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BOROBUDUR – A JOURNEY TO NIRVANA – by Bernard VanCuylenburg Lost and forgotten, the temple lay in the heart of a thick forest embraced by a mantle of green, its ancient walls smothered by vines, ferns and shrubs of every description. By day and at night, the only sounds were those of the leopard, or the shrieking of monkeys, the piercing trill of birds, and other denizens of the jungle.  For over a thousand years, Borobudur the largest Buddhist monument in the world, was a word that was only a spectral memory, confined to the realms of invisibility. The eternal reverie of this architectural marvel came back to life in 1815 when it was rediscovered by a Dutch Engineer working under Sir Thomas Raffles the Governor of Java. This chance discovery which was one of the greatest archaeological discoveries at the time revealed the magnitude of the builders and architect’s ...