Prof. Dr. Arisyo Nunes Dos Santos
Even the meager remains of Indian and Indonesian pyramids that have survived from a relatively recent past are splendid enough to dazzle even the hardiest of skeptics. The fact that the pyramidal symbolism is very much alive and meaningful in the Indies, in contrast to, say, Egypt, where it never was explained at all, is proof enough of its origin there, in these countries full of the mountains portrayed by the pyramids themselves. The pyramid complex of Borobudur (Java) has been hailed as the most significant monument in the Southern Hemisphere and, perhaps, even of the whole world. Its pyramid stands on a hill and rises 35 meters from its base, which measures 123×123 square meters.
The topping stupa (chapel) contained the Adi Buddha, that, is “the Primordial Buddha”. In the Buddhist conception, Adi Buddha was the Primordial Man, the same one who the Judeo-Christians equate to Adam, the Hindus with Purusha and the Egyptians with Osiris. One can also see, in Fig.7 above, the trimekhala (or “triple surrounding wall”) that is a feature of all such representations of Paradise. This triple wall corresponds to the one of Atlantis, and is encountered in all such Hindu representations of Paradise. It also figures in the description of sunken Paradises turned Hell such as the one of Tartarus in Hesiod (Theog. 726) and in the one of the Celestial Jerusalem of the Book of Revelation.
The pyramid of Borobudur represents the Holy Mountain (Mt. Atlas or Meru), just as the whole complex represents the Holy City. This six stepped pyramid is capped by a shrine (or stupa) itself composed of three round stages topped by a bell-shaped shrine where the relics of Adi Buddha were contained. In this, Borobudur closely corresponds to Zozer’s pyramid which is, likewise, six-stepped and was (originally) topped by a shrine now gone. This seven stepped structure is also characteristic of Egypt. Its pyramids almost invariably have seven steps, even though these may been hidden under the smooth outer cladding. As we see, both in Indonesia and in India, pyramids fit the local traditions and the local geography, in contrast to Egypt and Mesopotamia, or even the Americas, where they make no sense at all, and where archaeologists still argue whether their purpose was to serve as tombs, cenotaphs, temples or whatever.
Borobudur And The Several Levels Of Reality
The symbolism of Borobudur centers on the gradual revelation of the several levels of reality to the initiants, more or less in the way the Egyptian temples did, as explained above. The lowest levels of Borobudur corresponds to the basest manifestations of reality and progress in the upper levels, until the ultimate reality — the one corresponding to the highest condition of spiritual enlightenment — is reached in the uppermost level. It was meant to enlighten the visitor and to cause his spiritual progress, as he ascended gradually and finally reached the summit.
The monument proclaimed the unity of the Cosmos permeated by the light of Truth. It explained the apparent paradox of the union of incongruals such as Good and Evil, Fire and Water, Truth and Illusion, Creation and Destruction, Male and Female, and so on, in the one person of God as the Supreme Reality. Adi Buddha, “the Primordial Wisdom” is precisely the knowledge of our paradisial origins in the Far East, in the region of Indonesia.
Adi Buddha is the same spiritual reality that the Hindus call Mahavidya (“Supreme Wisdom”); that the Gnostics call Gnosis or Sophia (“Wisdom”); that the Jews named Hokhmah (“Wisdom”) or Binah(“Understanding”), and so on. It is no coincidence that we have ten sefirots (or “aspects of divine manifestation”), just as we also have ten steps in Borobudur’s pyramid or ten “lights” in the Temple of Solomon. For, after all, ten is the number of (Indian) Atlantis, just as seven is the one of Paradise (Lemurian Atlantis).
The Wondrous Pyramids Of Southeast Asia
Another wonder of Southeast Asia are the temples of Angkor and, particularly, Angkor Vat and Angkor Thom. The Wat is an enormous pyramidal complex of some 1500 x 1400 m2 . The complex is surrounded by a vast cloister and is approached from the west. This is done via a monumental paved road built upon a causeway delimited by balustrades formed from standing serpents (nagas). These Nagas symbolize the Cosmic Pillars that support the world, and which are the Eastern counterparts of the Titan Atlas. The reference to Atlas suggests an undeniable connection with Atlantis.
The Wat rises in three concentric enclosures that define three courtyards, as in the Jewish and the Egyptian temples discussed above. The symbolic meaning of the Wat pyramidal complex is clear to specialists. It corresponds to the Polar Mountain (Meru), the hub of the universe. The central shrine corresponds, as in Borobudur, to the supreme reality, while the lower levels, the gate complex, the cloister, the city of Angkor and the outer world represent, in descending order, the outer shells of reality. The orientation of Angkor Wat towards the West represents the fact that it was a mortuary temple.
The Angkor Thom is even more grandiose than Angkor Vat. Like its predecessor, it replicates the sacred city of Paradise (Lanka), built upon the slopes of Mt. Meru. The city was in turn, also a symbolic replica of the Cosmos, on whose shape it was designed. This symbolic universe follows Hindu Cosmological doctrines. When possible, the kings of Angkor utilized natural hills for the construction of their holy cities. When this was impossible, they built artificial mountains in the shape of stepped pyramids like the beauttiful ones of Angkor Thom and Angkor Vat.
The central pyramidal complex of Angkor Thom, the Bayon, is the biggest though not by all means finest of them all. Within the moats of Angkor Thom, fully 16 km around, lie the huge complexes of buildings and of barays (dams), lakes and irrigation channels that formed the sacred city, its temples, houses and palaces.
The plan and conception of angkor Thom are both grandiose. But the execution — pressed by the huge size and the enormity of the work to be done — is somewhat poorer than the refined art of its predecessors such as Angkor Vat and others. The plan of Angkor Thom illustrates the creation of the Cosmos darting from the Center (Mt. Meru), and spreading in successive waves from it. This plan is based in the Cosmogonic myth known as The Churning of the Ocean of Milk and, even more exactly, in the lotus-like mandalas such as the beautiful Shri Yantra.19
The two monumental roads leading to the central tower of Angkor Thom are lined with a mile-long road of divine personages pulling on the body of the Serpent Shesha (Vasuki) in a giant tug-of-war, exactly as in the myth just mentioned. The serpent is coiled around the Polar Mountain (Meru) that served as the giant churning stick activated by the devas and the asuras. The two parties pull on opposite sides of the churning rope which consists of the immensely long body of the Serpent Shesha. Below, at the bottom, lies the Turtle (Kurma), that represents the Paradise sunken to the bottom of the Ocean of Milk in consequence of the war.
Sources: http://atlan.org/articles/egyptian_temple2/