Arriving there


The drive is so sweet on the way to Borobudur. The drive has ever been so sweet.

We can feel that the shape of the road always belong to the ground in the field of Keda since the time of pilgrinage, since the time of bouddhist kingdoms of the dynasty of Sailendra in the center of Java.

The large trees from places to places bring a warm and safe shadow that spead over the vulcanic landscape. The tall vulcano Merapi and his twin broher Merbabu remain so long inside the landscape among the other montains of smaller size.

At the top of Merapi vulcano a small white smoke get out ans seems to be link to he montain.

The morning sun left a wide clean sky and the heavy rains fall from time to time with some dark clouds. Many lighter clouds were standing at the horizon adding imaginare montain shapes to the natural relief. It is so strange to see those smoky montains playing and moving with the real ones. It is so stange and so amazing that there is a moment we don't know what is the true montains and what is the clouds.

With the distance, the two vulcanoes diplay a very different shape and seems to be a different one. Landscape change so much because of distance and because of clouds.

Long after that Merapi et Merbabu have desapear, it is the vulcano Sumbing that stand up slowly.

After many crossroads and branches, the road become smaller, softer, following each accident of the relief, Becoming curved with a very little trafic, as it was probably in the past.

Inside books, carved relief of Borobudur display a lot of country people with cattle, buffalos, chariots and peasans working, and when I arrived there I could see it also in the field. Some scene from the past seemed to be still present.

By chance because of the rainy season there was no body there, I was arriving into an empty place without anyone caring about me even not the many shop owners. Now, the monument was standing in front of me and this big stairs was telling me "come !" , " walk up !".

The building is a quite simple pyramid made of five first square terraces ant then three ciculatr palforms concluded with a big cantral stupa.

The Borobudur temple is completly covered with reliefs on walls. On the basement, we can see a lot of stone carving depicting the common life . On the first terrace we can see the story of the life of the historical buddha and the tale wrotten from it. There, we can see what we already red in book : the queen Maya and the white elephant, king Suddhodana, the birth of prince Siddhârta, the golden palaces, the four meetings, the escape from the palace, the meeting with the five guru, the enlightment, the teaching of buddhist law …

This walk arroung the terraces is a real lesson of buddhism into space and that make it be so original. We can read this building like a book as we walk, as we follow the circulation, and when arrive on the top, less sculptures, more architecture and maybe the understanding of emptyness.








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