Bali is known as the land of 1000 temples but in truth it is home to at least 20,000 Hindu temples, each with a specific function and ritual marked in the 250-day-long Balinese calendar. However there is only one Buddhist monastery and temple on the island and it is majestic.
Set in the sub-district of Banjar, a 10-minute drive from the coastal town of Seririt on the lush green foothills of the mountain ranges of northern Bali, its name is Brahma Vihara Arama. And it is a place of almost total stillness.
On the morning I visited there was only one other person in sight, a tourist from the Czech Republic. “I’m staying at a nearby hotel and the staff suggested I visit. Otherwise, I never would even have heard of it,” she said.
Brahma Vihara Arama, which means “limitless sublime attitude” in Sanskrit, took two years to build and was inaugurated in 1971. It was commissioned by a wealthy Buddhist philanthropist (Buddhists only make up one percent of the island’s population) and designed by a Balinese religious architect who worked with Balinese landscape gardeners. The result, a marriage of Balinese Hindu and Thai Buddhist design, is utterly unique. There is nothing like it in the world.
“Many different people come here. Every full moon, there is a big Hindu ceremony. For Indonesian Buddhists, it is an important pilgrimage site, and last week a group of Russian tourists stayed for a meditation retreat,” says Putu, who works at the ticket office and who like many Indonesians goes by only one name. “But you don’t have to be religious to visit. You just need a good heart.”
Visitors pay the equivalent of $2.50 to enter, which includes the use of a traditional Balinese sarong, which must be wrapped around the wait for women and men, the same rule that applies to visitors at major Hindu temples across the island.
From the Hindu gateway at the compound’s entrance, a staircase leads into the first of a series of terraced Balinese gardens brimming with flowers. In the centre is a large circular lily pond crowned by a statue of a standing Buddha. His palm is held up and faces outwards, which signifies teaching or reassurance.
A longer staircase leads to the next level, a vast terraced garden with two human-sized origami trees and Thai-style temples with bright orange roofs. Inside are shrines with golden Buddha statues in different poses, as well as bas-reliefs and frescoes depicting Prince Siddhartha’s journey from suffering to enlightenment as the Buddha.
At the northern end of the garden is the longest and steepest staircase in the temple. It is bordered by two long stone ‘nagas’ — divine serpents or dragons that according to Hindu mythology reside in the netherworld and can take on human form. There is another Hindu gateway at the top and a thick ledge or rampart with four large white statues of sitting Buddhas. From here, one can enjoy incredible views of the lower gardens and temples in the compound, as well as the surrounding valley.
It’s not the end of the monastery as I had imagined, just a new beginning. On the other side of the ledge is another large meditative garden and a family home-sized replica of Borobudur, a UNESCO heritage site of Central Java said to be the largest Buddhist archeological site in the world.
And just when I thought I could not possibly get better, I discovered the replica is not solid stone as per Borobudur but hollow inside, concealing a vast meditation and prayer hall with marble floors, columns engraved with traditional Balinese ornamental detail work and Buddhist iconography, and yet another golden statue of the Buddha in the centre.
Brahma Vihara Arama is not just another monastery or temple. It is heaven within heaven, a place of perfection and calm; a little-known treasure on the Island of the Gods.
Buddha at the monastery. Credit:
Statue and gardens at Bali’s Buddhist monastery. Credit:
View from Bali’s Buddhist monastery. Credit:
Bali’s Buddhist monastery. Credit:
Bali’s Buddhist monastery. Credit:
Buddha at the monastery. Credit:
