8 - Revisiting the Cult of “Śiva-buddha” in Java and Bali

Summary

INTRODUCTION

As testified to by the extant written sources and archaeological remains, Śivaism was the dominant religion in Java and Bali. However, Śivaism coexisted alongside Buddhism for more than a millennium, from circa the fifth century CE through the late fifteenth century in Java, and on Bali until today. The coexistence of the two religions eventually gave rise to phenomena of confrontation, dialectic and integration that have attracted scholarly attention since the late nineteenth century. The most influential studies have sanctioned the view that the variety of “Hinduism” widespread in Java and Bali was fundamentally syncretic in character, forming a blend of Śaiva and Bauddha elements. What has been generally termed the “religion of Śiva-Buddha” or “Hindu-Buddhist religion” (in Indonesian Agama Siwa-Buda or Agama Hindu-Buda), and ascribed to the Hindu-Buddhist era (jaman Hindu-Buda) of Javanese history, has been characterized mostly in terms of “identity”, “syncretism”, “parallelism” or “coalition”. Whether the emphasis be laid on equality, integration or symbiosis between the two systems, their respective deities or their paramount goals, the dynamics shaping the resulting “cult of Śiva-Buddha” have often been regarded as having been subjected to distinctive local features that set this tradition apart from the more rigidly sectarian South Asian traditions from which it originated.

Even though our understanding of (Tantric) Śivaism and (Tantric) Buddhism in the Indian Subcontinent and Tibet has improved dramatically over the last two decades, the majority of the most recent studies touching upon these religious traditions in Indonesia appear to be insufficiently aware of these developments. It seems thus worthwhile to discuss once again the relationship between Śivaism and Buddhism in the Subcontinent and in the Archipelago from a comparative perspective, in the hope that this approach will stimulate a cross-fertilization between the disciplines of Indology and Indonesian studies.

The basic idea that my paper tries to convey is that the nature of the equation of the paramount principles of Śivaism and Buddhism as expressed by a number of Old Javanese sources from the Singhasari-Majapahit period has not always been correctly grasped, and that alleged instances of “Javanese syncretism” should now be challenged.