Who does not know Borobudur? This Buddhist temple has 1460 relief panels and 504 Buddha effigies in its complex. Millions of people are eager to visit this building as one of the World Wonder Heritages. It is not surprising since architecturally and functionally, as the place for Buddhists to say their prayer, Borobudur is attractive.
Borobudur was built by King Samaratungga, one of the kings of OldMataramKingdom, the descendant of Sailendra dynasty. Based on Kayumwungan inscription, an Indonesian named Hudaya Kandahjaya revealed that Borobudur was a place for praying that was completed to be built on 26 May 824, almost one hundred years from the time the construction was begun. The name of Borobudur, as some people say, means a mountain having terraces (budhara), while other says that Borobudur means monastery on the high place.
Borobudur is constructed as a ten-terraces building. The height before being renovated was 42 meters and 34.5 meters after the renovation because the lowest level was used as supporting base. The first six terraces are in square form, two upper terraces are in circular form, and on top of them is the terrace where Buddha statue is located facing westward. Each terrace symbolizes the stage of human life. In line with of Buddha Mahayana, anyone who intends to reach the level of Buddha's must go through each of those life stages.
The base of Borobudur, called Kamadhatu, symbolizes human being that are still bound by lust. The upper four stories are called Rupadhatu symbolizing human beings that have set themselves free from lust but are still bound to appearance and shape. On this terrace, Buddha effigies are placed in open space; while the other upper three terraces where Buddha effigies are confined in domes with wholes are called Arupadhatu, symbolizing human beings that have been free from lust, appearance and shape. The top part that is called Arupa symbolizes nirvana, where Buddha is residing.
All relief panels in Borobudur temple reflect Buddha's teachings. For the reason, this temple functions as educating medium for those who want to learn Buddhism. We suggests that you walk through each narrow passage in Borobudur in order for you to know the philosophy of Buddhism. Atisha, a Buddhist from India in the tenth century once visited this temple that was built 3 centuries before Angkor Wat in Cambodia and 4 centuries before the Grand Cathedrals in Europe.
A question about Borobudur that is still unanswered by far is how the condition around the temple was at the beginning of its foundation and why at the time of it's finding the temple was buried. Some hypotheses claim that Borobudur in its initial foundation was surrounded by swamps and it was buried because of Merapi explosion. It was based on Kalkutta inscription with the writing 'Amawa' that means sea of milk. The Sanskrit word was used to describe the occurrence of disaster. The sea of milk was then translated into Merapi lava. Some others say that Borobudur was buried by cold lava of MerapiMountain.With the existing greatness and mystery, it makes sense if many people put Borobudur in their agenda as a place worth visiting in their lives.
MAGELANG, MONDAY - The number of foreign tourists to the Borobudur Temple is targeted to rise. If only 200,000 to 300,000 per year, starting in 2009 until 2019, the number of foreign tourists to the temple is targeted to increase to one million per year. "With that, in a period of 10 years, the number of foreign tourists to the Borobudur Temple is expected to grow to 10 million people," said Director of Operations of PT Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur, Prambanan, and Ratu Boko Linus Jonan, found time on Monday (1 / 12) . To meet these targets, Jonan said, the government is currently exploring cooperation with the airlines, so that later it can open a direct flight (direct flight) from a certain country to Yogyakarta, and then mail akukan road to borobudur. "Currently, we are trying to make the direct flight can be opened in the countries of Europe and East Asia," he said. During this, the majority of foreign tourists in the Borobudur Temple is derived from Europe and East Asia. In addition, internal PT Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur, Prambanan, and Ratu Boko, also perform a variety of innovations to create packages that attract tourists and continue change conditions in the area around the temple. In this case, we will also involve the community of traders to set up the pavement (street vendors) in the area of the temple, the blogosphere. For planning and improvement of the physical temple, Jonan said, the government will also continue to enhance cooperation with the Central Concert VASI Heritage Borobudur. Chinese Ambassador to Singapore Zhang Qiyue yesterday that come to visit Borobudur Temple said, both China and Indonesia is still trying to develop cooperation in order to increase the number of tourist visits to each country. "For that, we also continue to promote the wealth of incessant touring and cultural heritage that belongs to each country," he said. Concerning the direct flight, it can not ensure that can be implemented in the near future because they require more discussion and planning activities. "However, we will continue to seek that the flight could be implemented in future years," he said.
