Artist: unknown
Title: The Great Stupa/Mount Meru at Borobudur, view from the northwest
Material: local volcanic rock
Site: Borobudur, Central Java, Indonesia
Current Location: in situ
Period/Date: ca. end of the 8th - beginning of the 9th century,
under the Shailendra Dynasty
Iconography/Iconology: The mountain peak form is very apparent from
this view. At the summit is a large stupa which originally contained an
image of the Buddha at the moment of enlightenment. The terraces of the
rectilinear mountain have been variously numbered, but a careful count indicates
that there are ten registers or levels corresponding to the ten stages of
the bodhisattva path of attainment as described in the Dasabhumika Sutra.
As described in the Abhidharmakosha text, Mt. meru is square
in shape with each side made of a different material such as gold, silver,
lapis lazuli and crystal. At the pinnacle is Indra's heaven, the paradise
Trayastrimsha. Above that invisible to the human eye range paradises through
twenty-three diferent states of existence each increasing in ethereality.
The highest heaven world is Akanishta, the realm of the Buddha Vairochana
who manifests the entire body of Buddhist teachings. Through the Buddhist
teachings, Vairochana also manifests all of the other Buddhas.
Stylistic Comments: Seen from a distance, the Mt. Meru platform emulates
the rings of mountains surrounding the valley. Built over a volcanic outcrop,
which has been sculpted into the basic shape of the stupa, the monument
perfectly reflects the conceptual understanding of the world system in which
Mt. Meru is described as surrounded by nine rings of mountains.
