Richard Gere to visit Borobudur this month

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 06/18/2011

US actor Richard Gere waving to reporters as he visits Borobudur temple
in Magelang, Central Java on Monday. Gere, who is on a two-day visit to
Indonesia, took part in a meditation with monks from various temples
throughout Indonesia.

Hollywood star Richard Gere will visit one of the world’s most renowned and largest Buddhist temples, Borobudur, in Magelang, Central Java, on June 26, a Culture and Tourism Ministry official says.

Gere, who is also a human rights activist, was invited by the ministry to spend time at the temple, exploring and enjoying its beauty.

Apparently it took a year to bring Gere to Indonesia, Ministry of Culture and Tourism director general of marketing Sapta Nirwandar said, as quoted by kompas.com.

“We did not pay him to come here. He came here as a personal guest of the ministry, not as a celebrity,” he added.

During his visit in Indonesia, Gere is scheduled to watch the sunrise at the temple and spend time with monks. He will also visit Yogyakarta and meet with Sultan Hamengku Buwono X.

“His presence will present a positive image for our country. We hope his visit will encourage other stars to visit the temple and other tourism cites nearby,” he said.

Sapta also hoped that Richard Gere’s visit would attract other visitors.

Related Articles:

Gere Meditates at Borobudur

Richard Gere meets Yudhoyono during Indonesia visit

Borobudur temple provides shuttle service for tourists

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Fri, 04/01/2011

Borobudur temple with the Merapi Volcano in the background

The company managing Borobudur temple, PT Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur, has organized vehicles to shuttle tourists between Pabelan and Borobudur to help tourists circumvent the unsafe Pabelan Bridge.

Pabelan Bridge in Magelang, Central Java, became unstable after being hit by the cold lava flow, disrupting travel from Yogyakarta to Borobudur temple.

“The pickup vehicles are to demonstrate our appreciation and commitment to providing better services to visitors,” chief director of the company, Purnomo Siswoprasetjo, said.

Purnomo said the company had organized a 14-seat and a 40-seat bus and five cars with six to seven seats.

“The shuttle service will start operating today (April 1) from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.,” he said as reported by kompas.com.

He added that only tourists traveling with tour agencies could use the shuttle service for now.

“We will apply a similar system for local tourists, but this is still at the brain-storming stage,” he said.

Related Article:

Indonesia Appeals for International Help to Save Borobudur Temple

USAID helping Borobudur`s rehabilitation with $100,000

Antara News, Mon, March 7 2011

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - US international aid agency USAID is providing 100,000 US dollars to UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) to rehabilitate the Borobudur temple compound in the aftermath of the recent Mount Merapi eruptions.

According to a US embassy`s press release received here Monday, the aid was given under the US-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership.

USAID would provide support for the emergency cleanup, including retention of a large local workforce and purchase of equipment for the cleaning operation.

The Comprehensive Partnership is critical to the bilateral relationship and is founded on the shared values of freedom, pluralism, tolerance, democracy and respect for human rights.

Borobudur temple was temporarily closed to visitors late last year when concern about the longer-term effects of ash on the monument emerged.

Indonesia`s Ministry of Culture and Tourism along with the compound`s Site Authority had initiated emergency cleanup measures. Significant work needs to be done in order to reinvigorate tourism - a critical economic resource for the region.

"The support we are providing will help build the livelihoods of affected local communities through their involvement in the rehabilitation of the cultural tourism sector, which is critical to the area?s economy," said USAID Mission Director Walter North.

One of the most active volcanoes in the world, Mount Merapi is located less than 35 kilometers from Borobudur. A series of eruptions in October and November 2010 resulted in the deaths of 322 people and the displacement of more than 135,000 people. The Mount Merapi eruptions covered the Borobudur compound in 4.5 centimeters of volcanic ash.

The Borobudur compound was built between the eighth and ninth centuries using 57,000 cubic meters of volcanic stone. The monument is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 statues. In 1991 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Indonesia and a critical economic resource for the local government.

Editor: Jafar M Sidik

Borobudur’s post-Merapi eruption rehabilitating may take three years: Official

The Jakarta Post, Thu, 02/17/2011

It may take as much as three years to rehabilitate the Borobudur Temple after last year’s eruption of nearby Mount Merapi covered the temple with volcanic ashes and affected the surrounding environment in general, an official said.

“The rehabilitation process includes the revitalization of the environment and the social economic [condition] of local residents,” the Tourism Ministry's director of history, Yunus Satrio Atmojo, said Thursday as quoted by Antara.

He added that ridding the temple’s stones of volcanic sediment would take at least six months.

The next phase would involve planting trees to prevent temperature increase, which can impact on the temple’s stone forms.

Yunus said that activities of local residents had also been affected by the eruption.

“Such a rehabilitation process needs around two to three years for the condition of the temple to return to how it was before the disaster, as long as there are no further Merapi eruptions as intense as the previous ones,” he said.

The Jakarta representative of UNESCO, Hubert Gijzen, said that the organization had donated US$ 3 million to the restructuring process.

Buddhist monk emphasizes life, peace

Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Magelang | Fri, 10/08/2010 9:35 AM

Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh led 500 Buddhists and monks from 15 countries in a series of meditations at the renowned Borobudur Temple complex in Magelang, Central Java, on Thursday.

Buddhist meditation: Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh
(forefront)  and his followers walk to Lumbini Park at the
foot of Borobudur Temple in Magelang, Central Java, on
Thursday, after leading ameditation peace walk. Such
meditation has reportedly  been practiced in some parts
of the West, North America and Asia. JP/Suherdjoko

Using slow but deliberate movements, the monk led participants to climb from the bottom to the temple’s highest stupa.

“Through breathing we know about life. When breathing we feel life. That’s the joy of living,” the 84-year-old monk told participants during the activities at the temple’s Lumbini Park.

In a simple way, he taught people that meditation could be done when doing any daily activities — from working, sitting, walking, sleeping and eating to drinking — by concentrating and becoming alert of their surrounding to reach peace.

Monks Dharmavimala and Nyana Suryanadi explained that through meditation, a person could find his or her peace to control anger and desperate feeling.

Nhat Hanh, who had planned his visit here 18 months ago, is on a 15-day trip to the country, his first ever. He also plans to tour Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong.

In Indonesia, the Vietnamese monk is scheduled to lead a series of activities to promote harmony and share his teachings on “mindful living” to people of all backgrounds.

Nhat Hanh, who comes from the Plum Village Monastery in the south of France, is renowned for his teachings of “mindfulness” in which he encourages people to embrace the present instead of being trapped in thoughts of the past and future.

The monk’s activities include a five-day meditation retreat in Bogor, West Java, followed by the peace walk around Borobudur temple.

After that, the monk is scheduled to attend a public meeting at Mega Glodok in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, on Oct. 9.

The chairman of the Indonesia Buddhayana Council, Sudhamek AWS, said the renowned monk’s presence marked a second Buddhist resurgence in Indonesia.

He said the religion flourished under the previous leadership of monk Aksin Jinarkkhita.

“These two Buddhist leaders share similar visions on the need to promote Buddhism as living and universal religion, free from sectarian restrictions, which may weaken its true spirit and teaching,” Sudhamek said.

Nhat Hanh, who became a monk at the age of 23, has published more than 100 books, including 40 in English. He became renowned for his opposition to the Vietnam war and for his work in promoting peace.

He was kicked out of Vietnam and lived briefly in the US where he completed his studies at Princeton University and became a lecturer at Cornell and Columbia Universities. He then moved to France where he established Plum Village Monastery.

Foreign tourists perform ritual at Borobudur

Antara News, Sunday, September 19, 2010 02:41 WIB

Magelang, Central Java (ANTARA News) - A group of foreign tourists performed a ritual called "The Cosmology of Life" to restore their spiritual sanity at Borobudur, the largest Buddhist temple in the world, in Magelang, Central Java on Saturday (Sept. 18).

Borobudur at dawn – quiet and peaceful
(JP/Sunita Sue Leng)

"We call this `The Cosmology of Life` as we conduct a dialogue with nature through our conscience to explore our surroundings," the leader of the group, Kanwa Adikusumah, said.

The group comprises 28 people with different professions but most of them are artists. They hailed from European countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands,France and Spain.

The ritual took place in front of Manohara Pendopo (a pavilion-like structure) on the east side of the Borobudur temple with background music by zither and kecapi (traditional Indonesian string instrument) players.

They gathered under a Bodhi tree around which people had placed a pile of green coconuts, torches, and strewn rose petals.

The participants with some of them and the zither and kecapi players wearing white clothes and white headbands sat cross-legged under the tree.

They strew roses on the pile of coconuts under the Bodhi tree and moved freely following the sound of the Zither and kecapi.

"I use green coconuts as an `entrance` to perform this ritual. They capture the energy and the Javanese philosophy of the coconuts and nature," said Kanwa who has been developing the spiritual exercise through this method for the last 10 years.

He uses some media such as green coconuts, grass, pendopo, Bodhi tree, and canary trees in the spiritual exercise.

He said every place and ritual media has its own energy.

"We conduct the ritual in a tranquil state of mind to get spiritual sanity as guidance to live our lives," he said.

A monk at the Waisak ceremony, commemorating Buddha’s birth, death and
enlightenment, at Borobudur Temple. (JG Photo/Boy T Harjanto)

Related Article:

Feuding Buddhists Unite for Waisak Rites in Borobudur (May 28, 2010)

Feuding Buddhists Unite for Waisak Rites in Borobudur

Jakarta Globe, Candra Malik, May 28, 2010

A monk at the Waisak ceremony, commemorating Buddha’s birth, death and enlightenment, at Borobudur Temple. (JG Photo/Boy T Harjanto)

Magelang. Thousands of faithful Buddhists from previously contentious communities flocked to the majestic Borobudur Temple on Friday in a show of unity to mark the annual Waisak holiday, celebrating the Buddha’s birth, death and enlightenment.

The two sparring congregations had never before celebrated the day together.

The Indonesian Buddhist Council (Walubi) and the Buddhist Conference of the Mighty Sangha Indonesia (KASI), the country’s two major Buddhist associations, previously took turns hosting celebrations at the ninth-century temple on alternate years, but temple manager Pudjo Suwarno said this year marked a thaw in relations.

“We’re thankful they chose to celebrate Waisak together in the temple courtyard,” he said, adding they had put aside their ideological differences for the day.

Waisak is held to commemorate the three great moments of the life of Gautama Buddha: his birth, nirvana and death.

Celebrations began at 6:07 a.m. with the “Puja Bhakti” meditation and ended at 2 p.m. with the “Bhakti Puja” meditation.

In between, participants took part in separate parades whose routes were determined by Walubi and KASI.

Walubi members began at the entrance to Borobudur, went down Jalan Sampula, Jalan Raya Syailendra, the Borobudur Market and on to the western edge of Borobudur.

KASI members, meanwhile, started at the midway point between Mendut and Pawon temples before ending at the southeast edge of Borobudur.

The morning mediation was led by Bhiku Samira Paramita Sabhita, who spoke on the theme of “Building the Character of Nations to Implement Dharma by Spreading the Seeds of Goodness.”

“Being human is the most beautiful gift,” he said. “However, abstaining from hatred, envy and acts of stupidity is a very heavy task. Let us always strive to do good.”

A group of 150 monks from Thailand was to attend the event but few came, due to the political turmoil in the country.

“Only 30 pilgrims from the Sangha Theravada and Damayut monasteries showed up at Borobudur,” said Walubi Central Java chairman David Hermanwijaya.

The runup to the celebration began on Monday, when monks took holy water from Umbul Jumprit Lake on the slopes of Mount Sindoro, two hours by car from Borobudur.

Unlike in previous years, the holy water was taken to Borobudur Temple instead of being stored at Mendut Temple, where it was used in prayer ceremonies led in turn by monks from the Sangha Mahayana, Theravada and Tantrayana monasteries.

The Indonesian Sangha Mahayana abbot of Avalokitesvara Monastery in Jakarta, Dwi Virya, said the holy water symbolized the Buddha’s humbleness.

“Pride will only bring harm to ourselves and others,” he said.

On Tuesday, monks brought back a fire from an eternal flame in nearby Mrapen, Purwodadi.

“Fire is a symbol of enlightenment for the human soul to attain nirvana,” Virya said.

On Friday, monks sprinkled holy water on worshipers after the morning meditation, and at night participants lit candles and lanterns.

Police said 10,000 people took part in Friday’s celebration.