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Concept
Buddhism in the Philippines
Summary
Buddhism is a minor religion in the Philippines. In 2016, Buddhism was practiced by around 2% of the population, according to the Permanent Mission of the Republic of the Philippines to the United Nations.
Indian influences in early Philippine politiesReligion in pre-colonial PhilippinesHistory of the Philippines (900-1521) and List of India-related topics in the Philippines
The oldest archeological evidence of Buddhism's presence in the Philippines date back to the 9th century, when Vajrayana was known as the dominant branch of Buddhism. No early Buddhist written records have yet to be found from this era, likely due to the perishable nature of the writing mediums, which were bamboo and leaves. A few records also note of the historical presence of Buddhism in the islands prior to the arrival of colonizers and East Asian Buddhism. Independent states that comprise the Philippines were known to have Buddhist adherents, although the majority of the population adhered instead to the indigenous Philippine folk religions.
Vajrayāna in the Philippines was also linked through the maritime trade routes with its counterparts in India, Sri Lanka, Champa, Cambodia, China and Japan, to the extent that it is hard to separate them completely and is better to speak of a complex of esoteric Buddhism in medieval Maritime Asia. In many of the key South Asian port cities that saw the growth of Esoteric Buddhism, the tradition coexisted alongside Shaivism.
Both the Śrīvijayan empire in Sumatra and the Majapahit empire in Java were unknown in Western history until 1918, when George Coedes of the Ecole Francaise d’Extreme Orient postulated their existence because they had been mentioned in the records of the Chinese Tang and Sung imperial dynasties. Yi Jing, a Chinese monk and scholar, stayed in Sumatra from 687 to 689 on his way to India. He wrote on the Srivijaya's splendour: "Buddhism was flourishing throughout the islands of Southeast Asia. Many of the kings and the chieftains in the islands in the southern seas admire and believe in Buddhism, and their hearts are set on accumulating good action.
Official source
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