3.3 Borobudur Temple Compounds—Indonesia's Pyramid婆罗浮屠——印尼的金字塔

现今世界最大之佛塔遗迹是位于印度尼西亚，建于8世纪的婆罗浮屠佛塔，即千佛坛。它还是南半球最宏伟的古迹，世界闻名的石刻艺术宝库，东方四大奇迹之一，并素有“印尼的金字塔”之称。婆罗浮屠回廊和栏杆上，刻有2500幅浮雕，一块一块连起来，有4公里长。浮雕有的取材于佛教历史，有的描述神话故事和宗教仪式，有的记录了当时人们的生活习俗，还有的雕刻着花鸟和热带水果的造型。这些艺术精品被后人称为“石块上的史诗”。

婆罗浮屠是一个特别的古迹。它不是寺庙，因为它没有膜拜或祭祀的地方，它是一个巨大的佛陀神殿，既是窣堵波，又是曼荼罗（宇宙的表象）。婆罗浮屠是一个以金字塔式的曼荼罗形式出现的巨大的大乘佛教遗址。这个最奇异的佛教塔庙竖立在周围的丛林树冠之上，像一个巨大的花式冰蛋糕。

婆罗浮屠构图精美，气势磅礴。它呈金字塔形，可拾级而上。佛塔是由100万块火山岩一块块垒起来的十层佛塔，可分为塔底、塔身和顶部三大部分。佛教徒必须按特定的路线登婆罗浮屠。从东面进入，按顺时针方向绕行。走向庙顶象征着一个人逐步达到完美的精神境界。

A white mist shrouds the plain and the first birdcalls across the valleys announce the imminent arrival of another dawn. Slowly the mist dissipates in the rising sun to reveal the spires and Buddhas that meditate in bliss and gradually the forms coalesce（联合）to unveil a temple that many who have seen it, consider to be the finest example of Buddhist architecture ever raised to the sky by man.

In the period 600 A.D. to 800 A.D. there was a golden age of temple construction throughout India, Ceylon and South East Asia. It was a time when Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms flourished（活跃，兴旺）and men raised magnificent monuments to heaven in praise of their gods with a burst of frenetic（狂热的）activity of cultural expression and devotion. After their periods of glory they sank into oblivion,either as a result of military conquest or natural disasters and their monuments were reclaimed by the jungle and lost to mankind for almost a thousand years.

One of the most spectacular of these is the Buddhist temple of Borobudur that lies in Eastern Java on the Kedu Plain. It is surrounded by an idyllic landscape of incomparable beauty of rice-terraced hills and overlooked by four volcanoes（火山）. The industrious subjects of the Sailendra（夏连特拉）dynasty built it over a period of 80 years in the ninth century who transformed a volcanic plug of basalt（玄武岩）into a stepped pyramid with a base measuring 120 meters square and a height of 35 meters.

It was built to resemble a microcosm of the universe and its purpose was to provide a visual image of the teachings of the Buddha and show, in a practical manner, the steps through life that each person must follow to achieve enlightenment（教化）. The pilgrim to this shrine（圣地）would first have been led around the base and shown the friezes, which illustrate the consequences of living in the World of Desire. In this realm ruled by Greed, Envy, and Ignorance, man is a slave to earthly desires and suffers from the illusions that are caused by these unfulfilled yearnings, a state regarded as hell by Buddhists. After completing this circuit, the pilgrim was then led in a clockwise（顺时针方向的）fashion through five levels in a gradual ascension of the pyramid. Here he was shown how to conquer desire and attachment by viewing 1,300 paneled friezes that illustrate the life of the Buddha and his previous incarnations（化身）. These levels were called the World of Form and correspond to the earthly realm in Buddhist symbology（象征）. The passages of both of these realms followed the square shape of the pyramid but above these two lay the World of Formlessness where the right-angled, heavily decorated passages gave way to a round unadorned summit where meditating Buddhas and saints sit in supreme bliss contemplating a view of exquisite beauty. In the center a bell shaped tower, or stupa（佛塔）, points to heaven, a blissful realm beyond form and concept, known as Nirvana.

Encompassing the totality of existence with its representations of heaven, earth, and hell in this metaphor of stone, the monument was abandoned after a severe earthquake and a large eruption of the volcano Merapi in 1006 A.D. until it was rediscovered by the West during colonial times. One of the miracles, perhaps equaling the miracle of its construction and craftsmanship（工艺，技艺）, is that the monument still exists and can be seen to this day. This area of Java is one of the most earthquake prone（易于）regions in the world as well as one of the most volcanic areas. From the top of the temple, the volcano Merapi is easily visible, still smoking to this day, having erupted on more than a few occasions during the last millennia.

Reliefs depicting the life of the Buddha cover the upper half of the main wall all around the first gallery of the monument, a total of 120 panels. These reliefs were carved to illustrate a text entitled the Lalitavistara, "The Unfolding of the Play".

The above relief shows Sakyamuni having left the palace and dismissed his horse and groom, stands at the left beneath a parasol, bidding farewell to the supernatural beings who accompanied him.

The Dutch carried out some piecemeal（零碎的）reconstruction during colonial times but it was left to the Indonesian government to make a complete restoration with help from the United Nations in the seventies and eighties. This huge task has now been completed so that the temple is now in better shape than it has been since the major eruption of Merapi in 1006 A.D. This architectural jewel is now conserved for the benefit of future generations and provides a wealth of information on the way of life 1200 years ago as well as preserving its spiritual message. The panels show a sophisticated and elegant society and are a pictorial history of the architecture, means of transport, dress, and customs of a race of people whose culture rose and fell a thousand years ago and who left this astounding monument as a testament to their skill and devotion.

Borobudur can truly be called one of the wonders of the world, one of those rare places where the compassionate, aesthetic beauty of mankind's nature can be glimpsed, a place where that centre of peace and stillness within us all can be felt, and a symbol of the imagination and industriousness of the human race.

用英语畅谈Borobudur黄金句

☺ In the period 600 A.D. to 800 A.D. there was a golden age of temple construction throughout India, Ceylon and South East Asia.公元600至800年间，在印度、锡兰以及东南亚，修建寺庙达到了一个黄金时代。

☺ One of the most spectacular of these is the Buddhist temple of Borobudur that lies in Eastern Java on the Kedu Plain.这其中最壮观的就是佛教建筑千佛坛，它位于爪哇东部的古杜平原上。

☺ It was built to resemble a microcosm of the universe.千佛坛就像是宇宙的一个缩影。

☺ The monument was abandoned after a severe earthquake and a large eruption of the volcano Merapi in 1006 A.D. until it was rediscovered by the West during colonial times.公元1006年，经过一场剧烈的地震和默拉皮火山大爆发，千佛坛被废弃了，一直到殖民时期才再次被西方人发现。

☺ This architectural jewel is now conserved for the benefit of future generations.为了后世子孙，这个建筑珍宝现在被保护了起来。

☺ Borobudur can truly be called one of the wonders of the world.千佛坛当之无愧是世界历史上的奇迹。

☺ Borobudur is a symbol of the imagination and industriousness of the human race.千佛坛是人类想象力和勤劳的象征。

用英语畅谈Borobudur