Horizons: The Cosmic Mountain: Borobudur

Now the most populous Muslim nation in the world, Indonesia was once home to powerful Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms. (Today, however, the island of Bali remains the only Hindu enclave in Indonesia.) In the late eighth century A.D., a Buddhist kingdom, the Sailendra dynasty of Central Java, created one of the most enduring monuments to human spirituality ever built: the Borobudur Temple. Although little is known about early Javanese history, the Borobudur Temple was clearly deliberately set in the midst of soaring volcanic mountains. The temple’s many stupas (mound-shaped objects or structures, a form used by Buddhists for shrines and reliquaries) […]