Various Petals of the Lotus: The Identities of the Chinese Buddhists in Indonesia

When Indonesias New Order regime (1965-1998) was in power, Chinese Indonesians were asked to abandon their traditional religions, such as Confucianism, Daoism, and Chinese Buddhism, or to merge into a Buddhism made more Indonesian by means of the elimination of its Chinese traditional influences. This found support among Chinese Indonesian Buddhists who wanted to purify Buddhism of its non-religious elements, and to separate it from the social stigma of Chinese religion. However, the fall of the regime triggered the re-emergence of Chinese rituals in Buddhism. For some, the return of these rituals to Buddhism needs to be carefully examined. While they accept the celebration of Chinese traditions, they do not like them to be blended with Buddhism. This creates tensions between the religious and the cultural elements in Chinese Indonesians Buddhism because their Buddhism has been so ingrained in Chinese culture that separating the religious from the cultural is not easy. Through ethnographic study in Surabaya, I investigate discursive practices Chinese Indonesian Buddhists use to come to terms with these tensions. I also examine how these practices shape their ethno-religious identity construction. My findings show that they use the Buddhist teaching of open-mindedness to come to terms with these tensions, and to innovate, transform and recast their religious practices.