed in the field I used to support my analyses. The Condition of Buddhism in Modern Indonesia After the disappearance for about 500 years, Buddhism was reintroduced in modern Indonesia in 1934 by with help of Sri Lankan Buddhist monk, Bhikkhu Narada Maha Thera. During his stay in Java, the monk gave various services to the people like: 1. Giving preaching and lesson about Buddhism in various places like in Jakarta, Bogor and other cities in West Java and Central Java 2. Planting Bodhi tree in the garden of Borobudur temple in March 10th 1934 3. Helping the establishment of Java Buddhist Association 4. Cooperating with Chinese monks who live in Chinese temple (Kelenteng). 5. Giving ordination (some kind of babtism) to lay people 3 From the period onwards, gradually Buddhism reestablished in Indonesia. Many Buddhist organizations were also established. For instance, in 1938 Sam Kauw Hwee were established in various places in Indonesia.4 In 1952, those Sam Kauw Hwees were 3 Widyadharma, S. 1989. Agama Buddha dan Perkembangannya di Indonesia. Jakarta. pp. 7-8 4 ibid 3 united to be Gabungan Sam Kauw Hwee (GSKI), which then changed its name to be Gabungan Tridharma Indonesia. This organization combines three aspect of teachings namely Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism under one organization. In 1953 The Boan An from Bogor was ordained as a Theravada monk in Myanmar. He was given a name Ashin Jinarakkhita. From the period onwards, many Indonesian Buddhists were ordained as Buddhist monks. Different school of Buddhism in Indonesia With the establishment of various Buddhist organizations and the ordination of people to be Buddhist monks, these lead to the existence of various school of Buddhism in Indonesia. At present there are three Buddhist monk organizations (sangha). They are: 1. Sangha Mahayana Indonesia 2. Sangha Theravada Indonesia 3. Sangha Agung Indonesia5 Moreover, there are also some other organizations which shows the existence of Buddhist school in Indonesia. Those are: 1. Majelis Buddhayana Indonesia (Sincretic between Theravada and Mahayana) 2. Majelis agama Buddha Theravada Indonesia (Theravada) 3. Majelis agama Buddha Mahayana Indonesia (Mahayana) 4. Majelis Agama Buddha Kasogatan Indonesia ((Revived Old Javanese Buddhism) 5. Majelis Pandita Buddha Maitreya Indonesia (Chinese Messianic) 5 ibid 4 6. Majelis Agama Buddha Nichiren Shoshu Indonesia (Reformed Buddhism of Japanese type) 7. Majelis Rokhaniwan Tridharma (Chinese traditional Buddhism accommodated to Tao and Confucianism) 6 Each of those schools, except Majelis Pandita Buddha Maitreya Indonesia and Majelis Agama Buddha Nichiren Shoshu Indonesia, basically has a common doctrine with the others. Each of them still recognize the Buddha Gotama as the founder of religion and consider Tripitaka as the scripture of the religion. The impact of the Government’s enforcement History of modern Indonesia witnesses the existence of the so called September 30 1965 movement or in Indonesian language it is usually called Gerakan Tigapuluh September (Gestapu) which was supposed to be done by Indonesia Communist Party. It is in a way movement of killing army generals who were suspected to coup Sukarno’s government. During the event, seven army generals were killed. The abortive coup of 1965 led to the subsequent anticommunist measures taken by the Indonesian Government. It also led to a serious impact upon religions, particularly non-theistic religions such as Buddhism, because then the government made an official definition of agama or religions and the prohibition of ateis or atheism. According to the newly promulgated definition, every agama should have the following three qualifications, namely, Tuhan or Ketuhanan yang maha esa, 'the One and Supreme God', nabi-nabi, prophets, and kitab-suci, holy scriptures. To avoid imminent threat of suppression, non- 6 ibid 5 theistic religions in the country were obliged to redefine their doctrines in conformity with the imposed interpretation of agama. It is said that Ven. Jinarakkhita was able to perceive a possible attack from the authorities four months before the coup took place in September. In May 1965 he published an apologetic booklet entitled Ketuhanan dalam agama Buddha (The God in Buddhism) in which he presented the old concept of Adi Buddha as the required Ketuhanan for Buddhism.7 In a later argument he equated the Adi Buddha with Adwaya which is found in the old Javanese compendium of Buddhism, Sanghyang Kamahayanikan.8 The solution proved to be acceptable since it was soon granted official sanction by the Ministry of Religious Affairs. However, some of his followers, as what I will discuss later, opposed the kind of idea. Thus, the impact of the government policy influence on religious matters. There is an emphasis that five religions which have been recognized by the government namely Islam, Christian Protestant, Christian Catholic, Hinduism, and Buddhism had to show each of their concepts of God. For Islam and Christianity, they may have no problem at all. However at the time Buddhism and Hinduism had to try hard to make some kind of adjustment with the government policy. Otherwise their existence will be banned. Thus Hinduism then formulated the concept of Sanghyang Widi Wasa to accommodate the concept Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa (Belief in the One and Only God), whereas in Buddhism, there occurred different alternatives formulated by each of school of Buddhism. 7 Ishi, Y.1984. Modern Buddhism in Indonesia in Buddhist Studies in Honour Hammalava Saddhatissa. Nugegoda. p. 113 8 Ibid. 6 How each Buddhist school accommodates As I mentioned above, the first formulation given by one of Buddhist school to accommodate the concept of Belief in One and Only God was formulated by Ven. Ashin Jinarakhita.9 He formulated the term “Sanghyang Adi Buddha”. Finally, in 1978 he also suggested the name for God in Buddhism by the terms “Sanghyang Adi Buddha” to the Ministry of Religious Affair at the time.10 It is said that by doing that, then the government recognized Buddhism as one of official religions in this Indonesia by issuing Kepres R.I No.