Essay --

Located in primaeval Java in present day Indonesia, The expectant Stupa of Borobudur is the worlds largest Buddhist monument. It was constructed former(prenominal) around AD 800 as a way of displaying visual teachings of Mahayana Buddhism. The Great Stupa of Borobudur is essentially a symbolic form of both a stupa, a sacred mound of earth with holy relics of the Buddha buried beneath, and a mandala, a mystic Buddhist symbol of the universe. Or as Catherine Albanese describes it the mandala meant a pass on which signifies the wholeness of the self. The architectural design of this stupa was different from anything that had come before it and every part of it had some significance in the world of Buddhism. The overall social structure of Borobudur is made up of a square foundation along with a total of nine platforms. Of those nine platforms six of them are squared opus the remaining three are circular. The structure can be supercharge divided into three main takes a base, a clay, and the top. Each of these levels symbolise the three soils of Buddhist cosmology. The base symbolises the ground of Kamadhatu the six squared platforms symbolize the body politic of Rupadhatu and the three circular platforms at the top symbolize the realm of Arupadhatu. The realm of Kamadhatu is also known as the world of desires and it is the lowest level of the three realms. This is where ordinary sentient individuals live out their lives with desires and suffering. The next realm, the realm of Rupadhatu is known as the world of forms and it is the second level of the three realms. This realm is accessed by those who allow gotten rid of their desires with meditation, but still have a name and form. It is said that you have to advance up through multiple stages in thi... ...design of Borobudur and the rite that it entails. The reliefs located on the base and body were there in order to teach initiates the sacred texts as the ascended the kettle of fish in Prada kshina. The elliptical and circular terraces represented the summit of Mt Meru and the central stupa located in the center represented the center of the universe. Through this ritual the state of Nirvana is attained through gradual processes and transitions, not forceful jumps. The architecture of Borobudur would also signify a gradual process as it starts off square in the lower terraces, transitions to elliptical with the first devil upper terraces and finally becomes circular in the third upper terrace. community may only speculate as to what things may mean or represent, but one thing for certain is that The Great Stupa of Borobudur was designed and construct the way it was for a reason.