
Jack Meng-tat Chia
Boyang Wenhua 博揚文化, January 2025
About the book: The presence and significance of Buddhism in maritime Southeast Asia warrant deeper scholarly inquiry and rigorous analysis. This region, often associated with the Malay Archipelago, encompasses the predominantly Muslim nations of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Brunei, as well as the Catholic-majority Philippines. Singapore, with its predominantly Buddhist and ethnically Chinese population, is frequently regarded as an outlier. The author contends that the forms of Buddhism referred to as “South China Sea Buddhism” have played a vital role within the predominantly Islamic and Catholic milieus of maritime Southeast Asia, particularly among its Chinese communities. Rooted in the historical interactions between China and Southeast Asia, South China Sea Buddhism has continually evolved through processes of adaptation, localization, and innovation.
This volume is a collection of essays primarily focused on Buddhism in Singapore. By examining themes such as transnational networks, religious diplomacy, and the emergence of modernist Buddhist practices, the book aims to illuminate and critically analyze the intricate and dynamic developmental trajectories of Buddhism in maritime Southeast Asia, employing interdisciplinary and multi-dimensional approaches.
佛教在海洋東南亞的存在及其重要性亟待學術界的關注與討論。海洋東南亞讓人聯想到馬來群島,包括穆斯林占多數的印尼、馬來西亞和汶萊,以及以天主教為主的菲律賓。新加坡由於佛教徒和華人占主導地位而時常被認為是一個特例。然而,我們應該認識作者指出「南洋佛教」的佛教形式在以伊斯蘭教和天主教為主的海洋東南亞地區及其華人社群的存在,且發揮重要作用。南洋佛教在中國和東南亞的歷史聯繫中產生,並不斷經歷著變化與創新。
本書收錄了作者近年來以新加坡佛教為主要論述對象的一系列研究成果。主題涵蓋宗教網絡、宗教外交、宗教現代化等領域,旨在通過跨學科研究,多維度、多視角的方法揭示與詮釋佛教在海洋東南亞的多元發展歷程。
About the author: Jack Meng-tat Chia was a HYI RSEA fellow from 2009-12.