Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo

Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo (22 June 1901 – 23 June 1987) was an Indonesian who founded the movement known as Subud. Muhammad Subuh said he received as a young man a series of intense experiences that he believed gave him contact with a spiritual energy from a higher power. By the 1930s, he believed that it was his task to transmit this energy—which he called latihan kejiwaan (Indonesian for "spiritual exercise")—to others, but that he was not to seek people out but simply to wait for those who asked for it.

In 1956, Pak Subuh, or "Bapak" as he was called by members of Subud (the word "Bapak" is Indonesian for something akin to father), was invited to England by J. G. Bennett, where many Westerners joined Subud. He was then asked to go to other countries such as the United States and Australia. In this way, Subud spread rapidly around the world.

When he died in 1987 he left many talks on tape, video and in print, which Subud uses to guide the organization he founded.

Biography Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo was born in June 22, 1901 in Kedungjati, a village near Semarang in Central Java in what is then the Dutch East Indies.

At the age of six or seven Subuh went to a private Dutch school. When Subuh was fifteen or sixteen years old an old man, dressed in black and carrying a staff, awakened him. Later Subuh understood that this man must have been Sunan Kalijaga, an ancestor saint who returned to this world in order to look after Subuh (Sumohadiwidjojo 1991: 23–24). The man uttered this prophecy: “Remember. When you are thirty-two years old, you will be called by Almighty God.” For Subuh this could only mean that he was going to die at the age of thirty-two. On these trips he gave explanations about the nature of the Latihan spiritual exercise and the purpose and meaning of the spiritual association of Subud. Approximately 1,400 of these talks were recorded, with provisional translations to English made available at the time. These talks are currently being re-translated and republished by Subud Publications International. There are now Subud groups in over 70 countries, with a worldwide membership of about 10,000.

In the late 1950s, British academic John G. Bennett came under Pak Subuh's influence and funded his career, believing Pak Subuh to be a messiah. By 1960, once interest in Subud had faded, Bennett had left Subud and became a Catholic. The actress Eva Bartok was also a supporter of Pak Subuh.

Works