One House Two Temples: The Ambivalence of Local Chinese Buddhism in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

The Chinese community in Yogyakarta is used to culturallydivided into two groups: peranakan and totok. The peranakanwere Chinese with local roots. This group was usually influenced by local Javanese culture. Their language also oftenused Javanese language elements. Mosttotokwere Chinese immigrants and their immediate descendants who were less acculturated and more strongly oriented towards China. They spoke various Chinese dialects at home rather than speaking Indonesian. This paper observes these two Chinese communities in Yogyakarta, particularly with reference to the Gondoman district, one of the largest areas with Chinese ethnic population. I emphasize here that Gondomananklenteng is an ambivalence worship place.  Klenteng and Buddha Prabhaviharaare two temples that having different rituals and different religious teachings. The Gondomananklentenghas been obligating klentengmembers to pray to the ancestor, whereas the same members havealso practiced Buddhism in the Buddha Prabhavihara, in the backside of the klenteng. The two templesrepresent two religions; klenteng indicates traditional religion that is practiced by their ancestors, while vihara is a worship place that implements some Buddhism obligations. This fact indicates an ambivalent worship place.