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objections consist of the facts thatBorobudur's center is a stupa, not animage; there are no images of othergods such as the eight directionalguardians which should be depictedon a mandala; the importance ofstories in Borobudur's reliefs, whichform a linear progression, ratherthan a concentric sequence; theVairoc ana iconography atBorobudur does not fit Tantrayana;and the fact that Vajrayanaphilosophy did not exist yet whenBorobudur was laid out.

In a literal sense, MarijkeKlokke is correct. Borobudur does

not fit the technical, strict, narrowdefinition of a mandala. On the

other hand, it is hard to believe thatthose who conceived Borobudur's

groundplan of three round terracesabove four square galleries werecompletely unaware of the mandalapattern, and that the undeniable

similarities between their design anda mandala's outline is entirelycoincidental. As I argued in mybook Golden Tales of the Buddhas(Miksic 1990), Borobudur'sdesigners had a much loftier goalthan merely replicating a singlereligious diagram. They must havebeen intent on combining severalsymbolic systems in one structure.

Their design was governedby the desire to represent at leastthree symbolic systems. Thenumber three has been part of many

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however now reject this theory (seee.g. Wayman 1982: 170 n. 67; deCasparis 1968, cited in Gomez andWoodward 1982: 10.; and L.O.Gomez 1982:180-181, and p. 192 n.32). Nevertheless, this theory stillhas adherents. The art historian

from UCLA, Robert Brown (1997:74) wrote that Borobudur'sorganization "very strongly placesthe Buddha into a continuum of

unmanifest to manifest, with thestupa being the unmanifest and theanthropomorphic forms themanifest." He compares thisideology that of Siva as the lingga(unmanifest), andanthropomorphic imagery ontemple walls. This formulationwould not be inconsistent with the

idea of the three realms.

Another promisingh}p>othesis is that Borobudur ismeant to function in three or more

symbolic dimensions rather thanjust one: as a mountain symbolizingthe ten stages of the pilgrim aspiringto attain Bodhisattvahood; as asymbol of political powerlegitimizing the rule of the Sailendraking; and as a stupa, representingdeath and rebirth. In this article, Iwill summarize more arguments infavor of this hypothesis which werenot included in my book.

Borobudur may be evenmore complex than this three-folddivision would suggest. It is

nB>ldBffj2ib rniBbjrl'rjrj tBvriuqmamgriBV fiBr.'B. 1 .•'o7>Ij;t rf/.lrniji-j2 rlofc^i g g n i t fit; 1 b d rr! b f 1 i >1 i I i rn t) rnnB2BV/Bd iBgBd-j2 fliidiBv.n'jrnodolibiB-qBb BvndilBfl'jR n/.b ,gnijbnilli^B'I A;n:\)\\)iid nB2Bv/B>I rii dibBjib

M riV;'fi59 r.

H.e st?ais^tfugtiure. .ThjC designers needed tocreate round terraces to fulfill the

task of making an architecturalreference to a mandala, even if theydid not feel themselves strictlybound to construct a three-

dimensional version of such a

diagram, but to fulfill thisrequirement, man\' simplersolutions could have been tound.

The designers instead chose a muchmore complex design, which isadditional proof indicating that theywanted to achieve many symbolicgoals, not just one.

The multiple stupas on theupper terraces may have beeninspired by the need to manifest aspecific text. Some have nominatedthe Lotus Sutra {Saddhan/zapinidarika) as the inspiration for the form ofthe topmost terraces. Anothertheory proposed by the art historianHiram Woodward is that the

perforated stupas stand for theD h a r w a d b a t u: t h e \' may

simultaneously represent theelements (dharma), and planets andstars, the moon and sun. Thediamond and square perforations inthe stupas may correspond to theshapes of the breaths whichBuddhist practitioners inhale andexhale (Wt) o d w a r d 2 0 (14).Woodward further suggests that"Perfection Path Buddhism"

(Parawl/ayana) was "the Buddhism,essentially, of Borobudur's narrativereliefs". But there were also

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elements of Mantrayana,specifically the Eight Bodhisattvaswhich are depicted on Mendut'sexterior. (See also Woodward 1999:34-43. On the Dharmadhatu see

Wayman andTajima 1998:52-56.)The upper terraces remain

one of the most enigmatic sectionsof Borobudur, and have thereforeattracted numerous scholars tosuggest new explanations for theirdesign. Another recent theoryregarding the upper terraces(Lundquist 1995) emphasizes theview that Borobudur is a pyramidalbase representing Mt. Meru, with around 3-tiered stupa-like palace at itsummit, resting in the clouds. Itsdesign could be based on a Mt. Merutemple banner.

Lundquist notes that thenumber 72, corresponding to thestupas on the upper terraces, is twicethe number of deities in theVajradhatu mandala (36), and is alsorelated to a Tantra verse preservedin a Tibetan version of the Tripitaka:"Like the wheel of the law, it has 16spokes along with a nave. It ispossessed of a triple series, and thespokes are to be doubled."

In addition to the number

of perforated stupas, Lundquistargues, the perforations themselvesmay be an attempt to recreate inphysical terms a ritual found inTantra for generating a mentalimage of a mandala palace aboveMt. Meru: "imagine a canopy[appearing] in an instant. On top ofthat he generates the completecharacteristics of an eaved palaceand generates within it various seats;and he may also generate within thepalace stupas of the varieties'victorious' and 'radiant'." The well-known Italian buddhist scholarTucci has compared the stupas to anauspicious square stupa with 108doors, which was mentioned in theFirst Sermon. A temple known asKumbum, in Gyantse, Tibet, is

suggested as another attempt torender this concept in visible terms.However, it does not resembleBorobudur; instead, this stupa hasmany miniature doors.

Mandalas and Mountains

Mountain symbolismpermeates Greater VehicleBuddhism. Many importantsermons introducing new sutraswere preached on mountain tops.Greater Vehicle Buddhism evolved

a complex image of the universe,consisting of three worlds with agreat mountain at the center calledSumeru.

A mandala is a recreation of

the home of the gods on Sumeru, aplace into which the gods can beinvited to descend. An inscriptionfrom the Ratu Boko plateau, southof Prambanan, dated 792, is writtenin the form of a prayer to the"Sumeru of the Perfect Buddhas".

Mountains have long beenrecognized by social scientists as animportant focus of spiritual beliefin Javanese culture. Borobudur'slocation on a hill in the midst of aplain cannot have been chosen bycoincidence. Although it is not ahigh mountain, it is clearly symbolicof a supreme summit of wisdom.The pathway to the top ofBorobudur is obviously analogousto the ascent of a pilgrim in searchof supreme enlightenment leadingto the status of a Bodhisatt\^a.

The Lalitavistara, one of theimportant texts for the builders ofBorobudur, mentions 56 Buddhas,and 7 Manushi (human) Buddhas,including Sakyamuni ofthe presentkalps- In Nepal, Tibet, China, andJapan, the concept of 5 mortal(Manushi) Buddhas is still popular.When Kasyapa, the third ManushiBuddha, died, he was buried inMount Kukkutapada. WhenMaitreya descends to earth as the5th Manushi Buddha, he will first go

to this mountain which will open,and Kasyapa will emerge and giveMaitreya the garments of a Buddha(Gupta 1972:110-110).

Another text which was

influential in Java in Borobudur'stime i s the

S arvatathagatatattvasamgraha^ orTattvasamgraha for short, which wastranslated into Chinese byAmoghavajra in 753. TheIntroduction {n id an a) toTattvasamgraha honors "TheAdorable Great Shining One(Bhagavan Mahavairocana)" who isequated with Siva, Visnu, Indra, andBrahma. The text mentions a

Boddhisattva, Sarvarthasiddhi, who

was visited by other Buddhas whilehe was practicing yoga. They taughthim how to attain Buddhahood

through five-fold meditation,whereupon he was initiated by allthe Buddhas with the vajra nameVajradhatu. Then the Buddhaswent to Vaj ramaniratnaSikharakutagara on top of Mt Meru,where they blessed Vajradhatu asSarvatathagata who then sat on a asinghasana to face the fourdirections. Then Aksobya,Ratnasambhawa, Lokesvara, andAmoghasiddhi took their seatssurrounding Vajradhatu.

The fact that the vitarka

rather than dharmacakra mudra is

used in the Borobudur relief

depicting the first sermon has longbeen wondered at. This could be

accounted for if the planner ofBorobudur understood that in the

Tattvasamgraha Sakvamuni attainedbuddhahood after he was instructed

by all the Buddhas, and \ airocanawas also Sakvamuni. The plannermay have thought that the mudra of\'airocana should be the same as

that of Sakvamuni in the

1 .alitavistara, vitarka mudra.

No text () t the

\ dttvasamoraha has been found in

Indonesia, but the deities in the b/z/i:

Hjang Kamahajanikan (SHIQ areclosely related to the pantheon ofTattvasamgraha. Two mandalas whichmay have been influential in Java inthe ninth century are theGarbadhatu mandala of the

Mahavairocana sutra^ and theVajradhatu mandala ofTattvasamgraha. In Japan, theGarbadhatu mandala representsreality, Vajradhatu mandalarepresents wisdom. In Java, the twomandalas may have been integrated.In SHK is an explanation of 10Paramitas, followed by references toMahaguhya (great secret: yoga,meditation, 10 paramitas) andparamaguhya (highest secret:breath control). Practicing the 10paramitas leads to accumulation ofmerit and wisdom; Borobudur's

reliefs seem intended to teach them.

Thus Borobudur may not be avajradhatu mandala, but a symbol oftattvasamgraha, represeint the placewhere the five tathagatas assembledon Mt Meru.

A recent doctoral

dissertation (Kandahjaya 2004)contains a discussion of the

Japanese Buddhist monk Kukai's

biographical History of the Tradition ofEsoteric Buddhism. Kukai mentions a

Javanese Vajrayana masterBianhong, his fellow disciple whenhe studied with the Chinese masterHuiguo. Bianhong was alreadyeducated in Esoteric Buddhism inJava, but wanted to learn more Hewas going to southern India butheard that the famous monk andtranslator Amoghavajra hadbrought esoteric teachings to China.Bianhong arrived in China in 780and later Huiguo initiated him intoGarbhadhatu tradition. The storyof Bianhong svanese knew of thecarya and yoga tantras by the Bhowsthat the Jaorobudur period.

In addition to the Chinesesources which can be used toreconstruct ancient Javanese

Buddhism, another importantanalogy can be drawn from Tibet.The famous Buddhist teacher

Atisha (986-1054), was born inIndia, but spent many years inIndonesia (probably Sumatra). Hewas born Candragharba, renamedDipangkara Srijnana when heentered the monkhood, and afterinitiation into an esoteric Buddhist

order he received the title Atisha.

At this time Sumatra was

known far and wide as a great centreof Buddhism. The "Golden

Island", almost certainly denotingSumatra is mentioned in Tibetan

sources of this period such as theHevajra Tantra and the Yogaratnamaia(Schoterman 1986: 13). Atisha, atthe age of 29, went to study inSrivijaya. He returned to Bengal in1025 and became head of amonastery there. In 1040 heaccepted an invitation to move toTibet, and he died in a monastery atNetang, 16 kilometers from Lhasa(Schoterman 1985: 14-15; Decker1995). Another of Atisa's gurus,Pindo, was from Yavadvipa in theSouth Seas (Newman 1987, pp. 94ff).

It is accepted that Buddhistshrines in Tibet were often designedas mandalas. Directions for layingout temples and mandalas usesimilar or identical Tibetan terms.Tibet's first monastery, Samye, wasbuilt as a mandala in the late eighthcentury. It has a large square centraltemple, originally three stories tall(now it has five). Outside anenclosing wall are four subsidiarytemples, one at each quarter, andeight smaller ones. At each corner isa stupa. The entire complex,surrounded by a circular wall,explicitly symbolizes Mt Meru.

At Tabo and Toling are late10th or early 11 th century mandalatemples. Tabo is a one-storv

Vajradhatumandala with a mainimage of Vairocana, and subsidiary

divinities of stucco on the walls

around it. The inner chamber

contains Amitabha, representingultimate reality "behind" themandala. Toling is a multi-storiedVajradhatumandala. On theground floor is an image ofSakyamuni, with a similar imagedirectly overhead. On next twofloors are images of Vairocana,while on the top floor is Samvara, aTantric representation of ultimaterealit}'.

Elsewhere in the Himalayas,

at Tango (Bhutan), three stories areassigned to three Buddha-bodies,with Dharmakaya at the top. Inplan, the temple is a square with aprojection on each side- the plan ofthe central "palace" of the mandala.In medieval and modern timeshowever the strictly mandala-likesystems of temple spacearrangement "fell away in Tibet(Denwood 1972:49-51).

Brown (1997) has arguedthat the reliefs on Borobudur werenot carved in order to be used toteach devotees about Buddhism.Instead, he argues that they were tobe used as icons. He comparesthem to Indian sites such as Bharhutand Ajanta, where their "tortuous ,"strange" arrangement points to asymbolic rather than narrativefunction. Brown, drawing on workby Rawlinson on texts and Schopenon statues in medieval rock-cutmonasteries, argues that the reliefswere carved in order to symbolizehis continued teaching after hisentry into Nirvana. This ideology,he asserts, was particularlyimportant in Mahayana schools,which would have avoided thecriticism that by entering the bliss ofnon-being rather than remaining inthe world as a Bodhisatt\'a, he wasexhibiting a form of selfishness.

The Jataka tales were rarelydepicted in India after the end ol theGupta period. Some Theravada

pilgrims were probably responsiblefor a few examples found at BodhGaya and Sarnath (Bautze-Picron1998). Thus narratives weretransformed into icons, as Brown

argues. At Borobodur, however, it isdifficult to accept this argument.Most of the Jatakas at Borobodurare shown in multiple scenes, andthus were perceived as stories, noticons. In this case as in others, onecan see that the Javanese wereworking from different bases thanwere sthapakas in other parts ofAsia, and did not need to rely onimported models for their ideas orinspiration. This may have been trueat Bagan also. On the roof terraceof the Ananda temple in Bagan,each of the Last Ten Great Jataka isillustrated with about 40 plaques perstory! The Ananda temple thusresembles Borobudur in thisrespect.

Whereas the statues atop

the galleries of Borobudur depictthe five Jina Buddhas, the reliefsinterpose a different set of deitieswith whom humans cancommunicate direcdy. As with thecontroversy regarding Borobudur'srelationship with mandalas, so toowe can use Tibetan sources asanalogies to widen our basis forcomparative analysis. In Tibet, thedeities Vajrapani, Avalokitesvara,and Manjusri are often groupedtogether in the Geluk order. Theserepresent the power, compassion,and wisdom of all Buddhas of past,present, and future. The Gelukorder was founded by Tsong Khapa(1357-1419), thus several centuriesafter Borobudur was built, but thereare nevertheless important parallelsand probable historical connectionsbetween central Java and Tibet,separated though they are bythousands of kilometers ofmountains and seas.

Tsong Khapa thought ofhimself as continuing Atisha's work.

In 1415 he built several three-

dimensional mandala monasteries.

One of the main texts of Tibetan

Buddhism since Atisha's time has

been the L' aughing l/ajra (Hev^'ra)Tantra. It was believed the Manjusriand other Bodhisattvas would

regularly be incarnated in the IChomfamily, head of an importantTibetan monastery (Rhie andThurmann 1996).

As these references show,

Manjusri was an important deit}' inTibet as well as in Java. OnBorobudur he plays a vital role indirecting the young Sudhana at thebeginning of his quest forenlightenment. This role fitsManjusri's mission in Buddhism: tolead people in their inquiry into theself, to discover the true nature ofreaht}'. This is the importance ofthe book which lies on the lotus, thestem of which he holds in his lefthand: the P' rajnaparamita Sutra.Buddhism is first mentioned inofficial Tibetan documents duringthe reign of King Khri-srong, 740-ca 798. In later sources he wascalled an emanation of Manjusri. Inthe 1390s, Tsong Kapa was believedto meet Manjusri every day. It is nottoo much to imagine that theunusual depiction of Manjusri in theGandavyuha reHef on Borobudur asan old rather than a young man ispart of an attempt to depict theruler who originally ordered theconstruction of Borobudur.

Conclusion.

These brief explorations ofrecent studies on Buddhismdemonstrate the gradual progressthat scholars are making in theirefforts to explore the many currentswhich permeated the Buddhistworld as it grew to include a largeproportion of Asia. The eighthcentury is considered bv many to bethe apogee of Buddhist intellectualdevelopment. It is unlikely that the

Javanese would have been contentto build such an enormous structure

as Borobudur in order to represent asimple concept. More likely is thatthey were creating a network ofsymbols, spanning a broad range ofintellectual concerns, from thesimple expression of power formedby a huge stone structure standingout against the horizon, to the subtleinterplay of ideas between reliefs,free-standing sculpture, andarchitectonic motifs such as stupas,each of which could have been

considered a building in itself. It isnot probable that Borobudur wasonly a mandala, but it is equallyimprobable that mandala conceptsplayed no role in Borobudur'sdesign. The Javanese architectswere not so unsophisticated as towish to create a monument with

only one meaning. Borobudur is astory, not an icon. (HI

Claudine Bautze-Picron, "Larepresentation des jataka enBirmanie et dans I'lnde

orientale a I'epoquemedievale." in P. Pichard and

F. Robinne, eds. EtudesBirmanes en Hommage a DeniseBernot. Paris: Ecole

Fran^aise d'Extreme-Orient1998. Etudes Thematiques 9.129-145.

Brown, Robert L. 1997 "Narrative

as icon: the Jataka stories inancient Indian and Southeast

Asian architecture." In JulianeSchrober, ed., SacredBiography in the BuddhistTraditions of South and

Southeast Asia. Honolulu;

Universit\- of Hawaii. Pp. 64-112.

de Casparis, ).G. 1968 "Barabudur".Encyiioped/ii of B/iddh/sn/.\s)\. 2t a s c. 4, e d . b \ C i . P.Malalasekera (Colombo:

Government Press

Decker, Hubert 1995 "Arisa^

journey to Sumatra." InDonald Lopez, ed.. Buddhismin Practice. Princeton:

Princeton U. Press.

Denwood, P. 1972 "The' Tibetantemple: art in its architecturalsetting." in W Watson, ed.,Mahajanist jArt After A. D.900.London: University ofLondon, Percival DavidFoundation of Chinese Art,

Colloquies on Art &Archaeology in Asia No. 2.Pp. 47-55

Gomez, L.O. and Hiram Woodward1982 "Introduction" in

Barabudur: History andSignificance of a BuddhistMonument., edited by L.O.Gomez and H.W Woodward

Jr. (Berkeley Buddhist StudiesNo. 2,1982)

Gomez, L. O. 1982 "Observationson the role of the

Gandav^oiha in the design ofBarabudur", in Barabudur:Histofy and Significance of aBuddhist Monument, edited by

1^72 Iconography of theBuddhists and Jains.

L.O. ^omez and H.W.Woodyatd Jr. (BerkeleyBuddfjj^t Studies No. 2,1982).

Gupte, R.S.Hindu.s

Bomb^ r: B).B. Taraporevala.Kandahjaya, tf- - ^ Study on the

Origin cifH Significance ofBorobn^j/r. Ph.D. dissertationat the (graduate TheologicakUnioj^, University ofCalifot-^a, Berkeley.

Lundquist, 1995 "Borobudur;the toj^ plan and the upperterrace^," P-nsf and West 45/i-iv (Dec;^fnber): 283-303

Miksic, John jsl. Borobudur: GoldenTales of the Buddhas.Singapore: Periplus.

Newman, Jopn Ronald 1987 TheOuterWfielofTime: VajrayanaBuddhif Cosmology in theKalacQ^ra Tantra. Ph.D.Dissertation, University^ ofWiscor^in-Madison.

Rhie, M.M. jvfid R.A.F. Thurman1996. \tfisdom and Compassion:

The Sacred Art of Tibet.London: Thames and

Hudson.

Schoterman, J.A. 1986 IndonesischeSporen in Tibet. Leiden: E.J.Brill.

Wayman, Alex 1982 "Reflections onthe theory of Barabudur as amandala," in Barabudur:

Histo>y and Significance of aBuddhist Monument, edited byL.O. Gomez and H.W.

Woodward Jr. (BerkeleyBuddhist Studies No. 2)

Wayman, Alex and R. Tajima 1998The Enlightenment of Vairocana.Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

Woodward, Hiram 1999 "OnBorobudur's upper teraces",Oriental Art45,3: 34-43.

Woodward, Hiram 2004 "RsotericBuddhism in Southeast Asia

in the light of recentscholarship," Journal ofSoutheast Asian Studies 35,2:329-354

SumbcrGimbar: .Htlp://coiiimons.wikimedii.otg/wikl/FilciDorobudvir_^andala.5Vg

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