Skip to Content

Search: {{$root.lsaSearchQuery.q}}, Page {{$root.page}}

The Center for Southeast Asian Studies organizes and sponsors a number of events such as lectures, film screening, workshops, symposia, conferences, exhibits, and performances throughout the year.  Several of these events are in collaboration with other U-M units, and are often free and open to the public. To see what we have planned for this semester, please visit our 2020 Lecture Series page.

CSEAS Friday Lecture Series. Neither Mahāyāna Nor Theravāda: Ashin Jinarakkhita and the Indonesian Buddhayāna Movement

Jack Meng-Tat Chia, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Berkeley
Friday, March 29, 2019
11:30 AM-12:30 PM
Room 555 Weiser Hall Map
Widely regarded as the first Indonesian-born Buddhist monk (biksu pertama putra Indonesia), Ashin Jinarakkhita took it as his mission to propagate Buddhism in the archipelago nation. His Buddhayāna movement, which combined the doctrines and practices of Mahāyāna and Theravāda Buddhism, had a profound impact in Indonesia during the second half of the twentieth century. Ashin Jinarakkhita established an inclusive and nonsectarian monastic community, consisting of Sangha from various Buddhist traditions. He crafted a vision of Indonesian Buddhism as a diverse, yet unified religion in line with the motto of “Unity in Diversity” (Bhinneka Tunggal Ika) of the modern Indonesian nation. Later, he introduced the concept of “Sang Hyang Adi-Buddha” to make Buddhism compatible with the first principle of the Pancasila, the five philosophical pillars of Indonesia during the New Order era (1966–98). The Buddhayāna movement continues to attract a following of Indonesian people in the twenty-first century.

This presentation draws upon Ashin Jinarakkhita’s career to reconsider the category of Southeast Asian Buddhism in Buddhist Studies. I argue for the need to broaden the category of Southeast Asian Buddhism beyond Theravāda Buddhism on mainland Southeast Asia to include varied forms of Buddhism in maritime Southeast Asia that use Mandarin Chinese, Southern Chinese dialects, and Southeast Asian languages in their liturgy and scriptures. Ashin Jinarakkhita’s Buddhayāna movement, which promoted nonsectarian doctrines and practices to be in line with the national discourse of “Unity in Diversity,” was a calculated strategy to ensure the survival of Buddhism as a minority religion in the world’s largest Muslim nation.

Jack Meng-Tat Chia is a Senior Tutor in the Department of History at the National University of Singapore and currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Buddhist Studies, University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on Buddhism in maritime Southeast Asia, Chinese popular religion, overseas Chinese history, and Southeast Asia-China interactions. He is currently completing his first book manuscript titled “Monks in Motion: Buddhism and Modernity across the South China Sea,” which explores the history of Buddhism in inter-Asian contexts and the intersections between national and Buddhist institutional projects in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Chia is co-editor of Living with Myths in Singapore (2017) and has published articles in journals such as Archiv Orientální, Asian Ethnology, China Quarterly, History of Religions, Journal of Chinese Religions, Material Religion, and Sojourn. His next book project, “Beyond the Borobudur: Buddhism in Postcolonial Indonesia,” focuses on the history and development of Buddhism in the world’s largest Muslim country since 1945.
---
If you are a person with a disability who requires an accommodation to attend this event, please reach out to us at least 2 weeks in advance of this event. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange.
Building: Weiser Hall
Event Type: Lecture / Discussion
Tags: Discussion, Lecture, Southeast Asia
Source: Happening @ Michigan from Center for Southeast Asian Studies, International Institute, Asian Languages and Cultures