Impressions
Borobudur: 'Prayer in Stone'
"The human task of architecture is not to beautify or to humanize the world of everyday facts, but to open up a view into the second dimension of our consciousness, the reality of images, memories and dreams." Jubani Pallasmaa Expansive aerial photographs of the square-based, multi-terraced, pyramid-like monument with detailed decorative features and sculptures culminating in innumerable mini-stupas and crowned by the single soaring stupa are undoubtedly dramatic. Viewed from above, Borobudur appears as a single large stupa that takes the form of a giant tantric Buddhist mandala representing Buddhist cosmology and its divine chart. Dimensions remain perfect. Details enhance the conspicuous structure. It is precise and concise in form and content. Today, we are privy to the top-to-bottom perspective. Every bird's-eye visual of the Buddhist temple at Borobudur near Yogyakarta on the island of Java in Indonesia is to resort to the cliché 'immensely impressive.' The question to ponder is how this 'jewel of architectural art', this 'prayer in stone', 'this testament to human creativity' was implemented in the eighth century? How did the visionaries, the architect, the technicians, the labourers conceive and build this architectural legacy? The Giza pyramids in Egypt then come to mind. One is tempted to believe that the Divine Eye oversaw its creation. Here stands a singular structure - a labour of love in homage to the Enlightened One Lord Buddha. Conceived as a model of the universe, this 'cosmic mountain' is regarded as the largest Buddhist temple in the world. Some scholars believe Borobudur to be a gigantic Buddhist textbook in stone whose purpose is to assist believers in following the virtuous path to enlightenment. Borobudur an awe-inspiring temple complex - is a place of Buddhist teaching, training and dedication. Yet there is no written record of who built the Buddhist temple in the Mahayana tradition. These stones of an empire were probably built during the reign of King Samaratunga (792-824 AD) during the Sailendra dynasty. It was built some 300 years before Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Close commercial and religious connections between India and the island of Java had long been in existence. The renowned Buddhist University at Nalanda in India was a focal source of faith. Evidence has been found of Buddhist teachers from Bengal who were present at the consecration of Bodhisattva statues in Java in 782 AD. Here is evidence of the long trail of civilizations that have crossed cultures and crossed the boundaries of time. Innumerable questions bewilder the onlooker; since only the Borobodur temple exists to tantalize us emerging out of green rice fields in the Kedu fertile valley in the Garden of Java. 'Boro' has its root in biara/vihara and 'Budur' is the place. Thus Borobodur is the 'Monastery of Budur.' Knowledgeable sources point to the mighty Mount Merapi, the still active mountain volcano that remains omnipresent. The fertility of its alluvial soil --- enriched by monsoon rains and rains of volcanic ash --- produced multi-crops that sustained a dense population. Sources refer to a violent eruption by Mount Merapi sometime in centuries past. Blankets of volcanic ash would have enveloped the community. Famine ensued. The land, unable to support human habitation, resulted in the Pompeii pattern. The combination of layers of volcanic ash, jungle growth and the inexorable passage of time engulfed Borobudur. The sacred site was deserted and links forgotten. As lives were lured to other destinations, Borobudur became lost to civilization --- until 1814. Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles rediscovered Borobodur that year. He had joined the East India Company as a clerk at the age of thirteen. He was Governor of Java from 1811 to 1816 and founded 'modern' Singapore in 1819. Fascinated by the immense diversity of animals and plants in the East Indies, he studied and collected specimens of both categories. He transferred numerous consignments to England. Raffles founded the London Zoo and the renowned Zoological Society of London and was appointed its first President. Also a keen student of history, rumours of a hill of exposed stones in the midst of a dense Java jungle reached his ears. Nature had consumed the forgotten remains. It was only in 1835 that the site was cleared. And the rest is history as the saying goes. Or in this case, history was revived since Raffles introduced Borobudur to the modern world. In his words: 'Borobudur was an open temple mountain that pilgrims ascent.' The first photograph of Borobudur was taken in 1873 by Isidore van Kusibergen, a Dutch-Flemish engraver. In the same year, the first monograph of the detailed study of Borobodur was published and its French translation followed a year later. At about the same time, in another part of the world, other rediscoveries were underway. The Swiss explorer Jean Louis Burckhardt was the first European to enter Petra in 1812. In Desert Traveller: The Life of Jean Louis Burckhardt, Katharine Sim writes: "The Siq (rock-cut gorge) is one-and-a-quarter miles long, but perhaps because of its narrowness and strangeness it seems interminable. Louis took twenty-five minutes to traverse it. Then, as the rock walls twisted and parted revealing the first hint of rosy beauty, a carved façade ahead, he paused in stunned amazement: el Kaneh glowed in the towering sunlit cliff above a sea of red oleanders, so close it seemed that he could not see it all, unbelievably lovely as it was. He emerged from the Siq and stood gazing up at the wonderful spectacle. No one can look at this work unmoved: (Burckhardt gushes "the situation and beauty of which are calculated to make an extraordinary impression upon the traveler, after having transverse…such a gloomy and almost subterranean passage…it is one of the most elegant remains of antiquities existing in Syria)." (Today it lies in Jordan). Jean Louis Burckhardt also rediscovered the colossal figures of Pharoah Ramses II and Queen Nefertari at Abu Simbel in Upper Egypt in1813. He notes: I fell in with what is yet visible of four immense colossal statues cut out of the rock…they stand in a deep recess excavated in the mountain; but it is greatly to be regretted that they are almost entirely buried beneath the sands, which are blown down here in torrents…" The nineteenth century was the Age of Rediscovery of what had been lost pages in history. Some 170 years following its rediscovery, mankind yet found it fit to target the 'cosmic mountain of the Perfect Buddha' in a bomb attack. The temple suffered minor damage as a result in 1985. In 1991, Borobudur was honoured with the declaration by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. While the temple at Borobudur has been brought to light, yet it withholds its soul and mystery all the while revealing nothing about the master builders who created it or those pilgrims who worshipped here. Perhaps, it is the lingering element of shrouded mystery and the sense of unknown that so adds to the allure of Borobodur. Here stands an unmistakable testimony to the indefatigable power of human creativity. "The plateau on which stands Borobodur like a crown of a hill is some 15m. above the surrounding plain; its openness offering a magnificent view…the marvelous expanse under the dome of the sky melts into the mountain ranges in the distance. The green and rice fields below create a sense of extraordinary peace, the flow of infinity" is the description provided in the huge tome Borobodur: Prayer in Stone (1991) that lay on the bed in the Manohara Guesthouse room. What a treat to able to read about one's destination in the context of time and place. Many a hotel provides pamphlets or brochures some form of write-up on the major attraction in the neighbourhood and city. I have yet to come across anywhere a multi-kilogram 'dining table' (not coffee-table) book placed for the perusal of room occupants. This heavy-duty literary gem is a fine blend of information and pictorial delight. Given its voluminous size no one would be able to walk away with it either. And with this literary taster, we ventured out of our Javanese-styled hotel within the Borobudur archaeological park into the late afternoon mellowing sunshine. Manohara Guesthouse and the accompanying Center of Borobudur Study is a sanctuary of serenity set amidst lush tropical verdant landscape; in which brilliantly accentuated colours of hibiscus flowers in dazzling red and yellow and magenta aflame bougainvillea boughs and inter-twining creepers nestle inside wooden roof-frames. Bamboo wind chimes along the open walkway corridors linking buildings add a soothing tone to the moment and the mind. Having done my homework, I knew that our destination lay just 200 metres away/a 5 minute walk away. Walking through the archaeological park, tree-tops formed a curtain in the near distant horizon. Whilst craning my neck and squinting my eyes, I scanned the mid-horizon for a view of our target-sighting. All of a sudden, the tree-tops were interspersed with what looked like spires. And another two steps and we were in sight of one of the world's wonders. A magnificently humbling moment…And I could only recall that my sighting of the 'Khazaneh Treasury Palace in Petra, Jordan and the colossal carvings at Abu Simbel in Egypt imbibed in me a similar sentiment. In the words of Paul Theroux in his current bestseller book The Tao of Travel: Enlightenments from Lives on the Road, "No one has ever described the place where I have just arrived: this is the emotion that makes me want to travel. It is one of the greatest reasons to go anywhere." He adds: "In any case, travel is frequently a matter of seizing the moment. And it is personal. Even if I were travelling with you, your trip would not be mine." Can anyone improve on this philosophy or on these wordings? Nothing prepares one for the sheer scale and vitality of the man-made marvel. Built both as a shrine to the Lord Buddha and as a Buddhist pilgrimage site, it is quite simply staggering to behold its beauty and scale. Built on a bedrock hill, some 55,000 cubic metres of stone from neighbouring rivers were cut to size, transported and laid in situ without mortar to bind. A vision solid as stone yet it appears ever so delicate and fragile entirely ephemeral. According to some experts, here is the largest ensemble of Buddhist reliefs in the world. In addition, 504 stupas, each containing a statue of the Buddha adorn the temple. Yet on closer examinations, the carvings appear pock-marked by centuries of elements. What appears from a distance as a uniform creation the statues now reveal differing patinas of flecks of green and orange and, black and grey nuances. Then again, amongst the scores of manifestations of the Lord Buddha, we come across an armless Buddha, a headless Buddha, a Buddha with cracks in its sculpted torso…Whether an accident of time or nature or human intervention; the mystery continues to intrigue us. The three ascending physical and spiritual levels engage the pilgrim through 'Kamadhatu', the world of desire; 'Rupadhatu 'the world of forms' and finally 'Arupadhatu', 'the world of formlessness' or Nirvana. And all along are symbols, tokens, leads signposts for the pilgrim for those who can read them. The Karma of cause and effect is depicted in 1460 sculpted bas-reliefs that encircle the rising sublime structure. Here we find detailed depictions of reincarnated animals and birds; people at work and play and tradesmen and wise men that have come to seek salvation at Borobodur. One of the friezes depicts in fine detail an Indianocean-going vessel arriving in Java. And all the while, the devotee is circumambulating clockwise the ancient path of pilgrimage. According to Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese Buddhist scholar, 'The circular form represents an eternity without beginning and without end a superlative, eternal, tranquil and pure state of the formless world.' It is worth remembering the words of Saint Catherine of Sienna who spent three years in silent meditation: 'All the way to Heaven is Heaven.' At the upper levels, the walls are blank. Dan Cruickshank in his book Around the World in 80 Treasures elaborates: "The walls here are plain clearly in this rarified spiritual world there is no need for images to tell and teach stories." The last three circular uppermost terraces are graced by 72 stupas which encircle the towering central single stupa. All 72 bell stupas have openings. All 72 stupas contain a kneeling image of the Lord Buddha or used to for today some are empty and some remain broken or damaged. In this world of symbolism, some of the bell stupas have diagonal openings and some have square openings on the surface. Why? I found an answer in Around the World in 80 Treasures. Dan Cruickshank quotes his Buddhist monk/guide: "…the diamond shape is a square standing on one corner good but unstable, unsure, still able to lean one way or the other, towards the good or back towards, evil. On the other hand, the square standing on one of its sides represents stability, the goal achieved and no backsliding In Borobodur: Prayer in Stone, we read that: "Lord of the Zenith retires in the domes of the upper terraces, which only barely permits his presence to be discerned. The half-darkness inside the dome enhances a feeling of abstraction." The emptiness of the principal stupa symbolizes 'realm without form.' The attainment of finite calmness is reached at the climax of the physical and spiritual journey. It is de rigeur to catch the sunrise at Borobudur. The dawn of yet another day rising over the 'cosmic mountain' is a sight to behold so declare one and all. "In the early dawn light, the magic mountain rises like a pink lotus blossom rising from the sea of green" is the heavenly description provided in Borobudur: Prayer in Stone. And I overslept and missed the 4:30am appointed time - another once-in-a-lifetime missed opportunity. Time does not repeat itself. I ventured out at 6:30am with still remnants of the spreading golden glow of the ascending sun. I consoled myself; for I had still caught Borobodur bathed in shades of seemingly pink sunlight touching the grey stone statues of the Lord Buddha. In plays of shade and light; features, crevices, platforms and smooth surfaces brought alive the entire vision. It was both a communion with history and one with spirituality In the words of Virginia Woolf: "I was conscious of experiencing moments of being intense sensations that stand apart from the cotton wool of daily life.'
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