• The Southeast Asian review
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.181-215
• /
• 2013

The purpose of this paper is to examine the process of Islamic change in Indonesia since the 1970s, which is commonly called 'Islamic resurgence' or 'Islamization.' A brief analysis of the reasons for Islamic resurgence is followed by discussions on its long-term effects on the life of Indonesian Muslims. Shift in the ways Islamic matters have been treated in public, gradual realization of what Islamic groups have demanded in non-religious areas, stipulation of local regulation based on shariah and spread of radicalism are to be investigated one by one. With these examinations, it will be argued that the most significant change throughout the last four decades has been the surge of Islam as a reference point to interpret everyday life of Muslims. The dichotomy of 'Islamic' and 'non-Islamic' is instated as a key in Islamic discourse and the Quran and Hadith, as a criterion to judge whether certain views and behavior are Islamic or not. These have strengthened the position of scripturalism in Indonesian Islam. Islamic resurgence has also resulted in the acceleration of the diversification of Indonesian Muslims. Muslims with radical, fundamental, reformist, traditional and liberal views coexist, competing for stronger social and religious influences. As radical and fundamental groups have been more active in dealing with socio-political affairs recently, whether their active involvement will result in wider influences over the ordinary Muslims is the key to understand the future dynamics of Indonesian Islam.

• Cross-Cultural Studies
• /
• v.42
• /
• pp.47-68
• /
• 2016

This paper closely examines Popol Vuh, regarded as the Bible of the Mayans, from the perspective of the Deep Ecology. Deep ecology is a concept born out of the criticisms on the existing environmental movements as superficial, and encourages the moral and ethical change of the man's attitude towards the nature, inevitably becoming "metaphysical" in character. As such the Deep ecology advocates the break away from the anthropocentricism, the dichotomous thinking and the rationalism of the modern times. Popol Vuh is a text that contains such concepts and it requires an analysis from the Deep ecological perspective beyond the existing framework of the study that simply focuses on mythological elements.

• The Southeast Asian review
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.155-182
• /
• 2011

The purpose of this paper is to examine the process of Islamization in Java, focusing on religious discourse among Muslim intellectuals. How Islamic tradition and knowledge have been perceived and utilized and how they have interacted with those of non-Islamic origin will be discussed. For this, three Islam-related books written in different phases of Islamization are to be analyzed: Babad Tanah Jawi compiled by Mataram court in the 17th century, Serat Cabolek written by a court poet in the late 18th or early 19th century, and Fikih Anti-korupsi published by reformist and scriptural organization of Muhammadiyah in 2006. Babad portrays conversion to Islam as a process which does not demand a dramatic outward change in religious practice. Scriptural tradition of Islam and the dichotomy between what is Islamic and what is not were not mentioned in order to explain conversion. Spiritual and mystical enlightenment was emphasized heavily, and for this, the importance of non-Islamic traditions was fully acknowledged. Serat tells us that this period was characterized by the surge of scriptural and shariah-minded Islam, maintenance of non-Islamic traditions, clashes between scriptural Islam and old religious traditions, and Javanese efforts to harmonize these. In Fikih, non-Islamic tradition is replaced by scriptural Islam and disappears totally. Interpretations based on the Scriptures, however, do not monopolize it and are used together with mode of analysis from the West. It is too much to call this 'intellectual syncretism', in that Islamic Scriptures and Western knowledge do not mix but stand side by side. Three books under examination reveal that the process of Islamization in Java has not been uniform. It has been conditioned and shaped by local socio-cultural and historical circumstances, where active engagement and intellectual exercise of Javanese Muslims have played key roles. Even Islamization in the last few decades is not an exception. The surge of scripturalism and fundamentalism does not simply bring about a move to Arabization. Interacting with local intellectual and socio-cultural milieu, this has produced a sort of intellectual hybridity, which is unique to Muslim society of Java.

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
• /
• no.48
• /
• pp.91-116
• /
• 2012

Writing is a process and work of expressing one's own feelings and thoughts that are not contained in rigid forms; however, the literary trend and environment during the Late Joseon was not so tolerant. A revivalist approach to writing was dominant during this period, which was summarized in the expression that "Prose must be written in the style of Qin and Han; and Poetry in that of High Tang. "Hence, it was practically a taboo to express one's raw emotions and disregard the custom and regulations of writing. Nevertheless, literati, who got tired of the dogmatic rule of Neo-Confucianism at the time that refused to see the changing world and the pseudo-archaic writing that merely imitated the outside and was empty inside, attempted new styles of writing to escape from the model or example and what was familiar. Lee Yong-hyu, who was in the middle of such transformations, learned the trends of Late Ming and Early Qing through the newly imported Chinese books and created his own style that reflected his personality. His writings refused the Neo-Confucian system of thoughts, which was a dominant ideology of the time, paid attention to the human nature and emphasized the restoration of the self. His writing could be described as being anti-pseudo-archaic and criticized the pretentious trend of the time. He argued that in order to restore the true self, one must recover the innocent mind that was bestowed on human by heaven/nature (cheon-li, 天理), and for this purpose, one must straighten out one's mind (sim, 心). His argument is similar to that of "Yangming School of Mind," which could be represented by the phrase, "Mind is the Principle (心卽理)." Yangming School claimed that moral principle existed within one's mind; and this was in stark contrast with the Neo-Confucian idea that "principle (li)"was external and transcendent, and was spoken by the great Confucian masters and written down in Confucian Classics. By denying the externality of the principle and underscoring its immanence, the idea that centralized Confucian Classics and canons was dismantled. Lee Yong-hyu's writing styles that denied the model and emphasized the restoration of the self was influenced by such thoughts. However, one must neither hastily judge that he is an advocate of Yangming School of Mind, nor determine the anti-pseudo-archaic writers' ideological basis as the philosophy of Yangming School. Once it is rigidly defined, be it Zhu Xi's philosophy or Wang Yangming's philosophy, it becomes another model that one must abide by, and again the self disappears. Thus, Lee Yong-hyu defied any kind of model that claimed authenticity or precedence and wished that people would live independently as oneself, and left such claims and wishes in writing. That is the reason, after more than two hundred years later, we still read his writings.

• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
• /
• no.29
• /
• pp.89-123
• /
• 2010

As above, as theoretical basis of critiques against School of Mohism, the researcher summarized the positions of the elder Confucian scholars including Meng Zi. In the body of text, taking it as promises, the researcher examined the critiques against Mo Tzu and School of Mohism as well focusing on the aspects and development of the theory of rejecting heterodoxy which had been introduced and strongly argued from the end of Goryeo kingdom to the late Joseon period. The summary of the body of this text is as follows: In the old literatures prior to Goryeo Kingdom, the researcher couldn't find any cases that either the School of Mohism or Mo Tzu including the Hundred Schools of Thought had been rejected explicitly. Having reached the end of Goryeo and the beginning of Joseon period, Meng Zi's viewpoints on the theory of rejecting heterodoxy had begun to emerge and come into play with the progress of accepting Neo-Confucianism, and, these critiques against Yang Zhu and Mo Tzu being given, the scholar-literati circle had started rejecting Buddhism and Lao Tzu. Basically the contents of the critiques against the School of Mohism in the early period of Joseon were in succession to Meng Zi's theory of rejecting heterodoxy and the views and thoughts of the elder Confucian scholars including Han Yu rather than any specific critiques against Mo Tzu' ideology itself. Until entering the middle of Joseon period, the critiques against the School of Mohism had been used as a tool to promote Confucianism in an affirmative manner, while arguing strongly against the viewpoint of Han Yu in the first place. Particularly, not only the original text of the Mo Tzu's writings were directly quoted, although it was partial, but also the contents of the critiques against the School of Mohism had been developed and stretched to the extent of their entire ideological system. Having approached to the late period of Joseon, the critiques against the School of Mohism had begun to be linked to those critiques against the study of state examination or of sentence patterns including Catholic Church, furthermore the critics raised their harsh tones against the irregularities of the society at large like the issue of corruptions of the government officials of those days instead, although they still had firmly stood on the ground of the theory of rejecting heterodoxy. Those scholars that belonged to the School of Practical Learning, in particular, said in justification of the School of Mohism arguing that the major ideologies of Mo Zi had usefulness in the real world, also they even evaluated that Meng Zi ' critiques against the School of Mohism were immoderate. To sum up, characteristics of scholars in the Joseon period to understand and critique the School of Mohism are that ideologies of Mo Tzu were mostly used as a tool for the sake of critiques against heresies in other sectors of society based mainly on Meng Zi's theory of rejecting heterodoxy, rather than opposing views against the ideologies or philosophies of the School of Mohism itself. Meanwhile, however, on the plus side, the critics praised Mo Tzu's individual efforts in order to put his ideology of peace into practice apart from the ideological system of the School of Mohism. Also, having reached the late period of Joseon, the researcher was able to have discovered the fact that the writings of Mo Tzu had been used as historical materials in order to ascertain historical truths of Confucian Scriptures, rather not having it regarded as an ideology text.