Hinduism and Buddhism in Indonesia by Nihayatul Wafiroh

I think when we discuss about religion in Indonesia, we have to start from Hinduism and Buddhism since both are the early religions in Indonesia. In fact, no single religion in Indonesia is originally from Indonesia. Only animism is the indigenous religion. Hinduism, indeed, came to Indonesia a few hundred years earlier than Buddhism. Historians believed that the traders from India introduced Hinduism to Indonesia. People from Tiongkok contributed in the spreading out Buddhism in Archipelago. Before Buddha came to this country, Hindu held the power of kingdom in nusantara, particularly in Java island. Even though Buddha in the early development was the fraction from Hindu, Buddhism developed as an independent religion.

From the explanations from Om Guru Lien Shen Siddhi Hu, Bikkhu Dhammasubho Thera, and Robert L. Brown the existence of Buddhism at the time depended on Kingdom. It is as what Thera mentions that a religion can be developed well when it receives supporting from the government. Although right now the power of Buddhism is not big as before, the Buddhist culture already becomes a part of Indonesian identity.

When reading the history of Hinduism and Buddhism, for me, is different with the history of Islam in Indonesia. When Islam attempted to conquer Buddhist or Hindu kingdom to Islam, I can say that there were always wars in the process of occupation. For instance, when Blambangan kingdom was conquered by Islamic kingdom. When Buddhism came to Indonesia, as far as I know that there were not any wars. The transition from Hindu to Buddha did not have any fight too. Moreover, the religious tension between Islam/Christianity and Buddhism/Hinduism is unlike Islam and Christianity. So is it because Buddhism and Hinduism are not as largest as Islam or Christianity? Or it is since Buddhism and Hinduism have different tenets in term of religious relationship?