Experiencing Borobudur tells us more about Javanese

Marco Kusumawijaya, Architect, Jakarta

There are many ways to experience Borobudur and the path to enlightenment, as there are many ways to destroy this experience, if the current course of events neglect the true value of this Javanese Buddhist temple.

For many scholars, Borobudur is a source of knowledge about the Javanese and their life in the 8th and 9th centuries, the patterns and trends of which were passed down to modern Javanese culture.

Scholars have said that Borobudur's bas-relief panels tell us more about the Javanese, than what the Javanese can tell us about the panels. Claire Holt, for example, in her classic Art in Indonesia: Continuities and Change (1967) traced the evolution of Javanese dance movement and other artistic expressions in the bas-relief of Borobudur, as well as other temples.

The late Prof. Parmono Atmadi, the first Indonesian to obtain a Ph.D. in architecture, documented the architectural styles of the buildings represented in Borobudur's panels. His book, Some Architectural Design Principles of Temples in Java (1988), the only one of its kind, recorded 902 buildings carved in 696 of the 1460 panels in the temple. Most buildings in these bas-reliefs are constructed of wood, numbering 254 of the total. The rest are comprised of 463 decorative/temporary structures, 147 stone structures, 31 stupas, 6 of iron and one bamboo bridge.

As a work of design, Borobudur is the most exquisite among the largest sculptures on earth for its splendid million parts, integrated into one perfect symmetrical form without any unnecessary ornamentation.

Its overall form has generally been determined to be a stupa symbolizing the presence of Buddha, or a mountain symbolizing the dynastic reign under which it was commissioned, whose name "Syailendra" literally means "Lord of the Mountains".

It has also been said, however, that the Gunadharma, or divine architect, may have intended the temple as a mandala, or even as the center of a larger mandala as represented by the vast Kedu Plain, where Borobudur is situated.

A mandala is a graphic symbol that reveals the positions of Buddhist deities in the universe, which is used for tantric initiation rituals. Kedu Plain is demarcated by the twin peaks of Merapi Merbabu to the East and Sindoro-Sumbing to the West, and the two rolling ranges of Menoreh to the South and Ungaran to the North. Each of these geographical formations has a distinct form that makes them perfect markers for the mandala. Their size, as well as that of the whole Kedu Plain, is commensurate to the great task of symbolizing deities and the universe.

The main task of the Gunadharma is, of course, to create the panels illustrating the seven ancient texts of Buddhism: the Mahakarmavibhangga, about hell and heaven; the Lalitavistara, about the life of the historical founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama; the Jataka, about the incarnation of previous Buddhas; the Gandavyuha, about Prince Suddhana and his journey in becoming a boddhisattva; and the Jatakamala, Manohara and Avadanas.

The text of the Saddharmapundarika is literally recreated in the design of the temple's top, and depicts the reappearance of all previous Buddhas together in an open space.

Displaying the 1460 story panels, which totals 5,000 meters in length when laid out in a row, is a daunting task for any architect, but the real achievement of the Gunadharma was not limited to simply incorporating the panels as an integral part of the temple walls. The message and challenge of the Gunadharma's creativity is much more subtle and sublime.

As many pilgrim-travelers have confessed, one can experience spirituality in Borobudur even without any knowledge of Buddhism, by simply traversing the spatial realm that it embodies in the temple's galleries and top.

The entire structure of Borobudur offers a physical upward journey that is analogous to the spiritual path toward enlightenment, which can be felt implicitly.

The Gunadharma created a spatial system that, as a pilgrim reads the panels, facilitates the spiritual experience of Buddhist principles, such as samyak samadhi, or to concentrate rightly, and pradaksina, the meditative levels of understanding that leads to enlightenment. Pradaksina is more that just a ritual process, and is analogous to the steps one must take to achieve Buddhahood.

The spirituality of Borobudur can also be credited indirectly for the ancient Buddhist text Lamp on the Path, upon which Tibetan Buddhism was based and has existed for more than a millennium. The book was written by the venerable Atisha in the 11th century, after he had studied under Serlingpa in the vicinity of Borobudur.

A thoughtful, neither leisurely nor hasty, circumambulation through the galleries is to experience seclusion from the outside world, as one is confined within the walls on the right and the balustrades on the left. Only the sky is visible as the roof for this gallery of purity. The path through the gallery is not a straight one, as there are eight curves along each side of the temple.

Having to weave our way along the path every few steps reminds us to be fully aware of our existence in the "now" of space and time, a practice known as samyak smriti.

The obscure openings at the middle of each of the four sides of the temple provide a symbolic representation of experiencing imperfection and temptation. These are where the steps leading to the next levels, either above or below, are located.

It is after the spiritually and physically exhaustive walk around and up the galleries, totaling 5 kilometers in length and 26 meters in height, that a pilgrim finally reaches symbolic enlightenment at the top of the temple.

Here, one finds complete quiet in an open space among 72 Buddha statues, free of the confining galleries, and at the same time, experiences the "right view", or samyak drishti, of the reality of Kedu Plain with all its resources and its unity as seen from above, surrounded by the mountains that might or might not symbolize the borders of an imagined mandala.

For all its richness, Borobudur is a very dense and compact design, an architecture of space by excellence, and as if sculpted rather than built.

In order to experience this, one might need to hurry, as things may deteriorate soon.

Thoughtful meditation cannot be possible with brooms, buckets and litter placed carelessly next to Buddha statues, and an enlightened view of reality is difficult to achieve when roaring traffic along the northern side distracts pilgrims, and hotels spring up along mountain slopes to destroy the power of the ancient mandala.