World's largest Buddhist temple: Borobudur

Mike; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Maya Parisutra (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia edit

It's even more magnificent than the misty views from it toward the volcano (KBS TV)

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Aerial drone view from KBS World TV show

Borobudur (Indonesian Candi Borobudur, "The City of Buddhas" or "High Buddhist Vihara") is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang Regency, not far from the town of Muntilan, in Central Java, Indonesia.

It is the world's largest Buddhist temple (Guiness Book of World Records, Notes 1, 2, 3]. The temple complex consists of nine stacked platforms, six square and three circular, topped by a central dome or stupa (burial mound reliquary).

There are Buddhas inside hollow stupas.

It is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. The central dome is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues, each seated inside a perforated stupa [4] (which resembles a German time travel "bell" or Die Glocke).

Thought to be built in the 9th century, during the reign of the Sailendra Dynasty, the temple design follows Javanese Buddhist architecture, which blends the Indonesian indigenous cult of ancestor worship and the Buddhist concept of attaining Nirvana [3].

Ascend the levels of Buddhist cosmology.

The temple demonstrates the influences of Gupta art that reflects India's influence on the region. Yet, there are enough indigenous scenes and elements incorporated to make Borobudur uniquely Indonesian [5, 6].

The monument is a shrine to the historical Buddha and a destination for Buddhist pilgrimage. The pilgrim-journey begins at the base of the monument and follows a path around it, ascending to the top through three levels symbolizing the three spheres in  Buddhist cosmology:

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   Kāmadhātu (Sensual Sphere)
2. Rūpadhātu (Fine Material Sphere)
3. Arūpadhātu (Immaterial Sphere).

The massive monument guides pilgrims through an extensive system of stairways and corridors with 1,460 narrative relief panels on the walls and the balustrades.

Borobudur has one of the largest and most complete ensembles of Buddhist reliefs in the world [3].

Wall relief depicting Prince Siddhartha becoming a wandering ascetic (G. Kartapranata)

Pyramidal Candi Borobudur, view from the northwest (Gunawan Kartapranata/wiki).

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Evidence suggests -- but is not conclusive -- that Borobudur was constructed in the 9th century and subsequently abandoned following the 14th-century decline of Indian-influenced Indonesian Hindu kingdoms in Java and the Javanese people's conversion to Islam [7].

Worldwide knowledge of its existence was sparked in 1814 by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, then the imperial British ruler of Java, who was advised of its location by native Indonesians [8].

Borobudur has since been preserved through several restorations. The largest restoration project was undertaken between 1975 and 1982 by the Indonesian government and UNESCO, followed by the monument's listing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site [3].

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Mist rises from the jungle. The volcano looms in the distance. Borobudur is magnificent.

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Arches of Kala, Borobudur stairs connect levels.

Borobudur is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. It ranks with Pagan (Bagan) in Burma (Myanmar) and Angkor Wat in Buddhist Cambodia as one of the great archeological sites of Southeast Asia.

Borobudur remains popular for pilgrimage, with remnant indigenous Buddhists in Indonesia celebrating Vesak Day at the monument.

Borobudur is Indonesia's single most visited tourist attraction [9, 10, 11], as is the case with many Buddhist temples, magnificent in scale and the mystery of their construction -- Mes Aynak, Afghanistan, the Ellora and Ajanta Caves of India, Leshan Mountain Buddha of China, Maitreya Buddha of Bhutan, the massive new Relics Tour Buddha in Kushinagar, India, Shwedagon Pagoda in Burma, and countless others around the world.

What about the name?

The bas relief collection rivals Angkor Wat

In the Indonesian language, ancient temples are referred to as candi. Thus, locals refer to "Borobudur Temple" as Candi Borobudur. The term candi also loosely describes ancient structures, for example gates and baths.

The origins of the name "Borobudur," however, are unclear [12]. In fact, the original names of most ancient Indonesian temples are no longer known [12].

Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles' History of Java

The name Borobudur was first written in Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles' book on Javan history, The History of Java (Harvard) [13]. Sir Raffles wrote about a monument called Borobudur, but there are no older documents suggesting the same name.

The only old Javanese manuscript that hints that the monument called Budur is a holy Buddhist sanctuary is Nagarakretagama, written by Mpu Prapanca, a Buddhist scholar of Majapahit court, in 1365 [14].

Sukarno took Nehru to Borobudur, June 1950

Most candi are named after a nearby village. So if it followed Javanese language conventions and was named after the nearby village of Bore, the monument would have been named "BudurBoro."

Sir Raffles thought that Budur might correspond to the modern Javanese word Buda ("ancient") — that is, "Ancient Boro." But Raffles also suggested that the name might derive from boro, meaning "great" or "honorable" and Budur for Buddha [12].

Yet another archeologist suggests the second component of the name (-Budur) comes from Javanese term bhudhara ("mountain") [15].

G.B. Hooijer painting (circa 1916) reconstructing scene of Borobudur in its heyday (wiki)

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Another possible etymology by Dutch archeologist A.J. Bernet Kempers suggests that Borobudur is the corrupted, simplified local Javanese pronunciation of Biara Beduhur, which written in Sanskrit is Vihara Buddha Uhr.

Perforated, hollow stupas house Buddhas

The term Buddha-Uhr could mean "The City of Buddhas." Another possible term Beduhur is probably an Old Javanese word, still surviving in Balinese, that means "a high place," constructed from the stem word dhuhur or luhur ("high").

This suggests that Borobudur means "Vihara ("monastic complex") of the Buddha" located on a high place or on a hill [16].

The construction and inauguration of a sacred Buddhist building — possibly but not certainly any reference to Borobudur — was mentioned in two inscriptions... More

A small collection of photos: reliefs, architecture, carvings, statues (Wikipedia)

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ENDNOTES

1. ^ "Largest Buddhist temple." Guinness World Records. Guinness World Records. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
2. ^ Purnomo Siswoprasetjo (4 July 2012). "Guinness names Borobudur world's largest Buddha temple". The Jakarta Post. Archived from the original on 5 November 2014. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
3. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b c d e f} "Borobudur Temple Compounds". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. UNESCO. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
4. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b c} Soekmono (1976), page 35–36.
5. ^ "Borobudur : A Wonder of Indonesia History". Indonesia Travel. Archived from the original on 14 April 2012. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
6. ^ Le Huu Phuoc (April 2010). Buddhist Architecture. Grafikol. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
7. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b c d} Soekmono (1976), page 4.
8. ^ Hary Gunarto, Preserving Borobudur's Narrative Walls of UNESCO Heritage, Ritsumeikan RCAPS Occasional Paper, [1] October 2007
9. ^ Mark Elliott; et al. (November 2003). Indonesia. Melbourne: Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd. pp. 211–215. ISBN 1-74059-154-2.
10. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b c} Mark P. Hampton (2005). "Heritage, Local Communities and Economic Development". Annals of Tourism Research. 32 (3): 735–759. doi:10.1016/j.annals.2004.10.010.
11. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b} E. Sedyawati (1997). "Potential and Challenges of Tourism: Managing the National Cultural Heritage of Indonesia". In W. Nuryanti (ed.). Tourism and Heritage Management. Yogyakarta: Gajah Mada University Press. pp. 25–35.
12. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b c d} Soekmono (1976), page 13.
13. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b} Thomas Stamford Raffles (1817). The History of Java (1978 ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-580347-7.
14. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b} J. L. Moens (1951). "Barabudur, Mendut en Pawon en hun onderlinge samenhang (Barabudur, Mendut and Pawon and their mutual relationship)" (PDF). Tijdschrift voor de Indische Taai-, Land- en Volkenkunde. Het Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen: 326–386. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 August 2007. trans. by Mark Long
15. ^ Jump up to: ^{a b} J.G. de Casparis, "The Dual Nature of Barabudur", in Gómez and Woodward (1981), page 70 and 83.
16. ^ "Borobudur" (in Indonesian). Indonesian Embassy in Den Haag. 21 December 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2014.