The Buddhist World of Southeast Asia: Second Edition

Appendix 2 Borobudur

208 Appendix 2 Borobudur The pyramidal terrace known as Borobudur was constructed on the Kedu Plain near Jogjakarta between 760 and 830 C.E. by the ruling Sailendra (“kings of the mountain”) dynasty.1 Under King Sumaratunga (792–824), the Sailendras controlled most of central Java and enjoyed especially close relations with the Pala kings of north India, who were patrons of Mahayana and Tantrayana forms of Buddhism.2 Borobudur, the only surviving monumentofitstypeinJava ,embodiesasetofcomplexmeanings:“Themonument has multiple layers of meaning which accumulated during its active life, and it therefore represents a process of cultural evolution rather than a single moment in Javanese history.”3 Interpretations variously identify Borobudur as a cosmic mountain, a stupa,4 a mandala, or the stages of development of a spiritual journey.5 The structure consists of six square terraces, the lowest being 479 square feet, topped by three circular platforms bearing seventy-two perforated, hollow stupas covering seated Buddha images and a solid central stupa fiftytwo feet in diameter.6 The walls of the terraces and the lower foundation are covered with bas-reliefs. The ground level is designed to illustrate the operation of kamma and rebirth, depicting in graphic detail the punishments that result from evil deeds. The terraces are for perambulation. Here bas-reliefs carved in stone depict the life of the Buddha according to the Lalitavistara, and stories from the Divy¡vad¡na, the J¡takam¡l¡, and the Ga¥dhavy¢ha. A total of ninety-two Buddha images are situated in niches on the outer gallery walls of the monument’s five levels. Borobudur’s terraced pyramid appears to represent a spiritual ascent or journeyfromthemundaneworldofkarmicactionandrebirthtothatsupreme reality beyond all form. Along the ascending path, pilgrims encounter the Buddha Sakyamuni and Mahayana bodhisattvas carved in bas-relief on the circumambulatory terraces. Borobudur can be constructed in ways other than mapping stages of a spiritual journey. Paul Mus sees the monument as borobudur 209 a representation of the upper reaches of a cosmic mountain enclosed by the cupola of the sky.7 As a cosmic mountain or axis mundi, it serves to connect the divine source of royal power with the Buddha. From this perspective, Borobudur has been interpreted as merging a chthonous cult of “kings of the mountain” with the Buddha Vairocana, the universal, unconditioned AdiBuddha . J. G. De Casparis argues that in Sailendra inscriptions the Sanskrit term, gotra, was used to refer to the fundamental element of Buddhahood as well as the “line of the ancestors,” thereby linking the family of the Tathagata with the Sailendra ancestral line.8 R. Soekmono agrees with the underlying assumption of this view when he contends that a stepped pyramid crowned Figure A.1. Top view of Borobudur. From A. J. Bernet Kempers, Ancient Indonesian Art. Harvard University Press, 1959, 42. Reprinted by permission of Harvard University Press. 210 appendix ii by a stupa is the most appropriate symbol to depict the virtues successively accumulated by the lineage of forebears along the bodhisattva path to Buddhahood .9 Although scholarly interpretations of Borobudur differ, there does seem to be a general consensus that the monument integrates three levels of meaning germane to our study of the symbiosis between political authority and cosmology , namely, cosmic, royal, and Buddhist. At the macrocosmic level, the monument connects royal power with the universal Buddha at the center of a complex cosmology; at the microcosmic level, Borobudur represents stages of spiritual ascent from the realm of desire, through the realm of form, and finally to the realm beyond form, or—in terms more specifically related to kingship—Borobudur represents stages of bodhisattva perfection, not only to the unconditioned ground of reality, but also to the foundation of the royal Sailendra lineage.10 ...