A plan that can be read
Borobudur is built as a series of stacked terraces around a central axis, and almost every part of the design has been interpreted as having a meaning. It helps to be clear about the status of those readings. The monument has no surviving builder’s manual and no inscription that explains it, so the symbolic interpretations are scholarly reconstructions, based on Buddhist texts, comparison with other monuments and the visible arrangement of the carving. Many are widely held. None is certain.
Three zones
The most common reading divides the monument into three parts, matching a threefold model of existence found in Buddhist cosmology.
- Kamadhatu, the realm of desire. This corresponds to the base, which was covered over and is largely hidden today. Its reliefs are generally understood to illustrate the consequences of actions in a world driven by craving.
- Rupadhatu, the realm of form. This corresponds to the square galleries above the base, which are lined with narrative reliefs and niches holding seated Buddhas. The stories carved here are discussed in the article on the Borobudur reliefs.
- Arupadhatu, the realm of formlessness. This corresponds to the upper circular terraces, where the walls and carved scenes disappear. Instead there are rows of latticed stupas and a large central stupa. The change from square to round, and from decorated walls to open space, is the most striking shift in the monument.
This reading ties the physical climb to a gradual movement away from attachment and toward understanding. A longer treatment of the idea can be found in the general piece on Buddhist cosmology.
Counting the levels
Different writers count the levels differently, which can be confusing. A common description gives nine levels: a base, five square terraces and three circular terraces, topped by the main stupa. Others count the hidden base separately, or count the stupa as a tenth element. When reading any source, check how it counts before comparing numbers.
The stupa-mandala reading
Seen from above, Borobudur has a square outline with stepped projections and a circular summit. A well-known interpretation reads this as a mandala, which is a structured diagram used in Buddhist contemplation to represent a cosmos centred on a Buddha. Under this view, the monument is a three-dimensional mandala that a visitor enters by walking the pathway and ascending towards the centre.
This reading has an appeal, but it should be handled with care.
- The term mandala covers many things. The painted and sand forms used in some Tibetan traditions are discussed in our article on sand mandalas, and they work differently from a monument in stone.
- Some scholars argue for a more specific link to a particular mandala described in Mahayana and early esoteric texts. Others think the plan is better described as a stupa that has been enlarged and arranged on a terraced base.
- Direction matters in these interpretations. The Buddha images on each side are often associated with different directions and with the five transcendent Buddhas of some Mahayana systems, but the exact assignment is an inference, not a documented fact.
It would be wrong to claim that any one of these readings is the correct one. They are compatible in some respects and in conflict in others.
Stupa, mountain and lotus
Several older images overlap in the design. The stupa is the basic Buddhist reliquary and memorial form, whose parts are explained in our piece on the parts of a stupa. The stepped, mountain-like shape also recalls the cosmic mountain of Indian cosmology, a theme found in Mount Meru symbolism. Some writers also see lotus imagery in the arrangement of the circular terraces, which fits with lotus symbolism in Buddhist art, though that is again an interpretation.
The idea that the monument combines stupa and sacred mountain is one reason for comparing it with other stupa designs, such as the Sanchi stupa in India and the later Tibetan chorten forms. Borobudur is distinctive, however, in being built as a pathway to be walked and not as a solid mound with a railing.
The walk as meaning
Whatever the exact model, most interpretations agree on the importance of movement. The monument is arranged to be circled again and again while rising, a form of circumambulation practice shared across Buddhist cultures. The article on the Borobudur pilgrimage walk looks at that experience in more detail. A visitor at the summit stands among stupas that show no carved story, and the large central stupa is closed. Some explain this as a statement about the limits of words, while others avoid taking it so far.
Why interpretation matters
Reading the design as symbolic does not remove the plain historical facts. The monument was built in central Java during the era traditionally dated to the 8th and 9th centuries, as explained in the article on the Sailendra dynasty. What the symbolism adds is a way to understand why a monument of this kind would be made: as a teaching, a devotional route and an expression of Buddhist ideas about the mind and the world, all at once.