"It is better to travel well than to arrive." - Buddha

This morning we arrived to the Buddhist monastery only to be immediately immersed in the Indonesian heat, throngs of tourists, and persistent sales-people. We walked up to the entrance and were greeted with a "No Entry: Meditation Going On" sign and chain link barrier. Other visitors were pacing around and trying to take photos of the monastery without disturbing the monks, as the sign mentioned walking around, talking, writing, and various other activities might cause if done past the barrier. 

Of course, being with Ayu, we walked right up to the barrier where a monk welcomed us to duck under it. These are the kinds of things that being a part of America's Unofficial Ambassadors can lead to. Due to the partnership with Dian Interfidei, the interfaith NGO that I'm interning at, Ayu was able to get ahold of people at the monastery earlier and had arranged for us to meet with one of the novice monks on the premises. 

The monk that greeted us. Here he's in front of a bodhi tree, the same species of tree under which Buddha achieved enlightenment.

It was like all of the tourist hustle melted away. Although allowed to use our camera, we were removed from the sole purpose of getting that perfect shot of the temple. Instead, we were beckoned inside where we were met with drinks and invited to sit and chat. The monk gave a brief speech about the monastery, Buddhism, and his religious experience before offering to answer any questions we could think of. It was actually really interesting because he grew up Catholic before converting to Buddhism in the past few years. Afterword he took us on a tour of the monastery.

One of the temples in the monastery.

The whole monastery was really cool, but one of my favorite parts was how every little detail of what was around us was so immensely intentional. Although not obscenely ornate, the temple above holds a large variety of symbolism in its adornment. And the tree from the first picture? Not only is it a bodhi tree, it's descended from the bodhi tree. The seeds for that tree came from the exact tree under which it is believed Buddha was sitting under when he reached enlightenment. Even the other trees in the area were chosen for significances to the life of Buddha. 

We closed our experience with a meditation session led by the monk (and translated beautifully by Ayu) before departing. But our encounter with Buddhism wasn't over yet- we were headed to Borobudur!

A picture of the temple from a lesser populated corner.

Borobudur is a giant temple, but instead of having any sort of chamber you can enter the significance is all about the outside and the structure itself. It is made up of a variety of levels, each one representing a specific step to enlightenment. However, there are three basic phases the levels are divided into, as the following diagram of Borobudur shows.

The layout of Borobudur as seen from above. It's reminiscent of a Buddhist mandala.

The red level represents the world of desire, orange is called the world of forms, and yellow is the world of formlessness. The temple itself is carved with hundreds of pictures, like a giant stone story book working sort of like scripture describing the life of Buddha and the path to enlightenment. And of course, it's gorgeous.

A picture from the 1st level of sinful pleasures. This carving depicts people drinking alcohol and dancing wildly.

The view from Nirvana. (Aka the top of Borobudur.)

From left to right: Tanto, Fye, myself, Ayu, Suraiya, and Sarah

The day was a nice break from the usual religious culture of Java, and gave us a chance to exercise our mind (through meditation) and our legs (you can't even comprehend the stairs at Borobudur). Just another day in the life of an unofficial ambassador and interfaith intern.