Buddhism and Borobudur

Our last group hurrah during Study Term was visiting Borobudur Temple at sunrise. We woke up at 4:00 am, climbed a small hill to a lookout point, and were rewarded with this view:

We toured the exquisite, ancient Buddhist temple, which was built in the 9th century and is the largest buddhist temple in the world. 

The day before, we spent time at 2 monasteries to learn more about Buddhism in Indonesia. Our first visit was Vihara Bodhivamsa in Klaten, a temple and meditation center. We were given an intro to Buddhism by Ibu Lanny Anggawati.

Ibu Lanny shared her journey to Buddhism through the transformative power of meditation. She led us through a guided meditation to practice noticing each breath, simply allowing thoughts to rise up, and letting them fall back down without attachment. 

We were given a tour of the monastery grounds, which hosts a 10 day meditation retreat twice per year. Our guides taught us a walking meditation to practice staying in the present moment, with each step, without distraction. 

At Mendut Buddhist Monastery, we were given a tour by Pak Wahyu Utomo, who showed us the unique array of Buddhist statuary from around SouthEast Asia in their collection, and explained the rich symbolism built into every component of the monastery. 

He led us through another meditation session in front of a solid gold Thai representation of the Buddha.