Subud is one of hundreds of mystical movements (aliran kebatinan) which have grown significantly in postwar Indonesia. Along with other movements like Sumarah and Pangestu, Subud has attracted people from the West and has now spread to about eighty countries. Despite the fact that Subud leaders deny any relation to the Javanese mystical tradition, it is one of the tasks of this study to show that the greater part of Subud's conceptual apparatus is firmly rooted in the cultural history of Java. Under the banner of change and renewal, Subud presents a message which, fundamentally, is one of continuity in a society in transition. This text presents an overall picture of the history of Javanese mysticism, particularly the concept of God, the view of man, and the techniques recommended in order to bridge the gap between God and man. The text discusses the rise of mystical movements in post-war Java, along with a presentation of three movements which attracted the West. In addition the book provides a biography of the founder of Subud, the basic concepts of Subud and the meaning of the Subud spiritual exercise (latihan kejiwaan), along with an analysis of Subud theory and practice and its relation to the Javanese mystical tradition, and a psychological interpretation of the spiritual exercise.

"Perhaps we shall never know the truth about Indonesia's failed (supposedly Communist) coup of 1965. But the consequences were clear: the fall of President Sukarno and rise to power of General Suharto plus violent suppression of all "Communist" organizations. In the process a half million lives were lost." "This book analyses Indonesian literature produced during the New Order period dealing with the events of 1965-1966 and its consequences. It examines the political coercion that people were subjected to and how the authors deal with the taboo subject of the killings. It also considers how the Communist Party was seen and discusses the underlying reasons for why the fictional characters act as they do. Crucial here is the influence of Javanese culture and the significance of President Sukarno's political concept of Nasakom." "This is the first book-length study presenting the alternative version found in Indonesian literature of the events of 1965-1966. It also demonstrates that the concerns and perceptions of Indonesian writers differ sharply from those of Westerners."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This masterful six-volume encyclopedia provides comprehensive, global coverage of religion, emphasizing larger religious communities without neglecting the world's smaller religious outposts. Religions of the World, Second Edition: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices is an extraordinary work, bringing together the scholarship of some 225 experts from around the globe. The encyclopedia's six volumes offer entries on every country of the world, with particular emphasis on the larger nations, as well as Indonesia and the Latin American countries that are traditionally given little attention in English-language reference works. Entries include profiles on religion in the world's smallest countries (the Vatican and San Marino), profiles on religion in recently established or disputed countries (Kosovo and Nagorno-Karabakh), as well as profiles on religion in some of the world's most remote places (Antarctica and Easter Island). Religions of the World is unique in that it is based in religion "on the ground," tracing the development of each of the 16 major world religious traditions through its institutional expressions in the modern world, its major geographical sites, and its major celebrations. Unlike other works, the encyclopedia also covers the world of religious unbelief as expressed in atheism, humanism, and other traditions.

In the discourse of Indonesian literature history, the relationship between literature and politics is pressing issue, a situation that cannot be easily to overcome. A long time ago, during the Dutch colonial government, there was a rule that literature should not discuss ideology, religion, and politics. This colonial policy lasts and never changes even though Indonesia was already get its independence. Thats why Indonesian literary society and writers have a strong believe that literature must not be involved in politics and it must not have any moral and political goals. Literature cannot be related to real-life directly because literature is only a fictional work. The historical aspects outside literature are considered as a background or a foreground that cannot destroy the authentic characteristics of the literary works as imaginary fictional works. Literary works tend to be only considered as entertainment tools that narrate an alternative world, which is totally different from the world where we are living. This book will be the first in discussing the relationship between literature and politics. Students and experts of various sciences who would like to understand the episteme of the New Order can get benefits from this book. This book gives us a reflection that the development is for human beings, not the human beings are for the development. The humanistic development dimension must be a must. Literary works still exist continuously to guard the Indonesians' struggles in defending their human dignity.

Part of the material issued in 1958 under title: Modjokuto, religion in Java. Includes index.

This collection explores the interpretation of historical fiction through fictional representations of the past in an Asian context. Emphasising the significance of region and locality, it explores local networks of political and cultural exchanges at the heart of an Asian polity. The book considers how imagined pasts converge and diverge in developed and developing nations, and examines the limitations of representation at a time when theories of world literature are shaping the way we interpret global histories and cultures. The collection calls attention to the importance of acknowledging local tensions—both within the historical and cultural make-up of a country, and within the Asian continent—in the interpretation of historical fiction. It emphasizes a broad-spectrum view that privileges the shared historical experiences of a group of countries in close proximity, and it also responds to the paradigm shift in Asian Studies. Discussing how local conditions shape and create expectations of how we read historical fiction and working with the theme of fictionality and locality, the volume provides an alternative framework for the study of world literature.

This book reveals how everyday experiences of being ‘modern’ (c. 1920s-70s) indexed continuity and change in the transition from colonialism to independence and after in Southeast Asia. In the Philippines, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, the contributors to this interdisciplinary volume recover modern times at the intersection of public and private domains, encompassing sex, religion, art, film, literature and urban space. The authors examine the conditions and representations of modernity, as shaped by elites and the governed, by actors, artists, novelists and non-fiction writers. Plural encounters in cities, through spiritual communities, art, high and popular culture saw Southeast Asians fashioning modern times in dialogue with global capitalism, consumer culture and second-wave feminism.

This book is the first work that comprehensively presents the accounts of Lia Eden, a former flower arranger who claims to have received divine messages from the Archangel Gabriel and founded the divine Eden Kingdom in her house in Jakarta. This book places Lia Eden’s prophetic trajectory in the context of diverse Indonesian spiritual and religious traditions, by which hundreds of others also claimed to have been commanded by God to lead people and to establish religious groups. This book offers a fresh approach towards the rich Indonesian religious and spiritual traditions with particular attention to the accounts of the emergence of indigenous prophets who founded some popular religions. It presents the history of prophetic tradition which remains alive in Indonesian society from the colonial to reform period. It also explores the ways in which these prophets rebelled against two hegemonies: colonial power in the past and Islamic orthodoxy in the present. The discussion of this book focuses on Lia Eden including her biography, claims to prophethood and divinity, the development of her group Eden Kingdom, her challenge to Islamic orthodoxy under the banner of the MUI (Indonesian Ulama Council), her persecution by radical groups, her experiences in court trials and imprisonment, and public responses to her emergence. The discussion also covers other themes currently drawing public attention in Indonesia, such as pluralism, religious freedom, tolerance, discrimination against minorities, and secularisation.

Behind the stereotype of a solitary meditator closing his eyes to the world, meditation always takes place in close interaction with the surrounding culture. Meditation and Culture: The Interplay of Practice and Context explores cases in which the relation between meditative practice and cultural context is particularly complex. The internationally-renowned contributors discuss practices that travel from one culture to another, or are surrounded by competing cultures. They explore cultures that bring together competing practices, or that are themselves mosaics of elements of different origins. They seek to answer the question: What is the relationship between meditation and culture? The effects of meditation may arise from its symbolic value within larger webs of cultural meaning, as in the contextual view that still dominates cultural and religious studies. They may also be psychobiological responses to the practice itself, the cultural context merely acting as a catalyst for processes originating in the body and mind of the practitioner. Meditation and Culture gives no single definitive explanation, but taken together, the different viewpoints presented point to the complexity of the relationship.

This anthology of literary and dramatic works introduces writers from across Asia and the Asian diaspora. The landscapes and time periods it describes are rich and varied: a fishing village on the Padma River in Bangladesh in the early twentieth century, the slums of prewar Tokyo, Indonesia during the anti-leftist purge of the 1960s, and contemporary Tibet. Even more varied are the voices these works bring to life, which serve as testimony to the lives of those adversely impacted by poverty, rapid social change, political suppression, and armed conflict. In the end, the works in this anthology convey an attitude of spiritual and communal survival and even of hope. This anthology presents the complex dynamic between a diversity of Asian lives and the universalized concept of the individual “human” entitled to clearly specified “rights.” It also asks us to think about what standards of analysis we should employ when considering a historical period in which universal human rights and civil liberties are considered secondary to the collective good, as has so often been the case when nation states are undergoing revolutionary change, waging war, or championing so-called Asian values. This book’s use of the term Global Asia reflects an interest in rethinking “Asia” as more than an area determined by national borders and geography. Rather, this book portrays it as a space of movement and fluidity, where societies and individuals respond not only to their local frames of reference, but also to broader ideas and ideals.