Buddhist Temple in Central Java

Buddhism is a family of beliefs from India. The number of Buddhists in the world ranges from 230 to 500 million or more, mostly lived at Asia. Buddhism may have spread only slowly in India until the time of the Mauryan emperor Aœoka the Great. Then, Buddhism spread to China, Korea, Sri Lanka, Burma, Indo China and Indonesia. Buddhism came to Indonesia a few hundred years after Hinduism (at 6th century CE). Thats why, Buddhism is the second oldest religion in Indonesia. Buddhism flourished in Sumatera, Java and Bali. Central Java has some notable Buddhist Temple, such as Borobudur Temple, Mendut Temple, Pawon Temple, Plaosan Temple, etc.

Borobudur is one of the biggest Buddhist temple in the world. The overall height was 42 meters, but was only 34.5 meters after restoration, and had the dimension of 123 x 123 meters (15,129 square meters). Borobudur also has 1460 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues. Borobudur temple was built with an overwhelming mass of images and galleries on its walls depicting the activities of Gods. Borobudur temple is located at Magelang, Central Java (approximately 40 kilometers northwest of Yogyakarta). Borobudur was built by King Samaratungga from Sailendra dinasty, while Gunadharma was the architect of this temple.

Borobudur temple was built in the ninth century (3 centuries before Angkor Wat in Cambodia and 4 centuries before the Grand Cathedrals in Europe). During the restoration in the early 1900s, it was discovered that three Buddhist temples in the region, Borobudur, Pawon and Mendut, are lined in one straight line position.