Borobudur Temple

A Glorious Buddhist Temple Studded by History and Life Philosophy

History

Who never heard about Borobudur Temple? Its glorious, beauty, and unique have made this built by Sailendra dynasty between year of 750 – 842 AD temple is confirmed as one of the seven wonders and also in the year of 1991 is stated by UNESCO into World Wonder Heritages list.

Borobudur Temple had been buried by the cold volcanic mud of the huge eruption of Merapi Volcano in about year of 950 AD and was rediscovered in the year of 1814 as British Government ruled Indonesia. Governor General Sir John Thomas Stamford Raffles heard about the discovery of giant archaeological object in Bumisegoro village, Magelang. Because of his great interest to Java History (Raffles also write a book titled History of Java, 1817), Raffles immediately ordered H. C. Cornelius, a Dutch engineer, to investigate the location of the discovery which on that time was a hill covered by bushes.

First reconstruction was immediately done by Raffles who started to cut the trees and remove the bushes which covered that giant building. Because of the discovery, Raffles got an appreciation as the man who started the reconstruction of Borobudur Temple with the world all looking at him. In the year of 1835, the whole temple area had been all finished excavated. This temple is continue reconstructed in the Dutch Colonialisms era and keep continued after Indonesia declared its independent day by the Republic of Indonesia government with the help from UNESCO. The whole reconstruction process was finished in the year of 1984.

Specialty

A lot of people in this world have made Borobudur Temple as a must visited tourism object in their life. There are several theories try to explain the etymology of the word Borobudur. One of them said that this word might be comes from the word Sambharabhudhara means “hill” (bhudara) where in its slopes terraces is sited. There are also some other people etymologies. For example word borobudur comes from phrase “para Buddha” (the Buddhists) which because of the sound friction becomes borobudur. The other explanation is that the word borobudur comes from the words bara and budur. Bara/vihara means temple complex and budur or beduhur means on top or hill. That makes borobudur can generally mean as temple complex that lies in the top of the hill.

The building wide of Borobudur Temple is 123 x 123 m with building high of 34.5 m and has 1460 reliefs, 504 Buddha statues, and 72 stupas. Borobudur Temple has 10 levels (symbolize 10 Bodhisattva levels which have to be through in order to achieve the perfection as Buddha). Mandala is centre of the combination between Buddha and Hindu arts. The basic form of a lot of Hindu and Buddha mandala is square with four entering point and a circled central point. From both exterior and interior, Borobudur Temple symbolizes three zones of consciousness level plus one main area which describes perfection or nirvana.

The first zone is Kamadhatu or the phenomenon world, the world which inhabited by most common people, which can also interpreted as world that is still controlled by kama or “low desire”. This lowest level of Borobudur Temple is covered by the supporting foundation of the building, so we couldn’t see its part. This hidden Kamadhatu zone consists of 160 reliefs which describe Karmawibhangga Sutra story, the causal law. These reliefs here describe the human desires like robbery, murder, torture, and defamation. Some evidences show that this basic level is added to the original building of the temple. The reason of this addition is not 100 % sure, but most likely for the stability of the building structure and to strengthening the building foundation or might be because of the religious reason that is to cover more the dirty contents. This addition part has 3.6 m of high and 6.6 m of wide. The covered bottom corner has been permanently open so the visitors could see the hidden foundations including some of its reliefs.

The second zone Rupadhatu or the transition world, where human is already free from profane things, but still bound to appearance and form. This level symbolizes the in between world, between under world and upper world. The Rupadhatu square terrace contains stone relief sculpture gallery, as well as series of niches contain Buddha statues. Overall, there are 328 Buddha statues in this zone which has a lot of reliefs with pure ornament. Sanskrit Manuscript is described in this zone by its 1300 reliefs; those are Gandhawyuha, Lalitawistara, Jataka, and Awadana. Those reliefs are lined up along 2.5 km. Also in this zone, there are 1212 decorative panels.

The third zone Arupadhatu or the highest world, the dwelling of the Gods. Three circular terraces toward the center or stupa domes describe the rising to the upper world. These terraces are having less ornament and prefer the purity of the form. This level symbolizes the upper world, where human is already free from all desires as well as appearance and form bond, but not yet reach the nirvana. The Buddha statues are located inside the full of hole stupas look like a cage. From outside, we still can vaguely see the statue. Overall, there are 72 stupas like this.

The highest level describes the absence form; it’s symbolized by the greatest and highest stupa. That stupa is plain without any holes.

Location and Facility

Borobudur Temple is located in Borobudur village, Borobudur region, Magelang district; it’s about 40 km in the northwest side of Jogjakarta, 7 km in the south of Magelang city, and 100 km in the southwest side of Semarang. Borobudur Temple tourism complex provides quite complete facilities and accommodations, like hotels/inns, restaurants/cafes, a complete souvenir shops, gas stations, and communication tools like telephone cafe and internet cafe. Around Borobudur Temple, there are also andong (traditional carts pulled by horse) which can be used to carry us around the temple complex. While inside the temple complex, there are also motorized mini trains just in case we are tired or lazy to walk to the temple building. In the Borobudur Temple complex, there are also interesting museums which are really worth to visit. The ticket price to enter Borobudur Temple for locals or KITAS holders is Rp. 15.000, - (weekday) and Rp. 17.500, - (weekend). While for general foreigners is US$ 15, and for foreign students is US$ 8. 

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