Borobudur

It had been my fervent wish to one day visit the great temple of Borobodur, the 9th century,biggest Buddhist shrine in the world, with scenes of the journey of the enlightenment of Gautama Buddha carved on the walls made of volcanic stones. During Oriental Philo classes in the university, the story of Prince Siddhartha, the sphere of desire, sphere of formlessness, the state of nirvana, were topics that amazed me most and since then it had been my ardent desire to one day walk around the great temple of Borobudur.

On my way to the temple while driving with my guide through the town of Magelang at around past 7:00 am, I noticed white smoke that covered the slopes of the hills, ricefields, and villages. I asked Siraj if the smoke was coming from Mt.

Merapi and he said no, it was fog. And it's been a long time since he saw fog in Magelang. He was kidding me that it must be my lucky day. Buddha must be blessing me. Mt. Merapi volcano was enveloped with clouds when I climbed up to it's base yesterday, and I asked him to remove the clouds even for a bit so I can see it's beauty even for just a while, and it happened!

I arrived at the Borobudur before 8:00 am. From the entrance gate, I could see the structure erected on a hill. It looked like a multi-level pyramid with the central stupa easily seen at the summit. And as I was making my way up to the hill, the fog began to disappear and the whole area became sunny and bright. A lucky day indeed!

Besides reaching the summit as my main goal, I was eager to see the stone carving depicting the birth of Prince Siddhartha and his journey towards perfection.

I was already walking fast with eagerness but my guide reminded me to slow down. He aaid the temple won't go away, no need to hurry. The temple will wait for me.

While taking the upward hike, my guide began his Borobodur lecture: The temple is composed of 55,000 square meters of lava-rock composed of six rectangular storeys, three circular terraces and a central stupa forming the summit. the whole structure is in the form of a lotus, Buddha's holy flower.There are ninety two Buddha statues facing all directions and 1,460 relief scenes. The lowest level has 160 reliefs depicting cause and effect; the middle level has the stories of Buddha's life, and the highest level has no reliefs. It is bare but has a square balcony with round walls, a circle without beginning or end.

It is the place of the 92 Buddhas tucked into small stupas. Each of these statues has a mudra(hand gesture) indicating one of the five directions.

Borobudur stupa is a replica of the universe. It symbolizes the micro-cosmos, which is divided into three levels, in which man's world of desire is influenced by negative impulses, the middle level, the world in which man has control of his negative impulses and uses his positive impulses; the highest level, in which the world of man is no longer bounded by physical and worldly ancient desire. Nothingness. Nirvana.

The first objects I wanted to see were the stone carvings. Many were lost during the destruction and unrecovered but the significant ones were there. I saw the pregnant Queen Maya and her giving birth in the standing position beside a tree to Prince Siddhartha.

The dream scene where the white elephant appeared to Maha Maya was also there. Amazing! Every detail of the story carved on stone.

I went up next to the stupas. Some of the heads of the Buddhas inside the stupas are missing. One stupa was left open with a Buddha in the sitting position.  While I was at the summit at the main stupa, I was thinking what would be my wish. I can't think of one because my main wish of travelling to Boroudur was already granted. And God protected me from the bad elements to keep me from my journey.

I decided to start my descent to move on to another world. From the Buddhist world, I'm moving to the Hindu world. Prambanan is waiting.