The Stupa of Borobudur - A Place of Inner Pilgrimage

Abstract

All his sins are left over, annihilated through the act of his journey Aitareya Brahmana 7.15The objective of my paper lies in the attempt to connect the architectural forms of the Javanese temple - stupa Borobudur - with spirituality as exposed in the Buddhist scriptures of Lalitavistara, Jatakamala and Gandavyuha, i.e. to show the correspondences of the semantics of the texts with the symbolism of its material expression in architectural art.My point of departure is that the analogical differentiation between symbolizing and symbolized is not, in the case of Borobudur, enough to interpret its forms and to understand its meaning in the context of pilgrimage research. The symbolizing, i.e. the stupa forms are neither a mere representation of the textual passages nor is the temple simply a symbol of the body of the Buddha's law1 (dharmakaya), as usually interpreted . Further, it is not only a sacred place where people gather together to worship Buddhas and bodhisattvas, but also a place where the achievement of the highest Buddhist goal, nirvana, should be realized. It implies that for each individual the visiting of the stupa is more of an inner pilgrimage, a process of inner transformation than a performance of their religiosity. The architectural forms of the temple's tripartite construction follow triadic symbolism as it is contained in the hahist texts (e.g. 'three' as a sign of the three existential characteristics - trilaksana, 'four' as the four noble truths - calvari aryasatyani, 'eight' as the eightfold path - aryastangika marga), so that proceeding through the temple structures involves proceeding through the teaching itself, in fact transcending it.The approaching of stupa is conceptualized as an entering of the Buddhist path in general. According to scholastic interpretation of Abhidharma texts, the first quadratic level corresponds to the mental analytics of personality (prajna), the hemispheric part corresponds to the realization of moral precepts (if/a), while the cupola as a symbol of meditation (samadhi) unites the two previous moments - the one of discursive knowledge and the other of ethical predispositions, both as a guiding principle to nirvana.This shows a double nature of the stupa in Borobudur - as an architectural expression of Buddhist spirituality based on texts and as a sacred place of its possible realization through the inner pilgrimage, moving from the differentiating analysis of existential forms in everyday life (samsara) to the experience of the void, in nirvana.PilgrimageArrival and departure present an essential part of the dialectical process of pilgrimage. I would even argue that both coincide at the same spatial and temporal point - the point of the border, threshold (i.e. transgression). To start the wandering pilgrimage presupposes that one leave the sphere of everyday life. This is a momentary experience of shortest duration. One enters the Way. To arrive at the pilgrim site is again a momentary experience before readying oneself for new departure. One starts the journey through the sacred site. The difference between journeying to it and through it is essential. Since the approaching of the site, in the case of some pilgrimages, could still be a kind of collective event in which communitas plays an important part, the quality of wandering is transformed in the moment of arrival and simultaneous second departure into a being-alone on the way.TheoryI want to clarify this preliminary thesis using the example of the temple ofBorobudur in Central Java, Indonesia.Theories themselves require a point of departure too: I am setting out from the field research data I collected in Borobudur twenty years ago. At that time my field research was concentrated on Javanese art, especially dance traditions in the court of Surakarta as it was practiced in ASKI (Akademi Seni Karawitan Indonesia), and visits to Borobudur were an accompanying part of my research. …