Friday, October 12, 2007

Borobudur

Here we are in front of the "Buddhist temple" screen at the Walmart photo center. Okay, we're really at one of the largest Buddhist temples in the world, Borobudur. It just looks like a background screen.

This temple was apparently "lost" after the 14th century, around the time that Islam was introduced to Java, and found again in the 19th century under several layers of volcanic ash and foliage. It's hard to show how large and imposing the temple really is.

This is a huge Buddhist pilgrimage destination. It's built of 9 layers, and if you walk around each level there are intricate carvings that lead you through the different levels (for lack of a better term) of Buddhist life, ending at Nirvana.

Note: if interested, you can find a more professional and thorough explanation on Wikipedia by clicking here.
This is near the top of the temple. Inside each of these bells (stupas) is a statue of Buddha. We learned after getting back to Bali that if you can reach through a stupa and touch Buddha's fingers, you can make a wish. And it will come true. Man! I was an arm's reach away from a luxury yacht!
We really enjoyed getting to be "tourists" on Java, and getting to see a few more parts of Indonesia.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This made me laugh because of a Buddha incident in our lives this week -
We ate at 9pm at a fancy restaurant in Hollywood a couple nights ago. It's all dark and chic inside. At the hostess stand, there is a Buddha statue. Laura reached out for it, saying, "Jesus! Jesus!" The hostess COULD NOT believe her ears. She smiled and laughed along with us. Go Jesus!
Hope it made you laugh, too! That's why we baptize early - evangelization takes place through our little ones from in utero. God bless them!
Love,
Audrey

Anonymous said...

looks and sounds like you are having a good time!

Jaime said...

Hi! My name's Jaime and I'm a friend of Chris and Christy Estoll. They gave me the link to your blog so that I could contact you because I will be volunteering at Bumi Sehat birthing clinic in Ubud, Bali in March. I don't know much more than that at this point, don't even have my plane ticket just yet but it's always to nice to have a contact when you're alone some place new. Feel free to email me sometime with any advice. Thx, Jaime
Paime98@hotmail.com

Lacey said...

Oh what fun! I look forward so much to your pictures every week.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...