Borobudur_ Ng Yi Ting 1107345

Pyramid of the Cosmic Buddha

It located in close proximity of the geographic center of the Island of Java in Southeast Asia, the man-made pyramid-mountain of Borobudur has puzzled archaeologists and scholars alike since the very day that the western world rediscovered it during the early nineteenth century. Comparable in size to the Egyptian pyramid at Saqqara, this enigmatic structure contains more than 1.6 million stone blocks and measures more than 400 feet along either axis.

   In 1814, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles — acting in his capacity as the British Empire’s Lieutenant Governor on Java — they sent a survey team to investigate incredible rumors about a great ruined sanctuary located deep within the island’s interior. It took six weeks for a crew of two hundred men to clear away the soil, volcanic ash and vegetation that had embraced the monument for centuries. Upon clearing the site, the discoverers were able to discern the foundations of a stepped pyramid, which provides the framework for a series of galleries that collectively contained 1,300 beautiful base-relief carvings that if placed end-to-end would span a distance of more than 1.5 kilometers. The walls of the monument’s galleries in turn were designed to support no less than 432cave-like niches, each of which contained a stone image of the Buddha. Near the top of the pyramid, the exploration team uncovered three round terrace platforms, each of which supported a series of bell-shaped chambers called stupas. Residing within each of the half-dome shells was a statue of a Buddha displaying the symbolic hand gesture known as the ‘Turning of the Wheel.’ 

From the extract, Borobudur is a Buddhist temple created by using repetition of stupas which look like a bell-shaped and  statue of Buddha to form a wonderful pyramid tower.

I'm excited with its form of Buddhist architecture and monumental arts.

The building structure in Borobudur seems to express a complex meaning as the buddha gesture hand like showing something in it, perhaps a code that has to be cracked by someone. However, till now nobody have solve it as it is too difficult.

My opinion for Borobudur in hero's journey is the step of the Borobudur till the top of the temple are connected with the Hero's journey stages changing. You don't know what is it until you reach a stages.