Indonesian Esoteric Buddhism shown dancing, a form called Nṛtta Ganapati that was popular in North India and adopted in Nepal and then into Tibet. Indonesian Esoteric Buddhism Indonesian Esoteric Buddhism or Esoteric Buddhism in Maritime Southeast Asia refers to the traditions of Esoteric Buddhism found in Maritime Southeast Asia which emerged in the 7th century along the maritime trade routes and port cities of the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra as well as in Malaysia. These esoteric forms were spread by pilgrims and Tantric masters who received royal patronage from royal dynasties like the Sailendras and the Srivijaya. This tradition was also
History of Buddhism well as criticism and competition from Christianity. Modern wars, communism, the growth of capitalism, science and regional political instability are also influential pressures on modern Buddhism. In Sri Lanka under the British, Christian missionaries ran all the state approved schools and strongly criticized Buddhism. By 1865, Buddhist monks began a counter movement against Christian attacks, printing pamphlets and debating Christians in public, such as at the famous Panadura debate in 1873, which saw the monk Gunananda win a debate in front of a crowd of 10,000. During this period a new form of Buddhism began to take shape, termed Buddhist