Than Hsiang's Pu Men Pin Online Gong Xiu Dharma Sharing (01/09/2023)

Former Principal of International Buddhist College, Brother Leong Kok Hing sharing " Borobudur "

Borobudur is a Mahayana Buddhist monument located in central Java, Indonesia.

It is 86 kilometers west of Surakarta in Centralk Java and 40 kilometers northwest of Yogyakarta.

Its founder was King Samaratunga of the Sailendra Dynasty who ruled the island of Java.

After the king ascended the throne in 778 AD, he began to build Borobudur to promote Mahayana Buddhism.

There are five phases of the entire project, which lasted for more than 70 years. In the end, 57,000 cubic meters of volcanic rock were used to build a giant building with a length and width of about 121 meters and a height of 35.4 meters.

The origins of name Borobudur is derived from Boro for big and Budur for Buddha.

The best spot to see the sunrise at Borobudur is from the top or second tier of the temple. From here the sun will rise behind a large volcano making the view even more spectacular.

Borobudur lay hidden for centuries under layers of volcanic ash and jungle growth. The facts behind its abandonment remain a mystery.

Worldwide knowledge of its existence was sparked in 1814 by Sir Stamford Raffles, then the British ruler of Java, who was advised of its location by native Indonesians.

He immediately sent a Dutch archaeologist to investigate. A team of 200 people spent two months clearing the jungle and clearing away the thick layers of volcanic ash, bringing the historic site back to life.

The first photograph of Borobudur was made public in 1872.

There are corridors on each floor of the tower. Various reliefs are engraved on the stone walls of the corridors. Among them, there are 1460 reliefs describing the story of Jataka and 1212 decorative reliefs. All of them are connected to a length of more than 2900 meters, presenting "Epic on Stone".

This is a scene from the Book of Parables, depicting a large ship. An European captain visited here and was greatly impressed by the ship. He thought it was the highest masterpiece of Indonesian navigation technology in the 8th century. So he applied from the Indonesian government to replicate this ship. He sailed across the Indian Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope in Africa. The ship is now housed in the Borobudur Museum.

Owing to further weather and drainage problems, by the 1950s, parts of Borobudur were in danger of collapse.

In the late 1960s, the Indonesian government petitioned the international community for extensive renovations to preserve this historic site.

From 1971 to 1983, a large-scale restoration project led by the Indonesian government and funded by the United Nations was carried out here. The entire project cost 25 million US dollars, and more than 1 million stones were re-aligned. The entire monument was completely cleaned and restored to its appearance in its heyday.

In June 2012, it was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest Buddhist temple in the world today.

For more information, please browse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtiS3HZ-LPM

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