Indonesian Esoteric Buddhism
New branches: Tantric techniques: Fourfold division: Twofold division: Thought forms and visualisation: Yoga: Indonesian Esoteric Buddhism was the tradition of Esoteric Buddhism found in Maritime Southeast Asia which emerged in the 7th century along the maritime trade routes and port cities of the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra as well as in Malaysia.
[5] Another source of this Indonesian Tantric tradition was Sri Lanka's Abhayagiri vihāra, a well-known center of Vajrayana study and practice, which even established a branch monastery in Central Java in the 8th century with Sailendra patronage.
[6] A stronghold of Esoteric Buddhism, the empire of Srivijaya (650 CE–1377 CE) patronized Buddhist monks and institutions and thus attracted pilgrims and scholars from other parts of Asia.
[7][better source needed] These included the Chinese monk Yijing, who made several lengthy visits to Sumatra on his way to study at Nalanda University in India in 671 and 695, and the Bengali Buddhist scholar Atisha (982-1054 CE) who played a major role in the development of Vajrayana Buddhism in Tibet.
Yijing praised the high level of Buddhist scholarship in Srivijaya and advised Chinese monks to study there before making the journey to the great institution of learning, Nalanda Vihara, India.
If a Chinese priest wishes to go to the West in order to hear and read the original scriptures, he had better stay here one or two years and practice the proper rules.
[13] The oldest extant esoteric Buddhist Mantrayana literature in Old Javanese, a language significantly influenced by Sanskrit, is enshrined in the San Hyan Kamahayanikan (possibly 8th century).
[14] The Tibetan Buddhist canon includes translations of texts written by Javanese masters, such as the Durbodhaloka (a commentary on the Abhisamayalamkara) of Suvarnadvipa Dharmakīrti.
[15] Another work by an Indonesian Tantric Buddhist is Bianhong's Ritual Manual for Initiation into the Great Mandala of the Usnisa-Cakravartin which survives in the Chinese Taisho Tripitaka (T.
Various unique forms of Buddhist architecture developed in Indonesia and Malaysia; the most common of which is the stone Candi which shows Indic influences as has been interpreted as a symbol of Mount Meru.
The distinctive Dancing Ganesha relief in Candi Sukuh has a similarity with the Tantric ritual found in the history of Buddhism in Tibet written by Taranatha.
[22] As the Buddhist god Vināyaka, Ganesha is often shown dancing, a form called Nṛtta Ganapati that was popular in North India and adopted in Nepal and then into Tibet.
