Borobudur is a huge Mahayana structure (55 000 cubic meters of stone) near Yogjakarta. We arrived in Are's pickup after crawling through the holiday traffic.
Like many aspects of Buddhism, the structure is steeped in meaning that is not always easily interpreted from the outward appearance.
The lower terraces, that depict 'samsara', have been partially covered by conservative Muslims. According to Buddhism 'samsara' is the cyclic existence which continues for beings that have not perfected all their qualities, eliminated bad qualities and realised the way things actually exist. In samsara a whole lot of suffering goes on, as does a bit of nudity and violence, hence the covering up.
The historical Buddha's life story and former lives is carved into the next level. The top few levels house Buddha statues that sit within small stupas.
This structure seems to encompass the entire Mahayana teachings from the teaching on karma to the stages on the path for a Bodhisattva. It was far more than I could take in and I was sick (again) for much of the time there!
Rob and Are woke early to see Borobudur by sunrise. Although it was cloudy it was still beautiful!
This is how Borobudur looks from the air.
Some of the many Buddha statues.
This removes some of the water (rain) that falls on the structure.
One of the many carvings.
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