See Borobudur before you die.A 9th century Buddhist temple in Central Java,
outside the city of Yogyakarta (no, that’s not Jakarta misspelled), it’s one of
the most amazing ancient sites I’ve visited.
Most of the tours are
early-morning affairs that give you better light during the visit and keep you
out of the staggering noon-day heat. The monument consists of six square
platforms, which represent a different phase of enlightenment, topped by three
circular platforms.
It is decorated with 2,700 relief panels and 500 Buddha
statues, most of which are surrounded by a bell shaped conical structures that offer
a glimpse of the Buddha inside.
The surrounding environment of lush jungle and
mist-shrouded volcanoes in the background give it a staggering beauty I can’t
say I’ve found elsewhere.
The site has been rebuilt several times with the help of
UNESCO. Eruptions by the nearby volcanoes in the 10th century led to
its abandonment left it hidden under volcanic ash for centuries until the
British colonial administration of the early 19th century. At first
it didn’t seem like a very long time for such a huge work of engineering to
last. Then again the World Trade Center only lasted 31 years before being
buried in its own ash.
Borobudur was originally created to educate people into the
teachings of Buddha, which was done through the stories told along the relief
panels. The life of Buddha – how he went from being a moneyed prince to an
enlightened guru who owned nothing and wanted nothing, plays out in various
places.
Tales of how jealousy, avarice and a range of other earthly desires led
people into ruin and despair are etched in stone across the temple. Indonesia’s
capacity to maintain such diversity of culture and religion is evident even in
the era of the Sailendra Dynasty that built the temple. Even as it sought to
expand and competed with the Hindu faith to attract devotees, it arranged to
have one of its princes marry a princess of the Sanjaya Dynasty, which built
the nearby Prambanan temple (which we also visited and loved, though still
preferred Borobudur).
Today the country is overwhelmingly Muslim, with Hindus the
majority on the island of Bali and Buddhists less than one percent. Indonesia
has had its share of ethnic violence, but little compared with what might be
expected given its range of languages and religions. In part, our tour guide
told us, this is because Islam came to Indonesia via India, where it
assimilated a number of Hindu traditions and was built around the idea of
plurality. The ancient dynasties of Java seemed to have figured out from early
on that it makes sense to get along.
A Buddhist temple turns out to be a good place for a person
who’s struggling with wanting to be in another country on the other side of the
world. Eliminate desire? It just might work.
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