DIGISTOPSS Digital Storytelling for Protection of Sacred Sites: A Peace Training Implementation to Raise Awareness of Diversity

Background

According to historical records, the initial construction of the Borobudur Temple occurred in the 8th and 9th centuries around 800 AD during the reign of the Syailendra dynasty. The construction of Borobudur was predicted to take tens to hundreds of years to complete during the reign of King Samaratungga in 825. Symbolically, the location of Borobudur, which is adjacent to two rivers, the Elo river and the Praga river; as if oriented to the two beautifulholy rivers, the Yamuna River and the Ganges River. At the confluence of the two rivers are the sacred buildings. Borobudur temple was built around 800 AD. However, since Hindu Mataram dynasty moved central government from Central Java to East Java around 930 AD, there no longer exists news about Borobudur temple. Only existing are short news findings in the book Nagarakartagama (1365 AD) pupuh 77 about the name “budur,” which is referred to as one of the holy places of Vajradhara sect Buddha. What is meant by “Budur?” Maybe Borobudur Temple (Rahman, 2017). The splendor of Borobudur was lost for centuries because it was buried under a layer of volcanic soil and dust which was then overgrown with trees and shrubs to resemble a hill. The return to fame of Borobudur Temple occurred during the time of Thomas Stamford Raffles as he served as Governor-General on the island of Java in 1811. The rediscovery occurred when Raffles heard that there was a large building hidden deep in the forest near the village of Bumisegoro. Raffles then sent a Dutch engineer named Christian Cornelius to examine it. The news of the rediscovery of Borobudur was also spread to disastrous damage in many places. Until the late 1960s, the Indonesian government asked UNESCO for help in overcoming the problems at Borobudur Temple. In the history of Borobudur Temple, renovations took a long time and cost a lot until it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1991 (UNESCO, 2005). Figure 1 is the picture of Borodubur Temple which located at Badrawati Street, Magelang Regency, Central Java Indonesia.

Figure 1.

Borobudar Temple

Borobudur Temple has a length of 121.66 meters with a width of 121.38 meters and a height of 35.40 meters. According to Buddhist philosophy, the level structure of the Borobudur Temple is an imitation of the universal wheel of life. There are three levels in the structure of Borobudur Temple, namely (Vanjava, 2021):

• 1.

  Kamadhatu: The lower part of the temple which symbolizes the underworld, depicting human behavior that is still bound by worldly desires.

• 2.

  Rupadhatu: The middle part of the temple which symbolizes the intermediate realm, depicting human behavior that has begun to leave worldly desires, but is still bound by the real world.

• 3.

  Arupadhatu: The top of the temple which symbolizes the upper realm, depicting the formless element and as a sign of the level that has left worldly desires.

Figure 2 is the picture of one Borobudur relief, which describes worshiping.

Figure 2.

Borobudur relief