TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Circuits of Borobudur's Bodhisattva Machine

The Abrupt Transition at the Summit

The Womb of the Tathagata

The Seed and Embryo of Buddhahood

The Gandharva's Castle

The Essence of the Tathagata

The Buddha of the Lankavatara Sutra

The Mandala at the Summit

The Radiating Pores of the Buddha

The Akanishtha Heaven

The Setting of the Lankavatara Sutra

In ancient India, the foundations for Hindu temples were typically based on a geometrical diagram called the vastupurusha mandala. Vastu is Sanskrit for “residence” while the Purusha is the primordial male giant whose body is divided or "sacrificed" to bring the world into existence.

When serving as the underlying schematic for Hindu temples, the vastupurusha mandala typically incorporates either 64 or 81 compartments. Architects typically employed the 81-block version of this diagram in the design of those buildings that were commissioned by members of the Hindu warrior caste, while the 64-square version was typically reserved for buildings that had been commissioned by members of the Hindu religious caste.

The 64- and 81-square Vastupurusha mandalas
of Indian temple Architecture based on the Manasara.

"Radiating from the center (of the vastupurusha mandala) is its effulgence, the light of all suns that ever shone and which in repeated cycles illumine this universe. This light of all suns is carried by the Regents of 12 Suns, the Adityas.... The light is carried across this inner border and to the outer rim with its four orients in the middle of each side." The central core of both versions of the diagram is called the Place of Brahman (Brahmastana). It corresponds with the Embryo of Splendour (hiranyagarbha) that is featured in various Hindu tales of creation, where it is represented as "...the primordial germ of cosmic light.... In the center is the dark source of all light, the super luminous darkness, the central point beyond all time.... It radiates from there and its radiance proceeds through all the stations of the Regents of sun and stars, placed on the body of the Vastupurusha.... From the center beyond time, and around it, is displayed cyclical time in its sections, in its units of days, months and years and in the cycles in which the different courses of sun and moon are adjusted."

The 81-square version of the diagram is often illustrated in such a way that it appears as if some of the squares have been left vacant (see illustration above). However, the Brihat Samhita clearly affirms that the 45 deities who project themselves into the mandala collectively fill all of the available space, with certain deities either occupying two or three adjacent squares.

The nine squares of the Brahmastana are surrounded by three layers consisting of 16, 24, and 32 squares, respectively. The outermost layer of 32 squares is assigned to deities  associated with the 28 asterisms or "nakshatras" of Hindu astronomy and the four Great Guardians (Lokapalas) of the cardinal directions, while the interior 16 and 24 squares are reserved for squares the placement of solar deities.

"The place of realization of the Supreme Brahman, the center of the Vastupurusa, is assigned to Brahma who is the effected Brahman; this is the subtle state of manifestation, which in ontological hierarchy is prior to manifestation. The place of Brahman corresponding to Brahmapura in the universe is the Hiranyagarbha, the Embryo of Splendor--the primordial germ of cosmic light. Similarly, from the Brahmastana proceeds the light of all times and in every direction; this makes the first belt, the inner border of 12 deities. In the outer rim of 32 entities it is marked at each place at its definite time and encompasses the extent of corporeal manifestation." (53)

Borobudur's summit has been laid out in a circular form of the 81-element vastupurusha mandala, with the main stupa occupying the center over the nine squares of the Brahmastana and the three surrounding tiers of stupas and Buddha images filling the remaining receptacles of the diagram. (54)

A Mahayana Buddhist architectural text called the Mañjusri Vastuvidyasastra makes use of the same 9x9 grid of squares, which it calls a candita. Moreover, this Buddhist text states that the form of the candita can be circular as well as square, rectangular and oval (see Javanese Temple Architecture). Moreover, the Buddhist composer of the Mahavairocanambhisambodhi Tantra elected to adapt the form of the 81-square vastupurusha mandala for the purpose of laying out a Buddhist mandala. This sixth century text, which outlines the procedure for marking out this diagram onto a piece of consecrated ground, was well known to the composer of the Old Javanese Sang Hyang Kamahayannikkan, who has included several quotations from it in his catechism for Javanese Buddhists. (55)

In a large number of the island's surviving inscriptions, the priest presiding over the inauguration of the temple foundation evokes the presence of Brahma by performing a ritual that involves the cracking of an egg on top of the watu sima kulumpang--the central foundation stone that may have served the material analog of the "Golden Embryo" of the vastupurusha mandala. In Existence and Enlightenment in the Lankavatara Sutra, author Florin Sutton presents several examples of how the Buddhist term Tathagata-garbha parallels the "Golden Embryo" (Hiranyagarbha) of the Hindu scriptures, where the term "...represents the first use of the word garbha in a compound with metaphysical implications. Significantly, for the purpose of our investigation, this compound was used interchangeably with Hiranyanda (literally 'golden egg'), already conveying a sense of ambiguity, or dilemma, of, of 'the chicken and the egg' type.

"Gradually, though, such naturalistic principles regarding the origins of the world were superseded by anthropomorphic ones symbolized by (the) names of divine beings--Prajapati and Brahma, who himself was born from a golden egg--and, eventually, by the thoroughly abstract principles of Brahman and atman, prana (impersonal power) and sakti (feminine power), purusa (spirit) and prakriti (matter).... The general meaning was that of all-pervasive essence, filling the air, the earth, and heaven, accounting for the unity of the universe, its vital force and the cosmic self." (56)

However, with regard to one Buddhist use for the word "garbha" as the embryo of Buddhahood the composer of the Lankavatara Sutra has elected to use the term as the preferred synonym for the Essence-of-the-Tathagata, rejecting the word for primordial substance (prakriti) as it appears in various Hindu texts. His word preference is a clear indication that the Essence-of-the-Tathagata should be regarded as an abstract cosmic "quasi-substance" rather than a real one. It not only impregnates but also envelops the universe, with its outer, manifested aspect available in the dimensions of both time and space. In the time domain of the eternal world of becoming, it is represented by the Five Skandas, "...to which the transient human personality conspicuously belongs. Its extension in space is the Dharmadhatu, the realm of the existential elements, as the most comprehensive view of the universe, including not only this visible sense-world, but all possibly conceivable ideal worlds." (57)

In my Architectural Survey of Borobudur, I have suggested that Borobudur's architect may have embedded units of solar and lunar time into the monument's plan, a practice that would in all probability have been related to the radiation of the "light of all suns" from the vastupurusha mandala at the monument's summit. Such architectural practices may also be related to even earlier rites involving the construction of the Vedic altar of sacrifice, which calls for the laying down of bricks in accordance with various Indian time cycles.

In addition, there are technical reasons for maintaining that Borobudur's summit has been laid out in conformance with the vastupurusha-mandala traditions of Hindu temple architecture. The architect had observed several technical rules during the monument's construction pertaining to the cross-over points of the diagram's horizontal/vertical lines as well as the diagonals that are inherent in the entire monument's plan. Additional information pertaining to these rules as well as examples of the compliance of other central Javanese temples with these rules are available at this Web site's segment on architecture. 

If we wish to look for the earliest Mahayana Buddhist prototype for the primeval life force and the "light of all suns" that is symbolized at Borobudur, we need look no farther than the Lankavatara Sutra, which provides us with a suitable progenitor who fully accords with the parallel identifications to be found in the Hindu scriptures. The commentator of the Bhagavata states: "As the sun illuminates his own inner sphere, as well as the exterior regions, so soul (atman), shining in the body (Viraja), irradiates all without and within." (58)

The sutra's use of the word "Vastu," either coupled with the word tathata or arya, is also intriguing.

"When an objective world is no more grasped,
there is neither disappearance nor no-being
[as all these belong to a realm of relativity],
except something absolute known as tathata-vastu,
which realm belongs to the wise." (59)

While other Buddhist texts typically use the Sanskrit word Vastu to indicate a particular object of discriminating knowledge, the composer of the Lankavatara Sutra uses this word to express the absolute reality or tathata that is the "realm where the wise have their abode."

"In the first place Vastu and Tathata are synominously used; what is Tathata, that is Vastu.... Evidently in this connection where Vastu is Tathata, it must mean the highest reality. In the second case in which Arya is affixed to Vastu, the arya must be a modifier here, that is, this reality is something to be described as arya, noble, holy or worthy. The highest reality is also called 'something that has been in existence since the very first (purvadharmasthitita) or (pauranasthiti- dharmamata).' As it is the most ancient reality, its realization means returning to one's own original abode in which everything one sees around is an old familiar object.... The Buddhas, enlightened ones, are all abiding here as gold is embedded in the mine. The ever-enduring reality is above changes." (60)

In the ultimate sense, however, the name we use to refer to  the Buddha at the center of Borobudur's Tathata-Vastu mandala is irrelevant, for the Buddha of the Lankavatara Sutra says that he is known "...under many names, amounting to a hundred thousand times three asamkhyeyas, and they address me by these names not knowing that they are all other names of the Tathagata.

"Of these, Mahamati, some recognize me as the Tathagata, some as the Self-existent One, some as Leader, as Vinayaka (Ganesha), as Parinayaka (Guide), as Buddha, as Rishi, as Bull-king, as Brahma, as Vishnu, as Isvara, as Pradhana (primordial matter, unmanifested prakriti), as Kapila (a sage), as Bhutanta (End of Reality), as Arishta, as Nemina, as Soma (Moon), as the Sun (Surya), as Rama, as Vyasa (a sage), as Suka, as Indra, as Balin, as Varuna, as is known to some."

"While others recognize me as One who is never born and never passes away, as Sunyata (emptiness), as Tathata (suchness), as Satya (truth), as Reality, as Limit of Reality, as the Dharmadhatu, as Nirvana, as the Eternal, as Sameness, as Non-duality, as the Undying, as the Formless, as Causation, as the Doctrine of Buddha-Cause, as Emancipation, as the Truth of the Path, as the All-Knower, as the Victor, as the Will-made Mind.... Thus in full possession of one hundred thousand times three asamkhyeyas of appellations, neither more nor less, in this world and in other worlds, I am known to the peoples, like the moon in water which is neither in it nor out of it." (61)

The Radiating Pores of the Buddha

"Then the Blessed One, beholding again this great assembly
with his wisdom-eye, which is not the human eye,
laughed loudly and most vigorously like the lion-king.
Emitting rays of light from the tuft of hair
between the eyebrows, from the ribs, from the loins,
from the (Swastika) on the breast,
and from the pores of the skin,
emitting rays of light which shone flaming
like the fire taking place at the end of a kalpa,
like a luminous rainbow, like the rising sun,
blazing brilliantly, gloriously--
which were observed from the sky by Sakra,
Brahman, and the guardians of the world--
the one who sat on the peak of Lanka
vying with Mount Sumeru laughed the loudest laugh.

At that time the assembly of the Bodhisattvas
together with Sakra and Brahman, each thought within himself:
For what reason, I wonder,
from what cause does the Blessed One
who is the master of all the world laugh the loudest laugh?
Why does he emit rays of light from his own body?
Why, emitting rays of light, does he remain silent,
with the realization of the truth in his innermost self,
and absorbed deeply and showing no surprise
in the bliss of Samadhi, and reviewing the ten quarters, looking around like the lion king,
and thinking only of the discipline,
attainment, and performance of Ravana?" (62)

On the monument's lower levels, the architect has unveiled a total of 720 relief panels that are either dedicated to the exposition of the Buddha's careers as a Bodhisattva or to the spiritual careers of various other Buddhist saints. Their over-riding purpose is to acquaint the spiritual celebrant with  practical examples that not only illustrates the Law of of Karma but also exemplify the moral discipline of the paramitas, which which every aspirant to Buddhahood must embody as visible parts of their very being.

"And as long as a world of individual forms is to be accepted even as an inevitable outcome of discrimination, the result of the Buddhist devotion must be told, also, under this limitation. Then the Bodhisattva ascends to Akanishtha heaven where his courser body is transformed into a shining one with all the marks of an ideally perfect personality. He is no more a Bodhisattva endowed with course physical corporeality like ourselves, but an immortal god or Buddha endowed with a will-made body to which the sutra makes frequent allusions." (63)

"Akanishtha literally means 'not the least' or 'not the smallest,' and the heaven so designated is regarded as situated at the highest end of the Rupadhatu or Rupaloka, the World of Form....The idea that the Bodhisattva attains his supreme enlightenment when he is reborn in the Akanishtha heaven and not while he is on earth...recurs throughout the Lankavatara.... That this heaven is filled with brightness is natural, seeing that form obstructs and excludes while light intermingles, and the Akanishtha is the abode of Shining Buddhas and Bodhisattvas." (64)

The composer of the Lankavatara Sutra also describes the Buddha's will-made body as emitting "... rays of light from the tuft of hair between the eyebrows, from the ribs, from the loins, from the Srivatsa (Swastika) on the breast, and from the pores of the skin, emitting rays of light which shone flaming like the fire taking place at the end of a kalpa, like a luminous rainbow, like the rising sun, blazing brilliantly, gloriously--which were observed from the sky by Sakra, Brahman, and the guardians of the world--the one who sat on the peak of Lanka vying with Mount Sumeru laughed the loudest laugh.

"At that time the assembly of the Bodhisattvas together with Sakra and Brahman, each thought within himself: For what reason, I wonder, from what cause does the Blessed One who is the master of all the world laugh the loudest laugh? Why does he emit rays of light from his own body? Why, emitting rays of light, does he remain silent, with the realization of the truth in his innermost self, and absorbed deeply and showing no surprise in the bliss of Samadhi, and reviewing the ten quarters, looking around like the lion king, and thinking only of the discipline, attainment, and performance of Ravana?" (65)

According to Professor Akira Sotakata, the origin of the mandala can be traced back to "...cut glass, which features a pattern of round or hexagonal forms set into a goblet's round outer surface. If the glass is placed over a small object, such as a Buddha figure, the figure appears within each form in the glass, just as in a mandala. Such cut glass goblets have been discovered amongst the Kusana remains at Begram in Afghanistan dated between the first and third centuries." (66)

With regards to the 72 stupas located on the three round terraces at the monument's summit, the form of each stupa does indeed bear more than a passing resemblance to a down-turned glass goblet with geometrical forms that have been set into their exterior surfaces. Each of the 16 stupas that immediately surround the monument's central axis has 44 square-shaped piercing holes, while there are 64 diamond-shaped piercing holes in each of the remaining 56 stupas to be found on the lower two round terraces. The combination of these two numerical themes (44 + 64) also happens to generate that symbolic number par excellence of 108.  

When the reflections of all sixteen stupas (44 x 16 = 704) are combined with the 16 Buddha statues within, a mandala-like pattern consisting of 720 Buddha figures is generated, perhaps for the purpose of representing the 360 days and 360 nights of the Hindu calendar year. In addition, the emanations of the  diamond-shaped holes in each of the 56 stupas found on the first and second round terrace platforms (64 x 56 = 3584) combine with the 56 Buddha images within to create a second mandala-like pattern that consists of 3,640 elements. In both of these cases, we are confronted with numbers with a potential calendrical significance that further reinforce the role of the vastupurusha mandala as the repository of all celestial sources of light. 

As we have previously seen in Part II of this article series, the composer of the Lankavatara Sutra clearly intended to link the Buddha of his work with the Vedic Viraj who figures prominently in the creation. To discover the ultimate source of his emination bodies, we must now return to the ancient Vedic scriptures to find their prototype. 

"From himself (atmanah) he also drew forth the mind, which is both real and unreal, likewise from the mind egoism, which possesses the function of self-consciousness (and is) lordly; Moreover, the great one, the soul, and all (products) affected by the three qualities, and, in their order, the five organs which perceive the objects of sensation."

"But, joining minute particles even of those six, which possess measureless power, with particles of himself, he created all beings. Because those six (kinds of) minute particles, which form the (creator's) frame, enter (a-sri) these (creatures), therefore the wise call his frame sarira, (the body.)

"That the great elements enter, together with their functions and the mind, through its minute parts the framer of all beings, the imperishable one. But from minute body (-framing) particles of these seven very powerful Purushas springs this (world), the perishable from the imperishable. Among them each succeeding (element) acquires the quality of the preceding one, and whatever place (in the sequence) each of them occupies, even so many qualities it is declared to possess." (Book of Manu I.14-20)

It is right here in the Book of Manu that we are able to discern the master prototype for later conceptions of the Mahayana Buddhists under which each of the Jinas has been linked and identified with one of the component "particle types" of the creation. But what differentiates Borobudur's layout from the vast majority of other Mahayana Buddhst representations is its portrayl of six rather than five Jina components. With regards to Borobudur, the architect has no doubt assigned the mind element of the Vedic prototype to the dharmachakra-displaying Buddha that resides at the monument's summit. When considered together with the entity represented in the form of the monument's main stupa, the arrangement of the Jinas at Borobudur have their parallel in the "seven purushas" that the Book of Manu, the Satapatha Brahmana, and other Vedic texts postulate are the collective source of the existent.

Borobudur's architect may also have elected to follow the master Vedic prototype in other ways. The Book of Manu states that the unfolding of creation also includes the production of ten great sages. These "Lords of created beings" perhaps have their parallel in Mahayana Buddhism in the roles assigned to the Dasabhumi Bodhisattvas (of the Ten Stages). Whether or not this indeed is the case, the Book of Manu also describes the production of the various classes of beings that are carved on the walls of Borobudur. "Yakshas, Rakshasas and Pisakas, Gandharvas, Apsarases, Asuras, Nagas and Sarpas... Lightnings, thunderbolts and clouds... and heavenly lights of many kinds, Kinnaras, monkeys, fishes, birds of many kinds, cattle, deer, men, and carnivorous beasts teeth...." (Book of Manu I.34-41)

Moreover, the parallels between the structures of prototype and architectural design do not end with Borobudur itself, for nearby at Candi Mendut the three essential "strands" (gunas) of creation that were delineated in the Book of Manu -- sattva (attribute of purity), rajas (attribute of action), and tamas (attribute of darkness) -- have been presented in the forms of Avalokitesvara (sattva), the dharmachakra-displaying Buddha (rajas) and Vajrapani (tamas). As the Old Javanese Sang Hyang Kamahayannikkan tells us, this Buddhist triratna ("three jewels") is in turn responsible for the production of the elements--together with the various beings that are their material result--once again following the ordered description of the prototype to be found in the Book of Manu.

The Borobudur temple complex is not only a scale model of the universe, it is also a schematic diagram of the unfolding of the creation. As Paul Mus pointed out many years ago it it presents the descent of divinity in the form of a pyramid, with the apex representing the point of creation and the base as the directions of space as well as the component parts of the time dimension.

However, the monument's purpose cannot so easily be encapsulated by this view alone, for the overall plan also provides an up-flowing path whereby the creation's component parts are reassimilaed and returned to the apex of creation. Moreover, the plan's two-fold expression of existence succeeds in avoiding the pitfalls of dualistic thinking because each of these two flows are mutually operating and interpenetrating the other at all times.

Like the circle of space/time itself as it its conceived by Indian cosmology, Borobudur's model of the existent is without beginning or an end. The downflowing deities and the ascending celebrants are at all times engaged in a mutual relationship that only reaches its culmination at the apex of the summit, which is a representation of the seat of enlightenment that the Buddhist scriptures call the Akanishtha Heaven. Even here, however, there is no end to the process--merely a transformation in which the ascending celebrant unites with and becomes the downflowing of divinity.

The Akanishtha Heaven

When we apply the Lankavatara Sutra as the basis of explaining these reflections of the summit Buddhas, they may rightfully be linked with the emanations (nirmita) or forms (nirmana) of the  downflowing (Nishyanda-) Buddha, which the text proclaims are "immeasurable, and they are manifested everywhere." The place where they are perceived is the Akanishtha Heaven, where no sins prevail and which is "...inhabited by those who are always in the practice of non-discrimination, detached from the mind and its workings. They are in possession of the Powers, Psychic Knowledge, and Self-mastery, and perfect in the attainment of the Samadhi; and there they are awakened into full enlightenment, and here perceived as the Nirmita-[Buddha]. There are millions of the Nirmana [forms] of the Buddha, they are, indeed, immeasurable, and they are manifested everywhere. The simple-minded following them listen to the truth (dharma)." (67)

For the purpose of maturing the conditions of all beings, the Nishyanda-Buddha directs and disciplines his devotees from his mansion abode in the Akanishtha Heaven, which is the highest of all the worlds that are designated as having a form. From this mansion he emits rays of light that are like those of the Nirmana-Buddha. "Evidently this Heaven is the abode of all the Nishyanda-Buddhas, that is, the state of supreme blessedness as the result of their long and arduous spiritual training. While this is the natural outcome of spirituality, it is no doubt also the outflow of the highest truth, depending on which all things exist." (68)

When the Buddha of the Lankavatara Sutra identifies the Tathagata-garbha with the Limit of Reality, he says that it is "...pure, free from error, clear primary substance (or fundamental form, prakriti) endowed with thirty-two (characteristic) marks (of excellence), hidden in the body of every being like a gem of great value enwrapped in a dirty cloth, enveloped in the rainment of the personality aggregates, of elements and bases, and soiled with the impurity of false imagination, of delusion, hatred and passion, being also described by the Lord as eternal, auspicious, firm and constant." (73)

Likewise, Borobudur's summit presents an identical hidden core of fundamental form that is essentially stripped of all phenomenal signs of the personality aggregates, elements and bases. And like the intrinsically pure Tathagata-garbha, the summit's outermost perimeter is endowed with thirty-two characteristic marks of excellence, which surround the eternal Lord at the center who is described as auspicious, firm and constant. 

The Mantras of Protection

Just as every Buddha image must conform in all major respects with the prescribed hand-held attributes, proportions, and identifying marks that have been set forth in Buddhist texts for the specific deity being brought into material existence, so must the architect approach the design for the temple. The intended purpose of both efforts is to include all of the magical properties that will allow these inanimate objects to be brought to life as well as rendered a suitable vessel within which the deity in question may be invited to dwell.

Such magical practices cannot ever leave anything to chance for each and every aspect and component has its own unique magical role to fulfill as well as its rightful place in the overall design. Yet despite a general acknowledgment on the part of scholars concerning the consequential nature of sacred art, the numerology that has been embedded into sacred structures such as Borobudur is at times ignored, or only acknowledged on a selective basis. The far better course for approaching the Hindu or Buddhist temple is to presume that all numerical groupings were of some symbolic significance to its builders even if the precise nature of that significance lies beyond our present means or ability to fathom.

The Lankavatara Sutra includes a mantra chapter that was added at some point after the main text had been composed but still prior to the time of Borobudur's construction. This addendum presents two groups of sacred phrases or "dharani" that were intended to serve as mantras for worshippers seeking protection from the adverse influence of various elemental mind forces, represented by the names of specific demi-gods. Examples of similar dharani texts have been uncovered in central Java which illustrate that the Javanese themselves once made use of such formulae during the era in which Borobudur was a living religious foundation.

The introduction to the sutra's first "protection mantra" is reproduced below. What is intriguing in terms of Borobudur's summit is that this first mantra consists of 72 magic phrases plus the closing salutation (svaha).

"These, Mahamati, are the magical phrases of the Lankavatara Sutra: If sons or daughters of a good family should hold forth, retain, proclaim, realize these magical phrases, no one should ever be able to effect his descent upon them. Whether it be a deva or a devi, or a naga, or a Nagi, or a Yaksha, or a Yakshi, or an Asura, or an Asuri, or a Garuda, or a Garudi, or a Kinnara, or a Kannari, or a Mahoraga, or a Mahoragi, or a Gandharva, or a Gandharvi, or a Bhuta, or a Bhuti, or a Kumbhanda, or a Kumbhandi, or a Pisara, or a Pisari, or an Austaraka, or an Austraki, or an Apasmara, or an Apasmari, or a Rakshasa, or a Rakshasi or a Daka, or a Dakini, or an Aujohara, or an Aujohari, or a Kataputana, or a Kataputani, or an Amanushya, or an Amanushyi [the total list consists of 36 paired, male and female beings], -- no one of these will be able to effect his or her descent. If any misfortune should befall, let him recite the magical phrases for one hundred and eight times, and [the evil ones] will, wailing and crying, turn away and go in another direction." (74)

The First Protection Mantra

Tutte, tutte -- vutte, vutte -- patte, patte -- katte, katte -- amale, amale -- vimale, vimale -- nime, nime -- hime, hime -- vame, vame -- kale, kale, kale, kale -- atte, matte -- vatte, tutte -- jnette, suptte -- katte, katte -- latte, patte -- dime, dime -- cale, cale -- pace, pace -- badhe, bande -- ance, mance -- dutare, dutare -- patare, patare -- arkke, arkke -- sarkhe, sarkke -- cakre, cakre -- dime, dime -- hime, hime

tu tu tu tu (4)
du du du du (4)
ru ru ru ru (4)
phu phu phu phu (4)

svaha

The phrases divide into two distinct groups: an introductory group of 56 longer phrases and a second group of 16 short phrases--each of which is repeated four times. By coincidence, Borobudur's summit also presents an initial group of 56 stupas featuring diamond-shaped piercing holes, followed by a second group of 16 stupas featuring rectangular-shaped piercing holes.

Perhaps all this is just a marvelous numerical coincidence that is only worthy of our passing attention. But if we perform a rudimentary analysis on the first group of the sutra's 56 magic phrases, we find that a group of 12 distinct words exists in which each phrase is repeated twice. Once again a material parallel can be found on Borobudur's summit, where the second round terrace platform features a group of 24 stupas. 

First and Second Round Terrace Platforms
(56 dharanis = 56 stupas & statues)

Dime, hime, kalle, katte (four times each - 16 total)

Ance, atte, badhe, bande, jnette, latte, mance, matte, suptte, vatte (once each - 10 total)

Patte, tutte (three times each - 6 total)

Amale, arkke, cakre, cale, dutare, nime, pace, patare, sarkke, vame, vimale, vutte (twice each - 24 total)

Perhaps the three tiers of stupas at the summit represent various time cycles governed respectively by the asterisms (28 nakshatras + 4 Lokapalas), the sun (24 half-months of the year) and the moon (the half-month from full moon to new moon). Once again, the protection mantra of the Lankavatara Sutra fails to disappoint, for its final group of 16 words is organized into four groups of four, which suggests that the four phases of the moon may have been intended.

Third Round Terrace Platform (16 dharanis = 16 stupas/statues, 4 lunar phases)

du, phu, ru, tu (four times each - 16 total)

The sutra's opening dharani is immediately followed by yet another formula that consists of 32 magic phrases that also conclude with the word svaha. When these two formulas are combined together, the number 104 is produced, which has its own corollary at Borobudur in the form of the 104 Buddha images that inhabit the niches that top the monument's outermost walled perimeter, the very place in temple designs where deities of protection are typically encountered. In fact, the remaining tiers of 88, 72 and 64 Buddha images at Borobudur can be matched with corresponding dharani from the Lankavatara Sutra simply by subtracting one or more groups of phrases from the total number given in the text.

"I will tell you, Mahamati, other magical phrases. They are: Padme, padmadeve -- hine, hine, hine -- cu, cule, culu, cule -- phale, phula, phule -- yule, ghule, yula, yule -- ghule, ghula, ghule -- pale, gala, pale -- munce, munce, munce -- cchinde, bhinde, bhanje, marde, pramarde, dinakare -- svaha." (75)

The Setting of the Lankavatara Sutra

In a fabulous display of his mystic powers in the presence of a divine host led by Ravana, the Lord of Lanka, the Buddha of the Lankavatara Sutra caused images of himself to appear simultaneously on all the peaks of the surrounding mountaintops.

"Thereupon the Blessed One created jewel-adorned mountains
and other objects magnificently embellished
with jewels in an immense number.
On the summit of each mountain the Buddha himself was visible, and Ravana, the Yaksha, also was found standing there.
Thus the entire assembly was seen on each mountain peak,
and all the countries were there,
and in each there was a Leader.

"Here also were the King of the Rakshasas
and the residents of Lanka,
and the Lanka created by the Buddha rivaling [the real one]. Other things were there too--
the Asoka with its shining woods, and on each mountain peak Mahamati was making a request of the Buddha,
who discoursed for the sake of the Yakshas
on the Truth leading to the innermost realization;
on the mountain-peak he delivered a complete sutra with an exquisite voice varied in hundreds of thousands of ways.

"[After this] the teacher and the sons of the Buddha vanished away in the air, leaving Ravana the Yaksha himself standing [above] in his mansion.

"'How is this?' thought Ravana.
'What means this and by whom was it heard?
What was it that was seen and by whom was it seen?
Where is the city and where is the Buddha?'" (76)

The Chinese pilgrim Fa Hien wrote the following comments after he had visited the island of Sri Lanka during the early fifth century CE, which shed additional light on the Buddha's reported visit to the island as well as the founding of its famous Abhayagiri monastery, which was responsible for performing ceremonies relating to the famous tooth relic of the Buddha Sakyamuni.

"The country originally had no human inhabitants, but was occupied only by spirits and nagas, with which merchants of various countries carried on a trade. When the trafficking was taking place, the spirits did not show themselves. They simply set forth their precious commodities, with labels of the price attached to them; while the merchants made their purchases according to the price; and took the things away. Through the coming and going of the merchants (in this way), when they went away, the people of (their) various countries heard how pleasant the land was, and flocked to it in numbers till it became a great nation....

"When Buddha came to this country, wishing to transform the wicked nagas, by his supernatural power he planted one foot at the north of the royal city (Anuradhapura), and the other on the top of a mountain, the two being fifteen yojanas apart. Over the footprint at the north of the city the king built a large tope (stupa), 400 cubits high, grandly adorned with gold and silver, and finished with a combination of all the precous substances. By the side of the tope he further built a monastery, called the Abhayagiri, where there are (now) five thousand monks. There is in it a hall of Buddha, adorned with carved and inlaid work of gold and silver, and rich in the seven precious substances, in which there is an image (of Buddha) in green jade, more than twenty cubits in height, glittering all over with those substances, and having an appearance of solemn dignity which words cannot express. In the palm of the right hand there is a priceless pearl." (77)

According to the Lankavatara Sutra's translator D. T. Suzuki, the island of Lanka in the Southern Sea was once popularly identified with the island of Sri Lanka (formerly called Ceylon by the British), which is located off the southeast coast of India. However, Suzuki points out that some scholars of his time were not nearly as certain about the island's location. 

What can be said with a high degree of certainty is that the unusual setting of the Lankavatara Sutra is an obvious allusion to India's famous Ramayana epic, which describes how Ravana, the king of the Rakshasas, once kidnapped Prince Rama's wife Sita and then carried her off to his island fortress of Lanka, which the Ramayana's composer indicates is somewhere off the southern coast of India.

According to certain Hindu astronomy texts, the island of Lanka is located at the earth's equator directly south of the city of Ujjain in central India, a location that seems to leave Sri Lanka out of the running. The two demarcation points of Ujjain and Lanka defined India's ancient "prime meridian" for the purpose of performing astronomical calculations.  

In my introductory article on the Javanese Temple, I have already described how the Ramayana reliefs at the Shiva temple at Prambanan have been placed to accord with the position of the the sun at various times during the annual solar cycle. That article also provides an excerpt from the Old Javanese Ramayana Kakawin, which demonstrates how its composer had employed his descriptive skills to establish a metaphoric link between the temple at Prambanan and the Lanka of the Ramayana story. It later became a convention among the  Javanese poets to display their literary skills by magically transforming their home island of Java into other famous places from the the holy land of India, including the Sakyamuni's Bamboo Forest (Venuvana) retreat. Given what is already known about the Javanese predilection for such imaginative activities it is entirely reasonable to suggest that Borobudur might be yet one more example.

A Javanese inscription that dates from the late eighth century CE also tells us that honored Buddhist visitors from the real-world island of Sri Lanka had arrived in Java, where they seem to have played a role in the founding of another Abhayagiri monastery at the hilltop site of Ratu Boko, which overlooks the Prambanan and Candi Sewu temple complexes. This historical event leads us to wonder whether the poet of the Old Javanese Ramayana Kakawin had them expressly in mind when he compared the chattering of meddlesome Buddhist monks to the call of the cuckoo bird. 

"The metaphoric equivalencies between certain birds and historical figures, among which that of pikatan, are worth mention. The pikatan bird can only refer to Rakai Pikatan (central Java's reigning monarch during the mid-ninth century CE). Thus it is said of this bird that it had allowed itself to be seduced by the call of the cuckoo (kuwong), which portrays the Buddhist clergy. The cuckoo represents a Buddhist monk, who, with the support of the female of his species, tries to persuade his Javanese audience to follow his admonitions by cleverly appealing to Hindu ideas about the transience of life. The spell is not permanent, however, [as the poet informs his audience, who says that] the cuckoo would do better to follow his own lofty teachings and retreat into the forest as a monk." (78)

Central Java's magical transformation into the island of Lanka is further reinforced by the local identification of Ravana, the Lord of Lanka, with an indigenous Javanese deity called Watu Gunung ("Mountain Stone"). Although the surviving references to this identification only appear in texts that were written down long after the conclusion of central Javanese period, scholars such as Wilhelm Stutterheim believed that the Serat Kanda and the Rama Keling represent even earlier sources and traditions.   

According to the Serat Kanda, the Hindu solar deity Vishnu, his consort Sri and the King of the naga serpents Vasuki incarnated in human form as Rama, Sinta (Sita) and Lesmana (Laksmana) in order to oppose the Lord of Lanka, who the composer of this text says is an incarnation of Watu Gunung.

These magical transformations seem so implausible to the modern mind, yet they were once part and parcel of Javanese mysticism. The island's natives formerly believed that the gods had transported Mount Meru to the middle of the island for the purpose of nailing it to the ocean's floor; they regarded the temple to be a magical relocation of the mountain abode of the gods from the Earth's north pole; they surrounded their monarch with 28 officials and 4 ministers to mirror the celestial model of the 28 asterisms and the guardians of the four quarters; and they produced a unique divinatory almanac that prognosticated events based on the theory that coincidence was one means whereby the gods made their will known to human beings.

Whether or not one subscribes to a Lankavatara theory for explaining Borobudur's architectural symbolism, the many "coincidences" that have been examined in this article are no  less marvelous. From the Javanese point of view, they retain all of their numinous power for unveiling the invisible niskala stream that eternally flows in the darkness.

I can think of no better way to finish our ascent to Borobudur's summit than to return to the very same quotation that lead off this article, in which the Buddha of the Lankavatara Sutra addresses the King of Lanka from the peak of the jewel mountain:

"Thou shouldst plan out an adequate plan and establish thyself at a stage of discipline by planning out such a plan as would include [all kinds of] skillful means, so that thou comest to realize that realm which is beyond imagination; and then thou wilt attain the stage of Tathagatahood in which one is able to manifest oneself in various forms, and which is something never seen before...."

By happy coincidence, the Javanese word for 'plan' or 'invention'--which seems entirely appropriate as the final word on the subject at hand--is "buddhuracanna."

Footnotes

(53) Brauen, Martin. The Mandala: Sacred Circle in Tibetan Buddhism. Boston: Shambala (1998):74.

In chapter 24 of the Lalitavistara, after the merchants Trapusa and Bhallika present the Tathagata with a bowl of milk, the Buddha eats it, tosses the bowl into the sky and pronounces a blessing of protection that evokes the 28 asterisms together with the guardian kings of the cardinal directions.

"May well-being surround you
like a garland around your head.
May glory stand at your right hand;
may glory stand at your left hand;
may glory surround you.

"Whenever business takes you to the East,
may the eastern stars guard you:
Krttika, Rohini, Mrgasrarda, Andra,
Punarvasu, and Pusya, as well as Aslesa.

"May these seven bright constellations, guardians of the world presiding in the East, protect you always.
May their famous king named Dhrtarastra,
master of all gandharvas,
may he, together with (Surya) the sun, protect you...."

The rest of this segment from the sutra presents the assignment of the remaining Hindu asterims for each of the three remaining cardinal directions, together their corresponding king and lokapala. In addition, the text evokes 91 Indra-sons of the king per cardinal direction as well as eight deva-daughters, who are individually named.

(54) Bhat, M. Ramakrishna, tr. The Brihat Samhita by Varahamihira. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass (1981):467-470 [vol. I].

(55) See Wayman, Alex & Tajima, R. The Enlightenment of Vairocana. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers: (1992):2, 8, 19, 38 & 99.

() Sutton, Florin Giripescu. Existence and enlightenment in the Lankavatara Sutra. Albany: University of New York Press (1991): 48.

(57) Suzuki, D.T. Studies in the Lankavatara Sutra. New Delhi: Motil Banarsidass (1999):375-376 [reprint of 1930 edition].

(58) Wilson, H.H. The Vishnu Purana. Calcutta: Punthi Pustak (1972):46 [reprint of 1866 edition].

(59) Suzuki, Studies, p. 306.

(60) Suzuki, D.T., translator. The Lankavatara Sutra. New Delhi: Motil Banarsidass (1999): xxix [Reprint of 1932 edition].

(61) Ibid. pp. 165 - 166. The first paragraph contains a total of 24 deities by which the Buddha Viraj is known, which whether purely coincidental or not has its correspondence on Borobudur's summit in the form of the second ring of 24 stupas. (According to Varahamihira, a propounder of the Sankhya system of philosophy, the sage Kapila, declared that Pradhana or unmanifested Prakriti is the material cause of the universe.) 

(62) Suzuki, Studies, pp. 12-13.

(63) Ibid. pp. 330-331.

(64) Ibid. pp. 375-376.

(65) Ibid. pp. 76-77.

(66) Sotakata, Akira. Buddhist Cosmology: Philosophy and Origins. Tokyo: Kosei Publishing (1998):156.

(67) Suzuki,  Studies, pp. 327-328.The Akanishtha resplendent with light is called Akanishtha Virajate in verse 3 of the  chapter on 'Abhisamaya,' which is a reference to how the Bodhisattva attains perfect enlightenment after passing beyond the tenth stage of Bodhisattvahood and becomes a full-fledged Buddha in Akanishtha Heaven.

(68) Ibid. pp. 393 -394 and p. 324.

(69) Snodgrass, Adrian. The Symbolism of the Stupa. Ithica: Cornell University (1985): 335.

(70) Ibid. p. 336.

(71) Ibid. pp. 337 - 338.

(72) Suzuki, Studies, pp. 76-77.

(73) Sutton, p. 55. The 32 major characteristic marks of the Buddha also have corresponding mental counterparts: 10 balas or forces, 18 Avenika dharmas or peculiar properties and 4 Vaisaradyas or points of self confidence or assurance. See Gard, Richard A. Buddhism. New York: Washington Square Press (1961):78-79.

(74) Suzuki, Lankavatara Sutra, pp. 223 - 224.

(75) Ibid. pp. 224. hine x 3, munce x 3, yule, cule, gule, and pale x 2, remaining 18 x 1 plus. Total frequency distribution of all 104 phrases: 28 x 1 = 28; 16 x 2 = 32; 4 x 3 = 12; 8 x 4 = 32.

(76) Ibid. p. 8.

(77) Fâ-hien. A record of Buddhistic kingdoms, being an account by the Chinese monk Fâ-hien of his travels in India and Ceylon (A.D.399-414) in search of the Buddhist books of discipline. Oxford: Clarendon Press (1886):102-103 [James Legge, tr.] .

(78) Jordaan, Roy E. The Sailendras in Central Javanese History. Yogyakarta: Penerbitan Universitas Sanata Dharma (1999):69. 

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