Borobudur At Glance

The Ancient Sacred Building

Buddha statue seated in a stupa.
Source: Guiding Technique Chandi Borobudur arisguide. Foto screenshot arisguide.

Chandi Borobudur is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple, it has nine terraces with corridors, there are six square and three circulars, the top is a central dome, surrounded by 72 stupas and decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues.

Chandi Borobudur was built in the 9th – century during the reign of the Syailendra Dynasty, the temple was designed in Javanese Buddhist architecture, which blends the Indonesian indigenous culture of ancestor worship and the Buddhist concept of attaining Nirvana. It also 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.

Sacred Buddhist Temple
 Source: Guiding Technique Chandi Borobudur arisguide. Foto arisguide. 

The monument is both a shrine to the Lord Buddha and a place for Buddhist pilgrimage. The journey for pilgrims begins at the base and follows a path around the monument and ascends to the top through three levels symbolic of Buddhist cosmology: Kamadhatu (the world of desire), Rupadhatu (the world of forms) and Arupadhatu (the world of formlessness). The 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 the largest and most complete ensemble of Buddhist reliefs in the world.

Stupa terraces
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The central dome is surrounded by 72 Buddha statues, each seated inside a perforated stupa.

Borobudur views from Bukit Dagi
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In the most remote past the island of Java was floating in the ocean, and had to be nailed to the centre of the earth before it could be inhabited. The huge nail became a small hill, called Tidar, at the southern outskirts of the present city of Magelang. And only some fifteen kilometres south of Tidar hill is Chandi Borobudur situated.

The undulating plain is bordered on practically all sides by rugged mountain ranges. And as if to beautify the landscape, two sets of twin volcanoes soar into the sky: the Merapi (2911m) and the Merbabu (3142m) at the northeast, and the Sumbing (3371m) and the Sindoro (3135m) at the north-west. The Merapi is now active and the small eruptions occur every two or three years. The western and the southern sides of  the plain are closed by along chain of hills, that form a rugged skyline of towering masses of indefinite shape. Hence the denomination ‘Menoreh range’ (menoreh stands for ‘menara’ and means ‘tower’). The region around the ‘Nail of Java’, better known as the ‘Kedu Plain’, forms the geographical center of the island. Its extreme fertility, and industrious population, explain why it is often called "the Garden of Java". 

The south-eastern corner of the plain is the only one not blocked by a mountain range; at this point, the Menoreh chain bends southwards before reaching the foot of the Merapi. And it is through this passage that the waters of the Kedu region leave the plain and flow to the Indian Ocean. The Kedu plain is intersected by the two main rivers of the region: the Progo and the Elo. Both run nearly parallel from north to south, forcing their way through narrow but deep trenches.

Borobudur World Heritage
Source: Guiding Technique Chandi Borobudur arisguide. Foto screenshot arisguide.

Chandi Borobudur view from the northwest, the inscription was mentioned in Karangtengah and Tri Tepusan.

Source: Guiding Technique Chandi Borobudur arisguide. Foto screenshot arisguide.

Viewed from the monument, it looks very much like the profile of a man lying on the ridge of  the hill. The nose, lips and chin are clearly delineated. This peculiarity has not escaped notice. 

The story goes that the ridge depicts Gunadharma, architect of Chandi Borobudur, according to tradition, who is believed to keep watch over his creation through the ages.

Perforated stupas
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Arrested by the slopes of the southern ridge of the plain the two rivers flow together, after which the Progo carries the waters to the ocean along side the southward - bending Menoreh range.

The area around the confluence of the Progo and the Elo rivers was in ancient times a holy place of particular significance. A considerable number of the Kedu plain monuments were founded here. Hindu and Buddhist sanctuaries were packed together within a radius of less than three kilometers from the point where the two Kedu rivers meet. From west to east, the main Buddhist monuments of the area are: Chandi Borobudur, Chandi Pawon, Chandi Mendut, and the Chandi Ngawe compound which consists of five structures.

The first three sanctuaries are assumed to have formed one compound also; though standing at a considerable distance from each other, a straight line drawn from Chandi Borobudur to Chandi Mendut through Chandi Pawon suggests the unity of the triad. This kind of lay - out is not to be found at Borobudur.

the processional path 
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According to oral tradition the triad was once linked by a paved processional path, flanked by richly decorated balustrades. The exceptional composition of the triad has led to much speculation about the relation between Chandi Borobudur, Chandi Pawon and Chandi Mendut. The most plausible link is religious, if the denomination ‘compound’ is interpreted in a particular way; the three monuments can be taken as a whole to represent one religious conception. Chandi Borobudur has no inner space, no place where devotees could worship. Most likely it is a place of pilgrimage, where Buddhists can seek after the Highest Wisdom.

The passages all around the edifice, successively mounting to the upper most terraces, are evidently meant for ritual circumambulations. Guided and instructed by the narrative reliefs, the pilgrim proceeds from one terrace to another in silent contemplation. Chandi Mendut is seemed a place of worship. The Buddha is represented by a formidable monolith, seated with hanging legs on a throne and flanked by the accompanying Boddhisattvas Avalokitesvara and Vajrapani. The depiction of the Buddha preaching the first sermon in the deer - park at Sarnath is apparently meant to recall right conduct in life to those who seek their refuge in the Compassionate Buddha.

The small Chandi Pawon also has an inner space, but it does not reveal what deity might have been the object of worship. It is impossible to say what was the function of the temple in relation to Chandi Mendut or to Chandi Borobudur?.

The Buddha statue
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The pilgrim had to pass Chandi Pawon as his way from Chandi Mendut to Chandi Borobudur along the paved processional path might suggest that Chandi Pawon was a kind of station on the long journey; after being purified through the required ceremonies of worship at Chandi Mendut, Chandi Pawon allowed to pause and reflect before proceeding on the pilgrimage to Chandi Borobudur where attire some series of circumambulations awaited.

Straight - line arrangement of Chandi Mendut is some three kilometres from Chandi Borobudur, while Chandi Pawon is half that distance away.
Source: Guiding Technique Chandi Borobudur arisguide. Image screenshot arisguide.

Chandi Borobudur originally represented a lotus flower floating on the surface of the lake, the mythical lotus from which the future Buddha will be born.

Borobudur ancient lake
Source: Guiding Technique Chandi Borobudur arisguide. Image screenshot arisguide.

The popular belief in the existence of a processional path does not tally with the hypothesis, put forward by Nieuwenkamp in 1931, that the Kedu plain was once a huge lake. This idea was based on his discovery that the ground-plan of the monument depicted a lotus rosette and petal around a circular flower-bed, while its situation on top of a hill suggested a lotus floating in the air.

Moreover, soundings and leveling indicated that villages in the area that had names commencing with the word tanjung (‘cape’) are all located just above a common elevation line, 235 m above sea-level. Nieuwenkamp came to the conclusion that the Kedu plain beneath the 235 m elevation line was once a lake on which the Borobudur monument. ‘floated’. Chandi Pawon and Chandi Mendut were situated on the banks of the lake. The identification of Chandi Borobudur with a lotus flower floating in the middle of a lake sounds fantastic, but there was in fact a lake near the monument.

The color of the lake
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Fierce opposition to Nieuwenkamp’s hypothesis provoked further geological investigations in the area around the monument which produced some further evidence in favour of the hypothesis, though not in regard to the extent of the lake. In this final conclusion still awaits more extensive and specific research.

Borobudur World Heritage
Source: Guiding Technique Chandi Borobudur arisguide. Image screenshot arisguide.

Source: Guiding Technique Chandi Borobudur arisguide.