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Traces of the Forgotten Dharma: Uncovering Pre-Spanish Buddhism in the Philippines

NOTE TO READERS: This article is a journalistic investigation compiled using publicly available historical, archaeological, and cultural sources. It was generated by ChatGPT at the user’s request and is not intended for academic publication. While it draws on verifiable materials, it serves primarily to explore and spotlight overlooked historical narratives. An AI podcast exploration using Google Notebook is available here. (Fritz Kohle, May 2025)

The Golden Tara

In 1917, a Manobo woman stumbled upon a buried treasure along the Wawa River in Agusan del Sur. What she unearthed would eventually travel across the world to the Field Museum in Chicago: a 21-karat gold statue of a female Buddhist deity, believed to be Tara—a symbol of compassion in Vajrayāna Buddhism. The artifact, now known as the “Golden Tara,” weighs nearly four pounds and dates back to the 9th or 10th century. It’s not just a glimmering relic of the past—it’s a clue. A powerful one.

What was a finely crafted Buddhist icon doing in the southern Philippines centuries before the Spanish ever set foot in the islands? And was it alone?

This article investigates a forgotten thread in Philippine history: the influence of Buddhism before colonial contact. The Philippines, often portrayed as a blank slate prior to Magellan’s arrival in 1521, was in fact entangled in the vast trade and cultural networks of maritime Southeast Asia—networks that carried not only spices and ceramics but also gods, scripts, and philosophies.

Fritz Kohle

(Golden Tara, Natural History Museum, Chicago)

Gold, Gods, and the Ghosts of Śrīvijaya

The Golden Tara is not an isolated anomaly. Scattered across the archipelago—from Luzon to Palawan, from Cebu to Mindanao—are fragments of a Buddhist past. Clay medallions, bronze Bodhisattvas, and even kinnari-shaped ritual vessels have turned up in archaeological digs and accidental finds. One such kinnari, a mythical half-bird, half-woman creature from Buddhist lore, was discovered in Surigao in 1981, likely used in temple offerings or processions.

In Luzon, a clay relief of Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, was unearthed in Calatagan, Batangas. Meanwhile, in Palawan, a golden Garuda—vehicle of Vishnu in Hinduism but also revered in Buddhist cosmology—was kept as an heirloom by locals. And in Mindoro, Chinese traders once noted the presence of copper Buddha statues hidden in forests, their origins lost even to the people who kept them.

Historians believe these artifacts didn’t arrive haphazardly. Instead, they point to regular contact with the great Buddhist kingdom of Śrīvijaya, based in Sumatra, which dominated trade and culture across maritime Southeast Asia between the 7th and 13th centuries. Through these sea lanes, Buddhist imagery and ideas likely reached the Philippine shores, adapting to local spiritual landscapes rather than replacing them.

A Culture of Blending

Far from forming organized monastic communities, Buddhism in the Philippines appears to have merged seamlessly with indigenous beliefs. Pre-colonial Filipinos worshipped nature spirits known as diwata, and invoked gods like Bathala, whose name bears Sanskrit roots. The idea of karma, or moral causation, survives in the Visayan word gaba, denoting divine retribution. Even the concept of conscience, or budhi, resonates with the Sanskrit word for awakening or intellect: buddhi.

Oral epics, too, reflect this synthesis. In Mindanao, the Maranao epic “Maharadia Lawana” is a localized retelling of the Hindu epic Ramayana. In it, the demon-king Lawana wages war against a noble prince—eerily echoing the tale of Ravana and Rama.

These Indian echoes are not mere coincidence. They’re the result of centuries of cultural osmosis. And they weren’t limited to stories. Rituals invoking mantras, gestures akin to mudras, and sacred objects known as likha or larawan were common among Filipino shamans, or babaylan.

The Artisans of Dharma

Philippine goldwork, among the finest in Southeast Asia, also bears signs of Buddhist influence. Many pieces—headdresses, belts, ceremonial daggers—feature lotus petals, naga serpents, and makara, creatures from Hindu-Buddhist mythology. Art historian Florina Capistrano-Baker has noted the tantric elements in these designs, suggesting that these weren’t merely decorative: they carried spiritual meaning.

These artifacts weren’t imported en masse. They were locally made, crafted by goldsmiths who had either encountered or inherited design traditions from Java, Sumatra, or even Champa (now Vietnam). The blend of local and foreign forms paints a picture of a people actively interpreting and integrating foreign ideas, not passively receiving them.

China Took Note

Chinese dynastic records further reinforce this narrative. As early as 1001 CE, emissaries from Butuan (a polity in northeast Mindanao) sailed to the Song Dynasty court in China. They brought tributes of gold, aromatics, and even documents inscribed on golden plates. Their ruler bore the Sanskrit-style title Sri Bata Shaja. Another account from 1225 by Zhao Rugua describes copper Buddha statues deep in the forests of Ma-i—possibly Mindoro—suggesting that Buddhist figures were already embedded in the landscape, even if their original purpose had faded.

The use of Baybayin, an Indic-derived script used across the islands prior to Spanish colonization, further demonstrates how Indian culture filtered through local mediums. It was used to write poetry, laws, and perhaps prayers—though few documents survived the flames of missionary zeal.

What Remains

Today, Buddhism is a minority religion in the Philippines. But clues to its earlier presence remain in museum cases, buried in the ground, or hidden in folktales. Whether through the exquisite detail of the Golden Tara, the Sanskrit echoes in local language, or the Bodhisattva medallions resting in provincial archives, the story of Philippine Buddhism is one of fragments and rediscoveries.

It’s also a story of connection. Of an archipelago not isolated, but engaged with the intellectual and spiritual life of its region. The Philippines was not a cultural backwater waiting for Europe to arrive. It was a participant—albeit a peripheral one—in the Buddhist maritime world of Southeast Asia.

As archaeologists, historians, and storytellers continue to dig deeper—literally and metaphorically—we may yet uncover more pieces of this forgotten dharma.

Sources and further reading

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