The inspection tour organized by Garuda Indonesia Airlines was held in mid-July. This paper introduces the Borobudur and Prambanan temple complexes, World Heritage sites that we saw in Java!
With sandals worn by the Emperor of Japan! Borobudur, the world’s largest Buddhist site
Borobudur Temple, which I remember from my world history textbooks, is located in the suburbs about 40 km northwest of central Yogyakarta. It takes about an hour and a half by bus from a hotel in the city to get there. You will receive a wristbands with a QR code that will be scanned at the entrance, and change into special sandals.
Incidentally, these sandals are specially designed with rubber soles to prevent damage to the ruins, and were in the news last year when the Emperor of Japan wore the same sandals during his visit to Borobudur.
Borobudur Temple was registered as a World Heritage Site in 1991 as “Borobudur Temple Site” consisting of three temples: Mundut Temple, Pawon Temple. Currently, for the protection and preservation of the ruins, the number of people allowed to climb the ruins is limited to 1,200 per day.
The platform is open Tuesday through Sunday from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, and can only be visited for one of those hours. Admission tickets can be purchased in advance from the official website and cost 455,000 rupiah (about 4,200 yen) for adults, including sandals.
According to the guide, it was only after Corona that the current restrictions on the number of people and sandal designations were put in place. The guide told us that the manners were so bad that tourists used to put cigarettes and tissues in the crevices of the ruins. The entrance fee, which seems a little high, may be unavoidable for the sake of sustainable tourism and maintenance of the World Heritage site.
Borobudur, the world’s largest Buddhist temple, is said to have been built during the Shailendra dynasty in the 8th to 9th centuries. The temple is 33.5 meters high and consists of a square base of 120 meters on each side, a five-story square platform, and a three-story circular platform above that, with a large stupa rising in the center of the topmost layer.
From a distance, Borobudur Temple looks like a large black hill, but as we got closer, we were overwhelmed by the precision and power of the temple as we saw countless Buddha images and precise reliefs. This time, we were able to visit the temple while listening to a Japanese commentary by a local guide, which helped us to better understand the temple.
The highlight of Borobudur is the numerous reliefs that cover the corridors. The story of Buddha’s life from his birth to his enlightenment and the contents of the sutras are precisely decorated, as if we were looking at a picture scroll. It was as if we were looking at a picture scroll. Incidentally, the construction of Borobudur Temple is said to have started around 780 A.D., which was during the Nara Period in Japan!
Although Borobudur is called a “temple,” it is quite different from what we Japanese imagine it to be, and it is unclear how it was actually used. It is known that there is nothing inside the exterior walls, which are made of piled up andesite blocks.
However, it is said that the three-tiered structure of the base, square platform, and round platform reflects the “three worlds” of greed, color, and colorlessness that represent the Buddhist worldview. In other words, as you ascend from the bottom to the top, you can simulate the path from vexation to enlightenment! And the Borobudur Temple itself is considered to be a huge mandala expressing the Buddhist view of the universe.
After the fall of the Shailendra dynasty, Borobudur fell into ruin and lay buried in volcanic ash and jungle for about 1,000 years until it was discovered in 1814. Borobudur continues to fascinate tourists from all over the world, while hiding many mysteries. It is worth a visit to Java Island just to see the Borobudur! It was a spot filled with romance.
© Source travel watch
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