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Gautama Buddha was born in India in the 6th century. At the age of twenty-nine, he renounced riches to become a monk and lead a life of meditation. Originally, Buddhism was not a religion, but a doctrine that explained the steps to reaching Nirvana, a release from life's misery. The ultimate goal is to avoid rebirth and a continuation of life, cycle after cycle. When the Buddha gained Enlightenment, he taught his followers. In his famous sermon at Deer Park in what is now Benares, he established the principles of a faith that brings inner tranquility:
Hear me, gracious ones, for I offer you knowledge of the path to Enlightenment. This is the first noble truth: life is suffering. The second noble truth: suffering is caused by human fears and desires. Third: suffering can be eliminated. And the fourth noble truth
is that the elimination of suffering can be achieved by following the Noble Eight-fold path.
The Eight-fold path shows the way to extinguish desire: correct view, correct intention, correct speech, correct conduct, correct livelihood, correct zeal, correct remembrance (which retains what is true and excludes the false) and correct meditation.
The panels of Borobudur depict a branch of Buddhism known as Mahayana Buddhism, which developed around the beginning of the Christian era. In Mahayana Buddhism, the ideal is to become a Bodhisattva, an enlightened being who rejects personal salvation and returns to life in order to help others reach Nirvana. The journey up Borobudur shows the way to become a Bodhisattva through good deeds, contemplation and meditation.
Borobudur is a place of pilgrimage rather than of worship, a training center for those who wish to achieve Enlightenment. The student is guided along successive terraces and staircases to the uppermost level, walking in a clockwise direction – the outside world blocked from sight by the balustrades – and experiencing physically as well as spiritually the long hard journey in search of ultimate truth.
The monument is built to represent the universe according to Buddhist cosmology, divided into the Spheres of Desire, Form and Formlessness.
Kamadhatu, the Sphere of Desire, is represented by the panels of the hidden base, which depict man's concern for worldly desires and pleasures.
Rupadhatu, the Sphere of Form, is represented by the five square terraces above the base, which illustrate the pathway to freedom from passions, though man is still bound by the illusion of form.
Arupadhatu is the Sphere of Formlessness, represented by the three concentric circular terraces at the top of the monument, symbolizing freedom from the phenomenal world.
Built by the wealthy Sailendra kings of Central Java, Borobudur would have been a testament to their Buddhist faith and a mark of their social, political and religious standing. In keeping with the precepts of Mahayana Buddhism, a Sailendra king had to do his utmost to accumulate as much merit as possible during his reign. The entire population would have participated in Borobudur's construction, reaping a great deal of good karma and ensuring the material and spiritual well-being of the entire kingdom.
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