Borobudur: Thinking Mandala
Words, voices and images: Connecting to cultures around the world
Words, voices and images: Connecting to cultures around the world
Borobudur lay hidden under volcanic ash and forest until Stamford Raffles, who was enthralled by Javanese history and collecting Java’s antiques, organised a dig to expose the long lost temple. The year was 1814. We are with Arahmaiani in Java.
Built in the 9th Century Borobudur is the largest Buddhist temple and is a UNESCO world heritage listed site.
The idea was that we would accompany Arahmaiani and make a very early morning visit. It was in fact still dark when we climbed up the hundreds temple steps by torch light.
We had driven the 40 or so kilometres from Yogyakarta the previous morning as we were filming close by Borobudur, so we were ready to make the ascent very early the next morning.
I suspect what draws Arahmaiani to think about Borobudur in particular is that it has been constructed in a way that takes the form of a vast tantric Buddhist Mandala. Its form describing the interdependency of Buddhist cosmology and the human mind.
As the sun rises we can see Mount Merapi emerging from the mist. Slowly the stupas surrounding us emerge in the growing sunlight.
We were interested in understanding the link between Borobudur and Arahmaiani’s performance piece, Memory of Nature which we had been filming on the previous day. What was she thinking here?
Arahmaiani: It is about co-ordination and interdependence and there is this aspect of ascending like up a pyramid or up Borobudur. That is why we have to go up. In my Mandala (in Memory of Nature) I suggested this ascending aspect with the plants so this is becoming something natural and alive, it is not just becoming something abstract about the horizontal and the vertical. I think it is actually important.
There is a fascinating series of books by Ken Wilber who is trying to reinterpret the Mandala within the modern context in an integral theory of consciousness. Trying to understand what happened in modern times, what happened to science for example and our way of viewing life today. There is a good side to this modern way but there is also a negative side to it whereby the aspect of ascending is somehow almost being denied.
The modern people tend to look for the descent aspect – the horizontal aspect rather than the vertical aspect, they are not religious, do not believe in a god you know. By doing this and denying the vertical aspect everything is becoming a disaster, creativity is somehow limited to this horizontal aspect only.
Peter: Are people replacing their sense of the vertical aspect, for example we are not religious but we are caring about things – how does that intersect in all this?
Arahmaiani: I am not talking about people having to be religious but with this sense of ascending, about values you know, it is a question of values. Otherwise if it is only flat, horizontal, there is no value system or depth, it is just everything on the surface. Then of course this means everything is becoming materialistic.
For me as an artist this is actually a problem of creativity, why do we limit ourselves in creativity on this horizontal aspect only? That is my question.
We can see now the impact of that kind of world view is the destruction of the planet as we are wanting more and more and more, further, further, grow, further. What is this view of unlimited growth? What does it mean?
Peter: Disaster. Full stop.
Arahmaiani: And then everything is seen on only this horizontal aspect. This is something I am thinking about. Because of the thought of this ecology movement, the problem with this movement is that they do not include the vertical aspect so it is becoming like this expansion of this horizontal view. There is no ascending aspect. The problem of hierarchy has been seen in a very simplistic way. No, no hierarchy, we don’t want that, as if it is good if we don’t have hierarchy, but the problem is we do not have that sense of depth as everything is becoming flat and it creates a lot of problems.
Peter: Does that play into respect for old people with the hierarchy gone?
Arahmaiani: Yes, respect for older people, but most importantly is this understanding of values and depths. This is what is being flattened now and this is what is going to disappear, and the consequence of that is everything is just like a flat world.
Peter: What is the reason for that, the main reason?
Arahmaiani: The main reason I think is a mistake we have made. I don’t blame, but it started in the West. This is human failure and we have made mistakes because we are human. We should not continue in this way because if we are aware we made mistakes we have to correct it, right?
There is a possibility and an opportunity for us to correct the mistake we made. Well I think if I have to answer specially as to what this is, it has to do with our way of seeing life and understanding reality itself. It has a lot to do with philosophical development.
Peter: Is it also to do with the way we live, removed from nature and the past?
Arahmaiani: Yes, yes, I think it started from a misunderstanding about reality and then it somehow shaped our way and our way of dealing with nature and life itself. How we see anything in nature as just an object. I think this is completely wrong actually. But this is what is happening today in this so-called modern lifestyle.
That is why we have this disastrous situation as we have seen everything as an object for us to be manipulated or commoditised.
Built in the 9th Century Borobudur is the largest Buddhist temple and is a UNESCO world heritage listed site.
The idea was that we would accompany Arahmaiani and make a very early morning visit. It was in fact still dark when we climbed up the hundreds temple steps by torch light.
We had driven the 40 or so kilometres from Yogyakarta the previous morning as we were filming close by Borobudur, so we were ready to make the ascent very early the next morning.
I suspect what draws Arahmaiani to think about Borobudur in particular is that it has been constructed in a way that takes the form of a vast tantric Buddhist Mandala. Its form describing the interdependency of Buddhist cosmology and the human mind.
As the sun rises we can see Mount Merapi emerging from the mist. Slowly the stupas surrounding us emerge in the growing sunlight.
We were interested in understanding the link between Borobudur and Arahmaiani’s performance piece, Memory of Nature which we had been filming on the previous day. What was she thinking here?
Arahmaiani: It is about co-ordination and interdependence and there is this aspect of ascending like up a pyramid or up Borobudur. That is why we have to go up. In my Mandala (in Memory of Nature) I suggested this ascending aspect with the plants so this is becoming something natural and alive, it is not just becoming something abstract about the horizontal and the vertical. I think it is actually important.
There is a fascinating series of books by Ken Wilber who is trying to reinterpret the Mandala within the modern context in an integral theory of consciousness. Trying to understand what happened in modern times, what happened to science for example and our way of viewing life today. There is a good side to this modern way but there is also a negative side to it whereby the aspect of ascending is somehow almost being denied.
The modern people tend to look for the descent aspect – the horizontal aspect rather than the vertical aspect, they are not religious, do not believe in a god you know. By doing this and denying the vertical aspect everything is becoming a disaster, creativity is somehow limited to this horizontal aspect only.
Peter: Are people replacing their sense of the vertical aspect, for example we are not religious but we are caring about things – how does that intersect in all this?
Arahmaiani: I am not talking about people having to be religious but with this sense of ascending, about values you know, it is a question of values. Otherwise if it is only flat, horizontal, there is no value system or depth, it is just everything on the surface. Then of course this means everything is becoming materialistic.
For me as an artist this is actually a problem of creativity, why do we limit ourselves in creativity on this horizontal aspect only? That is my question.
We can see now the impact of that kind of world view is the destruction of the planet as we are wanting more and more and more, further, further, grow, further. What is this view of unlimited growth? What does it mean?
Peter: Disaster. Full stop.
Arahmaiani: And then everything is seen on only this horizontal aspect. This is something I am thinking about. Because of the thought of this ecology movement, the problem with this movement is that they do not include the vertical aspect so it is becoming like this expansion of this horizontal view. There is no ascending aspect. The problem of hierarchy has been seen in a very simplistic way. No, no hierarchy, we don’t want that, as if it is good if we don’t have hierarchy, but the problem is we do not have that sense of depth as everything is becoming flat and it creates a lot of problems.
Peter: Does that play into respect for old people with the hierarchy gone?
Arahmaiani: Yes, respect for older people, but most importantly is this understanding of values and depths. This is what is being flattened now and this is what is going to disappear, and the consequence of that is everything is just like a flat world.
Peter: What is the reason for that, the main reason?
Arahmaiani: The main reason I think is a mistake we have made. I don’t blame, but it started in the West. This is human failure and we have made mistakes because we are human. We should not continue in this way because if we are aware we made mistakes we have to correct it, right?
There is a possibility and an opportunity for us to correct the mistake we made. Well I think if I have to answer specially as to what this is, it has to do with our way of seeing life and understanding reality itself. It has a lot to do with philosophical development.
Peter: Is it also to do with the way we live, removed from nature and the past?
Arahmaiani: Yes, yes, I think it started from a misunderstanding about reality and then it somehow shaped our way and our way of dealing with nature and life itself. How we see anything in nature as just an object. I think this is completely wrong actually. But this is what is happening today in this so-called modern lifestyle.
That is why we have this disastrous situation as we have seen everything as an object for us to be manipulated or commoditised.
In this film we join Arahmaiani as she paints Grey by the Elo-Progo River in Central Java and in Singapore, Tony Godfrey, Equator Art Projects, talks to Arahmaiani about the grey paintings.
A year or more has passed and we meet Arahmaiani again under a Javan sky to create the installation and performance once more, this time in a field on the banks of the Elo-Progo River in Central Java. Borobudur is close by this location.
Art can sometimes be dangerous, it can be dangerous, and I mean very dangerous, for those who create it as well as those who collect it.