East Java, as one of the province in Indonesia provides many historic sites which have been examined by archaeologist. Not a few of those historic sites are now developed as wonderful destination to visit by domestic and foreign tourists. One of historic sites considered as famous wonders in the world is Borobudur Temple. Its name is Borobudur because it is located in Borobudur District, Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. It is Mahayana Buddhist Temple and was built in the 8th and 9th centuries AD during the reign of the Syailendra Dynasty.
According to historical evidence, the development process lasted for 75 years, starting around 824 BC, and ended at the early of the 900 during the reign of Queen Pramudawardhani, the daughter of King Samaratungga. Its construction was under the leadership of architect Gunadarma. Although he was not familiar with computers and other advanced equipments, Gunadarma was able to implement the interlock system in the construction of the temple. A total of 60,000 cubic meters of andesite that amounted to 2,000,000 blocks of stone were brought from the Elo and the Progo River carved and assembled into a giant puzzle that covers a small hill to form the Borobudur Temple. That history makes up Borobudur as the world’s largest Buddhist temple, as well as one of the greatest Buddhist monuments in the world.
The monument comprises of six square terraces, at the top there are three circular courtyards, the walls decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues as original. The main biggest stupas is in the middle and crowned this building, surrounded by three rows of 72 circular perforated stupas in which there is a statue of Buddha sitting cross-legged in the lotus position perfectly with the mudra (hand gesture) Dharmachakra mudra (turning the wheel of dharma).
Borobudur was built with the main purpose as a place of worship to honor Buddha and a place of pilgrimage for humans to recall the Buddha's teaching that lust shift towards enlightenment and wisdom of the Buddha. That’s why the building is divided into 4 levels according to Buddhist cosmology meaningful specifics about the spiritual journey of Buddha.
The first level is Kamadhatu (the world of desire) located at the bottom; means man is still struggling in earthly desires. Second, Rupadhatu (the world of forms) is four levels above kamadhatu; means man is regardless of the desires and lust, but is still bound in appearance and physical embodiment. Arupadhatu (the world of formlessness) which is three levels above the perforated stupas mans that man separated world of desires, his appearance and physical embodiment in such form as humans and are in 'transit space’. At the very top of this temple is Arupa (nirvana) which means dwelling place of Buddha.
Not only that, the reliefs also depict the life of society in general, there are some heroics but also ordinary people acts. Some of the stories is the story of Ramayana, tells the farmers' activity reflecting traditionalism in the past, the story of the sailboat when it was making rapid progress, and others. Borobudur is not only high artistic value; the great work of human civilization in the past is also loaded with philosophical value. Enjoying the grandiose of Borobudur is similar to appreciate the cultural heritage of Indonesia as one of the famous wonders in the world.
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