Travel guide to Borobudur, a famous attraction in Indonesia, suitable for checking in and taking photos📸

#AprilGoodDestinations2025 Borobudur is a famous tourist attraction in Indonesia, with thousands of tourists coming here for sightseeing every day. This time I will introduce a travel guide to Borobudur. The Borobudur Temple Complex (Candi Borobudur) is located in central Java, Indonesia. It is one of the most important Buddhist buildings in the world. It actually includes three Buddhist temples, namely Borobudur, Mendut and Pawang (see notes for the latter two). The three temples are believed to have been built by the Shailendra dynasty in the 8th and 9th centuries, and their similar architecture and decoration reflect a sacred, unified spiritual connection between them. During restoration work in the early 20th century, Borobudur, Mentut and Pawang were positioned on a straight imaginary line; this arrangement may be coincidental, but there is also a theory that the three temples represent different stages of nirvana. Borobudur Temple is located between the Progo River and the Elo River in Borobudur Village, Magelang, standing on a hill 265 meters above sea level. To its east are Mount Merbabu and Mount Merapi, and to its north are Mount Sindoro and Mount Sumbing. Although Borobudur Temple is known as one of the four wonders of the ancient East along with the Great Wall of China, the Taj Mahal of India, and Angkor Wat of Cambodia, research on it has remained superficial so far due to the lack of written historical materials. Judging from its name, some people think it means a Buddhist temple on the top of a mountain, while others think it means a Brahman pagoda. So is it Buddhist or Hindu? The Shalendra dynasty that built Borobudur was originally a Hindu dynasty, but later converted to Buddhism due to political needs. This transformation process is likely reflected in Borobudur, where a Buddhist stupa was built on a Hindu-style high platform. Borobudur has a total of 10 platforms in a pyramid shape. The 1st to 7th floors are square, and the 8th to 10th floors are circular. There are 72 stupas on the highest circular platform. Through the diamond-shaped holes in the stupa, you can peek into the various Buddha statues inside the stupa. Borobudur is a religious building of Mahayana Buddhism. The difference between Mahayana Buddhism and Hinayana Buddhism is that the former, in addition to self-cultivation, also emphasizes the salvation of all sentient beings, so there is the concept of Bodhisattva. There are 10 levels of becoming a Bodhisattva: Joyful Stage, Purity Stage, Luminous Stage, Flame of Wisdom Stage, Extremely Difficult Stage, Present Action Stage, Far-reaching Stage, and Immortality. However, the more official statement now is that it is divided according to the Three Realms of Buddhism. The bottom two layers represent the Desire Realm, which refers to being deeply dominated by various desires; the middle four layers are the Form Realm, which refers to having cut off food and color desires; the top round platform and the top of the tower represent the Formless Realm, which is without desire, hope, and form; the entire building symbolizes the practice process from the mortal world. In addition, Borobudur has about 2,670 reliefs, covering the life of the Buddha, Buddhist classic stories, the law of cause and effect, etc.; as well as 504 Buddha statues, which are metaphors for the 504 reincarnations of the Buddha.