The Mysterious Malayu, Dharmasraya & the Candi Gumpung- a Buddhist temple, aligned with the temple Burobudur Melays is origin of Malay people: The Melayu Kingdom (also known as Malayu, Dharmasraya Kingdom or the Jambi Kingdom;  was a classical Malay Buddhist kingdom located in Southeast Asia. Based on linguistic, archaeological, and historical evidence, the environment that produced the culture associated with the ‘Melayu’, or the Malays and Melayu ethnicity was never predetermined but was contested on both sides of the Straits of Melaka.1 The primary sources for much of the information on the kingdom are the New History of the Tang, and the memoirs of the Chinese Buddhist monk Yijing who visited in 671, and states was "absorbed" by Srivijaya by 692, but had "broken away" by the end of the eleventh century according to Chao Jukua. The exact location of the kingdom is the subject of studies among historians. One theory is that the kingdom was established around present-day Jambi on Sumatra, Indonesia, approximately 300 km north of Palembang. According to this theory, it was founded by ethnic groups in the Batanghari river area and gold traders from the Minangkabau hinterland. The origins of the word Melayu ('Malay') are disputed. One theory suggests that it is derived from the Javanese terms melayu or mlayu (to steadily accelerate or to run), to describe the strong current of a river in Sumatra that today bears the name Sungai Melayu ('Melayu river'). The name was later possibly adopted by the Melayu Kingdom, as it is common for people in the region to be known by the name of the river on which they settled. The Topography of Sumatra shows the mountainous range of Barisan Mountains scattered from north to the south Sumatra hemisphere. Another theory hold that it originates from the Tamil words Malai and ur meaning "mountain" and "city, land", respectively. Could possibly referred to Barisan Mountains, the mountain range in Sumatra. An early literary appearance where the word "Malayadvipa" which means "mountainous island", is described in chapter 48, Vayu Purana as one of the provinces in the eastern sea that was full of gold and silver. Some scholars equate the term with Sumatra. but several Indian scholars believe the term may refer to the peninsula, while Sumatra is more correctly associated with Suvarnadvipa (an ancient name referred to Sumatra) which means "The Gold Land" and the Barisan Mountains which is the mountainous range scattered from north to the south Sumatra hemisphere. Then, the term "Maleu-Kolon" was used in Geographia by Ptolemy which is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit term malayakolam or malaikurram, referring to a geographical part of peninsula. In 7th century, the first use of the term for a nation or a kingdom was recorded by Yijing. The East Javanese Anjukladang inscription dated from 937 CE Medang Kingdom stated the Sima status is awarded to Anjukladang village and a jayastambha (victory monument), which later upgraded as a temple, was erected in recognition of their service on repelling the invading forces from Malayu. The temple mentioned here is probably the Candi Lor made of bricks which is now in ruins, located in Candirejo village in Nganjuk Regency.[  The mentioning of invading Malayu forces refer to the old name of Sumatran Malayu Kingdom, which probably refer to Srivijaya instead. This means by the 10th century, the Javanese identify their Sumatran-based enemy as "Malayu". An inscription on the south wall of the 11th century Brihadeeswarar Temple also made a reference to Malaiyur, a kingdom that had "a strong mountain for its rampart" in Chola invasion of Srivijaya to the Chola invaders during Rajendra Chola I's campaign. In the later Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368) and Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), the word Ma-La-Yu was mentioned often in Chinese historical texts - with changes in spelling due to the time span between the dynasties - to refer to a nation near the southern sea. Among the terms used was "Bok-la-yu", "Mok-la-yu, Ma-li-yu-er , Oo-lai-yu- traced from the written source of monk Xuanzang), and Wu-lai-yu. In the chronicle of Yuan Dynasty, the word "Ma-li-yu-er" was mentioned in describing the Sukhothai's southward expansion against Malay. "..Animosity occurred between Siam and Ma-li-yu-er with both killing each other..." In response to the Sukhothai's move, a Chinese envoy arrived at the Ram Khamhaeng's court in 1295 bearing an imperial order: "Keep your promise and do no evil to Ma-li-yu-er".[26] This nation of "Ma-li-yu-er" that appeared in the Chinese record possibly a similar nation that was mentioned by the famous Venetian traveller Marco Polo (1254–1324) who lived during the same period. In Travels of Marco Polo, he made a reference to a kingdom named "Malauir" in the Malay peninsula. The Khmer recorded the nation of Melayu, however, its progeny Srivijaya, was also called Melayu. The word bhūmi Mālayu (literally "Land of Malayu") is inscribed on the Padang Roco Inscription, dated 1286 CE, according to the inscription, bhūmi Mālayu is associated with the Dharmasraya kingdom. On the Amoghapasa inscription, dated 1347 CE, the word Malayapura (literally "city of Malaya" or "kingdom of Malaya") was proclaimed by Adityawarman, again referring to Dharmasraya. The word "Melayu" is also mentioned in the Malay annals referring to a river in Sumatra: "...Here now is the story of a city called Palembang in the land of Andelas. It was ruled by Demang Lebar Daun, a descendant of Raja Shulan, and its river was the Muara Tatang. In the upper reaches of the Muara Tatang was a river called Melayu, and on that river was a hill called Si-Guntang Mahameru..." On his route via Maritime Southeast Asia, Yijing visited Srivijaya twice where he stayed from 688 to 695, studying and translating the original texts in Sanskrit. Srivijaya appears to have been flourishing around the time of Yijing's visit, which he initially called "Bogha" during his first visit. At its greatest extent, the kingdom extended to Malayu, which seems to have been annexed or to have come spontaneously under the realm of Bogha prince.The whole country as well as the capital received the name "Sribogha" or Srivijaya. The change of the name Malayu to Sribogha is likely to have occurred before Yijing's time or during his stay there, for whenever he mentions Malayu by name, he added that "it is now changed to Sribogha". The following extract from Yijing's work, A Record of Buddhist Practices Sent Home from the Southern Sea, further describes his route via Bogha and Malayu: Wu Hing came to Bogha after a month's sail. The king received him very favourably and respected him as a guest from the land of the son of heaven of the Great Tang. He went on board the king's ship to the country of Malayu and arrived there after fifteen days sail. Thence he went to Ka Cha, again after fifteen days. At the end of winter he changed ship and sailed to the west. Further for the determination of the location of Sribogha-Malayu, Yijing furnishes the following: In the country of Sribogha, we see the shadow of the dial-plate become neither long nor short (i.e "remain unchanged" or "no shadow") in the middle of the eighth month (Autumnal equinox), and at midday no shadow falls from a man who is standing on that day, so it is in the middle of spring (Vernal equinox). Thus it can be inferred that the country of Sribogha covered the place lying on the equator, and the whole county therefore must have covered the north east side of Sumatra, from the southern shore of Malacca, to the city of Palembang, extending at least five degrees, having the equatorial line at about the centre of the kingdom.[ According to Yijing, Hinayana Buddhism was predominantly adopted in Srivijaya, represented for the most part by the Mulasarvastivada school, however there were few Mahayanists in Malayu. Gold seems to have been abundant in the kingdom, where people used to offer the Buddha a lotus flower of gold and used golden jars. Moreover, people of the kingdom wear a type of long cloth and used fragrant oil. Further, Melayu had accessed to gold producing areas in the hinterland of Sumatra. This slowly increased the prestige of Melayu which traded various local goods, including gold, with foreigners. Connect with Srivijay Candi Gumpung, a Buddhist temple at Muaro Jambi of Melayu Kingdom, later integrated as one of Srivijaya's important urban centre. Between 1079 and 1088, Chinese records show that Srivijaya sent ambassadors from Jambi and Palembang. In 1079 in particular, an ambassador from Jambi and Palembang each visited China. Jambi sent two more ambassadors to China in 1082 and 1088. This suggests that the centre of Srivijaya frequently shifted between the two major cities during that period. The Chola invasion of Srivijaya and as well as changing trade route weakened Palembang, allowing Jambi to take the leadership of Srivijaya from the 11th century on. In 1275, Kritanagara, of the Singhasari Kingdom, took advantage of Srivijaya's decline and sent a military expedition to establish Javanese control of Melayu. Embassies were sent to China in 1299 and 1301. Mahesa/Kebo/Lembu Anabrang was a General of Singhasari, who conquered Srivijaya and Melayu in 1288. Almost a century after taking over Palembang's role as the centre of an empire, Jambi and Srivijaya experienced decline in influence This was caused by a change of policy by the Song dynasty to no longer accept ambassadors from Srivijaya and Jambi's inability to cope with changing scenario. Instead of the Jambi controlling the trade through tributary system, traders were allowed to trade directly. According to George Coedes, by the beginning of the fourteenth century, Melayu "remained the only Sumatranese state of some political importance and it had become the refuge of Indian culture in opposition to the sultanates of the north that were already Islamized or in the process of becoming so”. In the year 1347, Gajah Mada the military leader of Majapahit installed Adityawarman as the king of Melayu to prevent the revival of Srivijaya. Adityawarman later conquered Tanah Datar to take control of the gold trade and founded a kingdom in Pagar Ruyung. In the year 1377, the Majapahit defeated Palembang and ended efforts to revive Srivijaya. The last prince of Srivijayan origin, Parameswara, fled to Temasik to seek refuge before moving farther north, where he founded what would become the Malacca Sultanate. Dharmasraya is the capital and also the name of the 11th century Malay Hindu kingdom based on the Batanghari river system in modern-day West Sumatra and Jambi, on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia.The kingdom itself could be identified by the name of its capital Dharmasraya or by the name Bhumi Malayu or Suvarnnabhumi according to Padang Roco inscription. The reference to the name Malayu signify that the kingdom is located on previously older Malayu kingdom area prior being absorbed into Srivijayan mandala c. late 7th century, thus suggesting that Dharmasraya was the successor of Malayu. Dharmasraya became an independent kingdom after the downfall of Srivijaya in 1025. After the invasion by Rajendra Chola I the king of the Chola Empire from Koromandel, authority of Sailendra dynasty over the islands of Sumatera and the Malay Peninsula weakened. Some time later came a new dynasty that took over the role of Sailendra Dynasty, called by the name of Mauli dynasty.[2] The Dharmasraya can be considered as the successor of Srivijaya. The oldest inscription bearing the name of Maharaja Mauli is the Grahi inscription dated 1183 discovered in Chaiya (Grahi) Malay Peninsula, Southern Thailand. The inscription bears the order of Maharaja Srimat Trailokyaraja Maulibhusana Warmadewa to the bhupati (regent) of Grahi named Mahasenapati Galanai to make a statue of Buddha weight 1 bhara 2 tula with the value of 10 gold tamlin. The artist name that responsible to create the statue is Mraten Sri Nano. The second inscription from Mauli dynasty appear approximately a hundred years later in 1286. The inscription in which the name Dharmasraya and the name of king is Srimat Tribhuwanaraja Mauli Warmadewa appears dates from the 13th century,[3]:201 namely the Padang Roco inscription discovered around the headwaters of Batanghari river (now Dharmasraya Regency in West Sumatera), dated 1286. Muaro Jambi Regency is a regency of Jambi Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. From the 4th until the 13th century, it was the seat of the Hindu-Buddhist Melayu Kingdom. It has an area of 5,264 km² and had a population of 342,952 at the 2010 Census and 398,196 at the 2015 Census; the latest official estimate (as at mid 2019) was 436,453 At the time of the 2010 Census, the regency was divided into eight districts (kecamatan): Jambi Luar Kota (Jambi city's suburbs), Kumpeh, Kumpeh Ulu, Maro Sebo, Mestong, Sekernan, Sungai Bahar (Bahar River) and Sungai Gelam (Gelam River). Subsequently another three districts have been added by splitting away from existing districts - Bahar Selatan (South Bahar), Bahar Utara (North Bahar) and Taman Rajo. Archeology; Located within this regency, the Muaro Jambi Temple Compounds is one of the largest archaeological complex in Sumatra. The archaeological site is located some 22 km downstream from the modern capital, on the opposite bank, it has the ancient Hindu Candi and Menapo or brick-built temples and canals. Restoration of three main structures Candi Tinggi, Candi Gumpung and Candi Kedaton, the last with an unusual fill of small white river pebbles, has been completed. Muarajambi Temple Compound This scattering of ruined and partially restored temples is the most important Hindu-Buddhist site in Sumatra. The temples are believed to mark the location of the ancient city of Jambi, capital of the kingdom of Malayu 1000 years ago. Most of the candi (temples) date from the 9th to the 13th centuries, when Jambi’s power was at its peak. Grab a bicycle (per day 10,000Rp) at the entrance to explore the immensely peaceful forested site, marvelling at the temple stonework The forested site covers 12 sq km along the northern bank of the Batang Hari. The entrance is through an ornate archway in the village of Muara Jambi and most places of interest are within a few minutes’ walk. While you can wander to most of the temples on foot, to get to some of the more outlying western ruins it's best to get a bike. Much of the site still needs excavating and there is some debate as to whether visitors should be allowed to clamber all over the ruins and the restored temples. Eight temples have been identified so far, each at the centre of its own low-walled compound. Some are accompanied by perwara candi (smaller side temples) and three have been restored to something close to their original form. The site is dotted with numerous menapo (smaller brick mounds), thought to be the ruins of other buildings – possibly dwellings for priests and other high officials. The restored temple Candi Gumpung, straight ahead from the donation office, has a fiendish makara (demon head) guarding its steps. Excavation work here has yielded some important finds, including a peripih (stone box) containing sheets of gold inscribed with old Javanese characters, dating the temple back to the 9th century. A statue of Prajnyaparamita found here, and other stone carvings and ceramics, are among the highlights at the small site museum nearby. However, the best artefacts have been taken to Jakarta. Candi Tinggi, 200m southeast of Candi Gumpung, is the finest of the temples uncovered so far. It dates from the 9th century but is built around another, older temple. A path leads east from Candi Tinggi to Candi Astano, 1.5km away, passing the attractive Candi Kembar Batu, surrounded by palm trees, and lots of menapo along the way. The temples on the western side of the site are yet to be restored. They remain pretty much as they were found – minus the jungle, which was cleared in the 1980s. The western sites are signposted from Candi Gumpung. First stop, after 900m, is Candi Gedong I, followed 150m further on by Candi Gedong II. They are independent temples despite what their names may suggest. The path continues west for another 1.5km to Candi Kedaton, the largest of the temples, which, apart from a staircase guarded by deity statuettes, comprises just the base foundation; it's a peaceful and evocative site. A further 900m northwest is Candi Koto Mahligai. For centuries the site lay abandoned and overgrown in the jungle on the banks of the Batang Hari. It was ‘rediscovered’ in 1920 by a British army expedition sent to explore the region. The dwellings of the ordinary Malayu people have been replaced by contemporary stilt houses of the Muara Jambi village residents. According to Chinese records, Malayu people once lived along the river in stilted houses or in raft huts moored to the bank. The Muarajambi Temple Compound Site is located in the Muarajambi Village, in the District of Maro Sebo, Muaro Jambi Regency, Jambi Province. From Jambi city, the site is less than 40 kilo-meters and can be reached by land transportation or through the river in one hour. The site is spread along 7.5 kilo-meters of the riverbanks of Batanghari River in which old canals or man-made rivers are positioned to connect the Batanghari River with the site. Through these ancient canals that circulate the site, people could reach the temple compounds. In the Muarajambi Temple Compound Site that covers an area of 2062 hectares, there were at least 82 ruins of ancient buildings made of brick construction. Seven of these ancient temples have been given intensive conservation treatment; meanwhile the remaining structures are covered with primary and secondary vegetation, and surrounded by the local community plantation of Sumatran endemic plants (planted by the local people known as Menapo). The seven temple compounds are the Gumpung, Tinggi I, Tinggi II, Kembar Batu, Astano, Gedong I and Gedong II, and the Kedaton Temple. In addition to that conservation treatment, several of the ancient canals and the old ponds that were previously covered with water vegetation have been cleared and are now restored to normal, such as the ancient canals in Jambi River and the Telago Rajo Pond. Based on archaeology research and historical sources, the Muarajambi Temple Compound Site was once the centre for worship and education of the Buddhist religion in the period of the Ancient Malay Kingdom in the 7th - 14th century AD. Justification of Outstanding Universal Value The Muarajambi Temple Compound Site has outstanding universal value as seen from the cultural heritage findings and the relatively intact and preserved environment that has been maintained by the local community. Having such values, the Muarajambi Temple Compound Site has the potential to be nominated as a Word Heritage under the criteria in the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the Word Heritage Convention, as follows: (ii) To exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design The Muarajambi Temple Compound Site illustrates the exchange of culture and human values over a span of time within the period of the Hinduism - Buddhism culture in Indonesia and specifically in Jambi. The values of humanities are reflected in the building of the temples based on the philosophy of Hinduism-Buddhism. In terms of technology and architecture, the structures illustrate the skills and the knowledge in various fields starting from selecting the location, method of constructing the temple and land use adjusted to the geographical condition and environment of the temple compound. The Muarajambi region -that is located in the natural leavee of Batanghari River and is a floodprone area- has been realigned to become a viable area for worship rituals and for settlement at that time. The findings of man-made canals -that pass around the temple complex and the water reservoirs- are evidence that the people of the past have the local wisdom to conserve water, use the canals for transportation, obtain source of protein from the various fish cultivated in these canals connected to the Batanghari River. From the architectural point of view, it is apparent that the local community of that time around the Muarajambi temple compound already possessed the capacity to design and build structures from bricks following the Hinduism-Buddhism philosophy. The technology in producing brick blocks -starting from selecting the material, molding, heating, and applying construction techniques- is considered as unique knowledge and skills of the people in that age. (iii) To be a unique or at least exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared The Muarajambi Temple Compound Site is evidence of a civilization that was built in the age of the ancient Malay Kingdom around the 7th Century AD up to the 14th Century (in the Hinduism-Buddhism era in Jambi). (iv) Be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates significant stages in traditional human settlement, land use, or water management that represents cultural values or the interaction of a culture (or cultures), or the interaction of humans with nature, especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change; From the architectural stand point, the Muarajambi temple compound are typical structures built in the age of the Hinduism-Buddhism era in Sumatera around the 7th Century AD up to the 14th Century AD. There were at least 82 ruins of ancient buildings that were discovered in this site. Seven of them have been exposed and have been given intensive conservation treatment, namely the Gumpung, Tinggi I, Tinggi II, Kembar Batu, Astano, Gedong I and Gedong II, and the Kedaton Temple. SIMPAMUTUNG I often get questioned by people from outside Jambi. “What can you actually find or see in Jambi?” “Temples!” is my short answer, which most of the time provokes people’s curiosity. Most people have heard of the temple complexes located on the island of Java. Apparently, a lot of people doesn’t know that in Sumatera, precisely in Jambi, there is one of the largest temple complexes in South East Asia. The complex, named Muara Jambi, has a total area of 12 square kilometers. Compared to Prambanan or Borobudur the Muara Jambi temple complex is much smaller and more dispersed. This makes it a bit challenging for visitors to see everything. Tinggi 1 temple The Muara Jambi temple complex is a relic of the ancient Malay kingdom and the only relics of the Buddhist Hindu culture from the 7th Century-13th Century AD. In this area there are 82 ruins, eight of them have been excavated and have been the focus of intensive conservation efforts. These eight temples are listed below: 1. Gumpung temple 2. Tinggi I temple 3. Tiggi II temple 4. Kembar Batu temple 5. Astano temple 6. Gedong I temple 7. Gedong II temple 8. Kedaton temple Kedaton and Astano temple Other archaeological relics found in this region include ancient canals that channeled water around the area between buildings and basically connecting everything together. There is a strong possibility that undiscovered temples remain. This shouldn’t surprise anyone given the number of earth mounds that you can find in the area surrounding the temple complex. The closest temples that you will immediately see once you enter the Muara Jambi complex are Gumpung temple and Tinggi temple. The distance between the temples is great. So great in fact that most people will only explore Gumpung temple and Tinggi temples. Luckily this area is very beautiful and has a lot of trees so the atmosphere is great for exploring and walking around. Muaro Jambi Complex Compared to when I first came to Muara Jambi Complex, as part of a study tour, there have been a number of improvements. Although some facilities are still inadequate and cleanliness definitely should be improved, overall the place is well kept. You can find trash cans everywhere. Cars and motorbikes are not allowed in the area except in predetermined areas. As far as the eye can see we are treated to such a beautiful and view. There are colorful bikes, umbrellas and trolleys you can rent. The food vendors roll out their mats on the grass and greet the visitors. Feel free to stop and buy food or drink or just smile and pass by if you are not interested. It was suggested that Muaro Jambi Temple compound might be the initial location of Srivijaya kingdom. This is mainly because, Muaro Jambi has far richer temple concentration—in contrast to the scarcity of archaeological sites in South Sumatra. The start of the rise of the kingdom of Melayu can be dated to 1025 when India's Chola kingdom attacked and destroyed the capital of the Sumatran maritime empire of Srivijaya. This allowed a number of smaller Sumatran polities to expand their political and economic influence. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries it seems that from its river estuarine basis along the Batang Hari, Melayu became the dominant economic power in Sumatra. The substantial archaeological remains at Muaro Jambi suggest that this may have been the site of the Melayu capital. The city's age of glory came to an end in 1278 when Java's Singhasari kingdom attacked the city, even succeeding in capturing members of the royal family. The site was rediscovered by Dutch explorers in the nineteenth century. It is now protected as a national monument. Design and decoration Candi Tinggi, one of the temple within Muaro Jambi temple compound. The temple complex of Candi Muaro Jambi is spread out over a large area along the banks of the Batang Hari River. Eight temple complexes have been excavated but many more mounds and sites remain to be explored within the conservation area, much of which is still covered by thick jungle. The three most significant intact temples are known as Candi Tinggi, Candi Kedaton and Candi Gumpung. The temples are built from red brick and unlike the temples of Java, feature very little ornamentation, carving or statuary. A few pieces of sculpture are housed in a small, on-site museum. The wooden dwellings that are believed to have housed the city's population have all disappeared without a trace. Only 7 temples have been restored, 3 have mentioned above and the others are Candi Tinggi I, Candi Kembarbatu, Candi Gedong I and Candi Gedong II.[2] Muara Jambi Temple   Muara Jambi Temple is considered one of the richest archaeological sites on the island of Sumatra. The eight temple-like structures appear to be Buddhist, and were probably built around the 14th century. Archaeologists conclude that the site was the center of Old Jambi, the capital of ancient Malay kingdom which reigned supreme about ten centuries ago. The capital was sieged and destroyed in 1377 by armies from Burma. For centuries, the site had been lost and forgotten deep in the jungle, only to be rediscovered in 1920 by a British military expedition team.  Muara Jambi temple complex covers an area of 12 km2, along the side of Batanghari river. There are eight main temples in the complex. All of them are located in the center area, fortified by walls. Three of them are already renovated. In 1982, a 32-centimeters tall female bronze statue was found at Koto Kandis, in the Muara Sabak sub district. It is believed to be the goddest Laksmi, holding a lotus bud in her left. In addition to the archaeological sites, many visitors find the riverside an ideal recreation and picnic spot. Site Map Discovered by a British soldier named SC Crooke in 1820, when it was assigned to map the river Batang Hari in Jambi Province Temple temple complex is situated on the banks of the river Batang approximately 22 kilometers east of Jambi city. Being in rural areas Muaro Jambi, District Muaro Sebo, Muara Jambi Regency, Jambi Province. The temple complex is the largest temple complex in Southeast Asia. Twenty times larger than the complex of Borobudur temple in Central Java and two times larger than the temple complex of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. The complex has a spacious 12 square kilometers (about 2062). Muaro temple complex in Jambi, reportedly it is an area of ​​religious worship in the Buddhist kingdom of Srivijaya era. The complex is not far from the Batang Hari river basin. To get there, can travel overland or by river using fast boats. Inside the temple complex in Jambi Muaro have + / - 80 temples, nine large temple. The nine major temples are: Kotomahligai Temple, Temple Kedaton, temples and Gedong Gedong one two, Gumpung Temple, Temple High, Telago Rajo, Twins Stone Temple and Temple Astano. Gedong One unique counted Muaro temple complex in Jambi. Not known exactly when this temple was built. Spacious yard around 500an square meters, consists of the main building and the gate. The shape is very different from the temple are generally in Java. The temple was made of natural stone, but of brick. In each of red brick, there is a sculptured reliefs. Some of these bricks are stored in museums. Around the temple complex there are many historical objects are priceless. Now the goods are stored in a museum city of Jambi. Such as: elephant lion statue, statues also Dwarapala. found in Gedong. Accidentally discovered in 2002 when restoration gate. Arca was called to function as gatekeepers, One statue again is ARCA Prajnaparamita, the goddess of fertility symbol. Unfortunately, some parts of this statue has not been discovered such as hand and head. Then there Prajnaparamitha statue, discovered in the Temple Gumpung. Unfortunately, until now his head has not been found. Statues of women, this is a sacred symbol of Buddhism. In this museum also saved cauldron of bronze weighing 160 pounds, height 60 inches, with a pot hole diameter of about one meter. Pot is suspected as one tool flow Buddhist Tantric rituals. One of the Temple Muaro Jambi In 1954, the archaeologist Indonesia under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Culture, headed by R. Soekomo conclude there is a strong link between this site and the kingdom of Srivijaya. And many who believe that the temple complex Muaro Edinburgh is the capital of the ancient Malay kingdom of Srivijaya or past. Beginning in 2010, there are 11 temples have been restored and is still 82 temples are still buried in the ground called Menapo by people around the temple. Also found pottery, mostly from china Ages 9 to the 14th century. In much smaller amounts were also found pottery from Southeast Asia such as Thailand, Khmer (Cambodian), and Myanmar (Burma) which is made of porcelain or rock material .. Southeast Asian ceramics younger age around the 13th century and the addition of ceramic also found a small amount of glass beads and stones. Also found gold coins, gold rings and gold jewelry pieces. Including the artifacts found at the Site Muaro Jambi. Gold metallic objects are shaped thin plates. And only a few bronze objects found our site Muaro Jambi. The buildings are ancient in Jambi Muaro very close together and many more other ancient objects, to convince the experts of ancient Muaro Sites linking Edinburgh with the ancient Malay kingdom (Sriwijaya). It is reasonable belief that no other site that has a density of ancient temple complex in addition to Muaro Jambi. Building Specifications Site Muaro Jambi: According to the data, the amount of land newly freed fraction, namely the Temple complex Astano 100 x 200 meters, Temple Height 125 x 200 m, and the Temple Gumpung 150 x 150 m, as well as the Twin Temple Stone 80 x 80 m. Land perch Gedong I and II of 100 x 300 m have also been released, including the Temple Kedaton 220 x 245 m, Temple Kotomahligai 100 x 100 m, Manapo High Temple 40 x 40 m, Manapo beehive 100 x 100 m, and Talago Rajo 100 x 150 m. With minimal funding of the physical changes that look not so obvious. However, every year there are activities, such as revitalization or normalization of the canal around the site Muaro Jambi. Activities that have been initiated, among others, making that area of ​​the site Muaro Talut Jambi no landslides and to open up the canals and t the site conditions Jambi Muaro slow its development, is recognized Soeroso, in addition to taking care BP3 four provinces, so that budgeted funds are divided to four provinces, as well as issues of quality human resources from grimy impressed. Do not put people who are experts and love the field work. Jambi Muaro site located at an altitude of 14 meters above sea level and situated in a plain area which is an area of ​​natural levee of the Batang Hari River (length about 800 km, a width of about 500 meters, with a depth of more than 5 meters). Around the building there is low soil trench around the yard of the temple.Attention to antiquiti contained in Muaro Jambi started in 1820 by Captain SC Crooke, an honorary officer of the British. Later by Adam in 1920. Looking at the remains in Muaro Jambi, he concludes, Muaro Edinburgh is a capital city with buildings made of brick / stone. "Allegations of Adam was approved by Schnitger who visited in 1936," he said. After a long investigation, in 1954 a team from the Department of Antiquities reviewing the site location and tracking back what has been reported by Schnitger. The new restoration was started in 1975 until now. According Soeroso, Jambi Muaro site restoration looks slow progress compared with other sites for enshrinement in Jambi Muaro site consists of brick, not stone like in Java. Reconstruct the temples of brick buildings is more difficult than the temples of stone because it is easily fragile. The site enshrinement Muaro Jambi is alleged to have existed since the mid-seventh century AD. This site is a religious site built community groups in the Mahayana Buddhists around the eighth century AD and continued until the XIV century. Continuity of religious buildings in this place in line with the continuity of the kingdom that ever existed in the Batang Hari River basin. When Batanghari under the control of the Kingdom of Malay, Jambi Muaro used as a Buddhist ceremony Malay community. When Batanghari under the control of the kingdom of Srivijaya, a Muaro Jambi Sriwijaya used by the community. There are hints that several buildings in Edinburgh Muaro undergone several stages of development. Bambang pointed out, building temples and temple Gumpung Astano. The temple buildings Gumpung allegedly has undergone at least two stages of development. The first building was probably built in about the ninth century AD. Either in what year later the building was enlarged as it appears on the wall when done unloading. Recent data indicate, when the center-Dharmasraya Malay kingdom was in the area Rambahan (XIII century AD), Jambi Muaro still serves as a place of Buddhist religious ceremonies. Prajnaparamita statue found in the ruins east of Temple Gumpung is the proof. World heritage Soeroso explains, Jambi Muaro site currently has prioritized a world heritage. The proposal was listed in UNESCO, 3-4 years ago.Jambi Muaro site has also been used for religious ceremonies, Buddhist, aligned with the temple Burobudur. If a visit to the site Muaro Jambi, you will find a number of uniqueness of the existing temples. Some of the brick buildings clustered in a place surrounded by a wall fence, On the site Muaro Jambi also found the rest of the settlement, allegedly originating from VII-XIII centuries AD. From the site there are indicators pertanggalan sites, ie from short pertulisan found in the ruins of the Temple Gumpung, pertulisan on Bronze Gong in Chinese characters, fragments of statues of Buddha statues in the temple Gumpung Prajnaparamita, and shards of pottery. The building is located in the temple complex's Muaro Jambi high temple Sources: 1. Compass, Temple Muaro Jambi, Complementary Cultural Heritage Tourism Village, Nusantara, Saturday, January 16, 2010, Page 24 2. Compass, tomb Immortality "Menopo" Muaro Jambi, Homeland, Saturday, January 16, 2010, p. 1, 11 3. Muara Jambi Preservation Society, Civilization Intersect Imprint Bank Batang Hari, a photographic exhibition, artifacts, documentary film and discussion sites Muara Jambi, Bentara Budaya, Jakarta 9-11 November 2006 Nine terracotta bricks and brick fragments, containing incised drawings of different types of buildings, were discovered at the large Muara Jambi temple complex in eastern Sumatra. Likely dating from between the second half of the ninth and the first half of the fourteenth centuries, these bricks contain the oldest graphic representations of Sumatran architecture. While two of these designs have been previously published, the brick images have not been thoroughly analyzed in order to determine what new light they shed on the domestic architecture and building traditions of early lowland Sumatran settlements. To address this lacuna, we analyze the bricks and their archaeological context in order to interpret when the images were made, who created the images, the purpose behind them, the types of architecture depicted on the bricks, and the reasons behind the diversity of building types represented. Having argued that the majority of bricks shows domestic architecture reflecting a variety of cultural influences, we conclude by suggesting that the presence of such images supports the scholarly view that Muara Jambi was a multiethnic trading community. Early Architectural Images from Muara Jambi on Sumatra, Indonesia Mai Lin Tjoa-Bonatz , David Neidel,Agus Widiatmokoet al, Asian Perspectives 48(1):32-55,2009 Muaro Jambi Temple Complex is one of the mainstays of Jambi Province's tourism which began to be introduced both at domestic and international market. The existence of forest tree species found in the Muaro Jambi temple complex is very important to be maintained. Botany exploration activities in the Muaro Jambi temple complex are very important to carry out in order to invent and identify the existing tree species. The data obtained will be useful in the conservation and preservation of tropical forest plants activities comprehensively. This research was carried out at Kotomahligai Temple in the water catchment area / along the river of Muaro Jambi Temple Complex, Muara Jambi Village, Muaro Sebo District, Muaro Jambi Regency also  Silviklutur Laboratory and Herbarium of the Faculty of Forestry, Jambi University. The study was conducted for six months from April to October 2018. The purpose of this study was to determine the types of trees found in the Mahligai Temple area and water catchment area of ​​the Muaro Jambi Temple Complex. This study uses a purposive sampling method. The research activities consist of exploration, herbarium specimens, literature studies, species identification. The results showed there were 17 families, including: Anacardiaceae, Burseraceae, Cucurbitaceae, Dilleniaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Fabaceae, Hyperaceae, Lythraceae, Malvaceae, Meliaceae, Moraceae, Oxalidaceae, Phyllanthaceae, Rubiaceae, Salicaceae, Sapindaceae, Verbenaceae. The most abundant species were Peronema canescens Jack (Sungkai) (86 individual trees) and Lansium parasiticum (Duku) (38 indivisual trees).   Exploration of Tree Species in Muaro Jambi Temple Complex EKSPLORASI JENIS POHON DI KOMPLEKS CANDI MUARO JAMBI https://doi.org/10.29244/medkon.24.3.245-251 Muara Jambi: Where Atisha Studied in Indonesia Elisabeth Inandiak In the year 671 CE, the Chinese pilgrim Yijing (I-Tsing) leaves the port of Canton on a Persian vessel to visit India and study Buddhism. Remembering Xuanzang (Hsüan-Tsang), the famous monk and translator who died some years before, gives him the courage to venture into this dangerous journey. But unlike his compatriot, Yijing does not travel on the famous continental Silk Road. The demand for Chinese silk is falling, due to Byzantium having successfully developed sericulture since the year 551. In addition, the continental Silk Road has become increasingly dangerous: from the early 7th century, Arab military campaigns block the overland road through Persia. Trade between China and Sindh (currently a province of Pakistan) is interrupted because of the incessant wars in Central Asia between the Arab Umayyad dynasty, the Chinese Tang Dynasty, the Tibetans and the Eastern Turks. Goods and Chinese pilgrims therefore have now to travel by sea through the Strait of Malacca, already one of the main lines of international trade.F Yijing will emerge as the first chronicler of this new sea route, which will also be that of Buddhism. In his travel account translated in English in 1896 by Junjiro Takakusu's under the title: A Record of the Buddhist Religion as Practiced in India and Malay Archipelago, A.D. 671–695, he reports that after twenty days at sea, Yijing stopped in a unknown fortified city located on an island that he calls “Fo-Che”: In the fortified city of Fo-Che, (lived) Buddhist monks numbering more than 1,000, whose minds are bent on learning and good practice. After nine years at Nalanda, a city that hosted the largest Mahayana Buddhist monastic university of its time, in the present state of Bihar in India, Yijing returns twice to this mysterious island kingdom of Fo-Che, which he also calls “San-fo-ts'i” or “Mo-lo-yeu.” Yijing writes, They (the monks in Fo-Che) investigate and study all the subjects that exist just as in Middle Kingdom (Madhya-desa, India). This indicates that subjects such as logic, grammar and philology, medicine, arts, as well as metaphysics and philosophy were taught in Fo-Che. According to his records, he copies there hundreds of Sanskrit manuscripts, before finally returning to China in 694. Where was this mysterious kingdom of Fo-Che? The puzzle will remain unsolved for more than twelve centuries. In 1918, the French epigraphist George Coedès finally identified Fo-Che or San-fo-ts’i as the kingdom of Srivijaya centered in Palembang, Sumatra. In the1980s, archeological excavations confirmed that the river port of Palembang was indeed the political and military capital of this powerful kingdom facing the Malacca strait, on the confluence of maritime trade between India, China and the Middle East. Despite the discovery of a colossal statue of Buddha on a hill in Palembang, there was however no evidence probative of a great center of Buddhist learning, which Yijing compared to Nalanda. In the 18th century, Dutch officials of the East India Company (VOC) had noted north of Palembang, in the heart of a lush forest and the hot haze of the equator, about thirty kilometers from the mouth of Batanghari, the longest river in Sumatra, a huge archaeological site covering both banks: Muara Jambi (often referred to by the present name of the regency in which it is located, Muaro Jambi). Excavations started from 1970 by the Indonesian government have established that this extraordinary site, which spreads over more than 2,000 hectares, encloses 84 red-brick “temple complexes” - locally called “menapo”- connected by an ingenious system of canals. Eight of these “temple complexes” have been excavated, with several statues and many pieces of Chinese pottery and ceramics from the 9th to the 12th centuries. But since very few epigraphs attesting to any written transmission of knowledge have been found so far, archaeologists still do not dare to speak openly about a “university.” Yet they admit that these complexes were not temples, but study centers with two to six podiums each, once sheltered from the sun and rain by a tiled roof supported by wooden pillars. The student monks would be sitting cross-legged around the podium on the brick pavement. As a matter of fact, the entire design and layout of the Muara Jambi complex is very similar to those of Nalanda, where monks lived in a cluster of buildings that were fortified or walled in accordance with the vinaya, monastic rules. Hence, the “fortified city” mentioned by Yijing was most probably referring to the complex of Muara Jambi. Tinggi Temple Three and a half centuries later, another travel record corroborates that of Yijing: An Account on Meeting with Master Serlingpa Chokyi Dakpa. It is written in Tibetan in the first person by Atisha, a prominent Indian Buddhist master. Atisha was born in the Land of Zahor (nowadays near Dhaka, Bangladesh) in 980 as the son of King Kalyana, and was named Prince Chandragarbha. In his teenage years, Atisha left his kingdom and wandered through forests and mountains seeking knowledge from masters living in the wild or in the monastic universities of Nalanda and Odantapuri. At the age of 29, he received the Buddhist monk ordination and was given the name Dipamkara Jnana, “He Whose Deep Awareness Acts as a Lamp.” Song 132 of Atisha’s Tibetan biography (rNam-thar rgyas-pa, written around 1355) says, Atisha’s most important master was Serlingpa, also known as Dharmakirti, whose fame was widespread. Atisha had already heard about Serlinga’s teachings on compassion and Bodhicitta and he was sure that Serlingpa had been his most precious teacher for infinite lives. With 125 students and a group of merchants seeking gold, Atisha put to sea. So says Atisha’s account: Homage to Maitreya and Avalokiteshvara! I, bhikshu Dipamkarashrijana, travelled by ship for thirteen months and went to where Lama Serlingpa was. After five months had passed, the Son of God Indra sent great storms to stop me from continuing my mission of Bodhicitta. Also, he appeared in the form of a giant makara to stop me and sent lightning. At that time, I did an intensive meditation on Love and Compassion. As a result, the storm calmed down and six huge lightnings were seen stuck up in the sky unable to fall down. However, the makara managed to stop our way. At the same time, the violent wind caused our ship to become very unsteady, the way it happens to flags in violent wind; shaking, wavering, bobbing up in the air and sinking down in the ocean. The four masts in the four corners were laid down and the four big stones were downed to anchor the ship. But the atmosphere turned even more scaring; terrible sounds blared from all the four corners followed by lightning… After fourteen months on sea, Atisha crossed the Strait of Malacca. He landed on the famous "golden island," Suvarnadvipa as it is called in Sanskrit. George Coedès identified this isle as being that of Sumatra. Many historians and archaeologists subsequently confirm the thesis of the French epigraphist. The western regions of Sumatra were indeed known at the time to be very rich in gold. Today, the mouth of the Bantaghari River, Muara Sabak, is actually just a pier. The ocean is still far away, at least two hours by boat, but the land stops here, where the river divides into two branches. The two arms encircle an island that looks to the Malacca Straits, guarding the river’s entrance. This fluvial island hosts a national park with lots of crocodiles and mangroves. Just as in Atisha’s account: As soon as we crossed the ocean, I (Atisha) went straightaway to the golden stupa the Tibetan emperor had built once upon a time. It was there that the six disciples of Lama Serlingpa were engaged in samadhi. This stupa was located to the west of the forest of Suvarnadvipa, to the south of the joyful lotuses, to the north of the dangerous mires, and to the east of the Crocodile Kekeru. I stayed there for fourteen days, making inquiries about the life of Lama Serlingpa. A number of descriptions in the account of his journey suggests that it is in Muara Jambi that Atisha met Serlingpa and study with his dearest master, such as the large number of monks who lived there and the excellence of Buddhist texts that were taught there: Then I (Atisha) saw the bhikshus coming from a far off distance in procession following their master. They were well dressed in their three robes. Each one was holding a water container and a staff. There were five hundred and thirty-five in number and looked as gracious as arahats. The master was attended by sixty-two sramaneras. In all there were a total of five hundred and seventy-two monks. As soon as I saw this, I felt as if I was seeing Buddha surrounded by arahats. Then we went to Lama’s residence, the Silver Parasol Palace, and took our seats... After we had settled there, the Lama in order to introduce to me the characteristics of ‘dependent origination’ began his teachings from the ‘Abhisamayalamkara’ in five sessions. Staying in the Silver Parasol Palace, I continued with my practices of listening, concentration and meditation. Lama Serlingpa guided me throughout this process of practice. In 1025, entrusted with the precious teachings of Serlingpa, Atisha sailed back to India, just before the Chola Kingdom from South India attacked Srivijaya. He settled at Vikramashila Monastery. In 1041, the king of West Tibet, Yeshey-wo (Ye-shes ‘od), invited him to reinstate all aspects of Buddha’s teachings – Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana – as complementary. Atisha stayed thirteen years in Tibet and died in Tibet in 1054. His most famous teaching is A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment (Byang-chub lam-gyi sgron-ma, Skt. Bodhipathapradipa), which served later in Tibet as the basis for the lam-rim graded stages genre, a textual form that, like a butter lamp lighting up in the storm of life, summarizes the main points of all the teachings of the sutras in a progressive order. Atisha had many masters, but all his biographies report that, at the mere mention of Serlingpa, his eyes filled with tears. He said that all the goodness he had, he owed to his master of the Golden Island. Gumpung Temple One still wonders why Muara Jambi has sunk into oblivion after the 13th century. Some scholars mention the attack of the Hindu kingdom of the Cholas in southern India, which wanted to take control of the lucrative and strategic Straits of Malacca. But this assault, which would put an end to the power of Srivijaya, occurred in 1025. However, one of the most beautiful statues discovered in Muara Jambi is a Prajnaparamita dated from the 13th or 14th century. Other scholars suggest that the Mo-lo-yeu Kingdom recorded by Yijing and where Muara Jambi is located was a vassal, a competitor or "a matrix" of the Cholas, and as such was saved from the Cholas attack and boomed after the fall of Srivijaya. Unlike the large Indian monasteries of Bihar that were laid to ruins by Turkish and Afghan raids, Sumatra and the entire Indonesian archipelago did not experience Muslim invasions. The sack of Muara Jambi – if it ever happened – cannot be attributed to Islam, which is the dominant religion in the region today. On the very site of Muara Jambi stands a village whose inhabitants are all Muslims. Their homes are made of wood and built on stilts along the Batanghari River. Their orchards planted with cacao and durian trees extend on the ruins of the temples. Several young villagers occasionally work on excavations under the supervision of the archaeologists. They can identify each stone, each mound of red earth, every tree in the forest where their parents have small huts to watch the fall of the durians at night. They can point out several endemic species of trees from the Indian subcontinent that grow nowhere else in Sumatra, except in the forest of Muara Jambi. For instance, the kapung tree or kembang parang (Tib. metog dzambaka) whose white film-like petals inside the bark is used in India and Tibet as flower-offereings in tantric initiations. Archaeologists have not yet been able to unravel the mystery of these 84 mysterious temple complexes surrounded by walls and canals, many of which are still piles of ruins and earth mounds in the middle of the orchards and cocoa plantations of the villagers, so they’ve adopted the local term “menapo” for them. “Napo” in the language of Muara Jambi means “deer” and “me” means “location.” During the annual floods of the Batanghari River, which submerges the village under more than a meter of water, the menapo is the high location where wild animals from the forest take refuge like on Noah's ark. The young villagers themselves are convinced that the 84 temple complexes were in fact faculties and that Muara Jambi was the first green university for Mahayana Buddhism in Indonesia. At the crossroads of India and China, its campus encompassed the rain forest which was used as an orchard, a library, a living pharmacy and a haven for meditation: "We understand that the essence of Buddhism is to put others before oneself,” say the young villagers. Dvarapala (photo by Gilles Massot) They have founded a community center and a green school, Saramuja, to excavate in their own way the ancient history of this forgotten site and transmit to the village children the local culture and the sense of respect for the environment. More recently, they’ve organized themselves into a larger community center, the Padmasana foundation to professionalize their research and share it more widely. Their symbol is the Dvarapala, the gate keeper of Hindu or Buddhist temples, which is traditionally presented in a fearsome appearance. But the statue of Dvarapala discovered in a temple of Muara Jambi, if properly armed with a small shield and a broken mace, is smiling and wearing a flower on his ear. Buddhist sexual ethics. As with any Buddhist teaching, we need to see how it fits into the basic structure of Buddhism, which is the four noble truths. Very briefly, Buddha spoke about true sufferings that we are all experiencing – this is the first noble truth. So, the true suffering of unhappiness and pain, the suffering of our ordinary happiness which never lasts and changes into unhappiness – like when we continue to eat our favorite food, the happiness that we first got from that turns into unhappiness as we get full. Then there is the all-pervasive suffering, which is the basis for experiencing these first two, which is our uncontrollably recurring rebirth, with a body and mind that is going to be the basis for this unhappiness or ordinary happiness. And, the true cause of all of that is our unawareness of cause and effect and of reality, and the disturbing emotions that are generated by that, and the karmic behavior that’s generated by those disturbing emotions – both destructive behavior as well as constructive behavior, as even our constructive behavior, when it is mixed with naivety about how we exist and how everything exists, continues to perpetuate our samsara. The third noble truth is it’s possible to achieve a true stopping of the suffering by getting rid of the true causes, so that they never recur again. And the fourth is the true pathway of mind – in other words, the true way of thinking, but also the true way of acting and speaking generated by that, which will enable us to achieve that true stopping. That’s the basic structure of the Buddhist teachings. So, when we speak about sexual ethics, we have to understand the place of sexual behavior in terms of true causes for suffering. And if we want to achieve a true stopping of suffering – specifically our continuing samsaric rebirth as the basis that will also include the suffering of unhappiness as well as the suffering of our ordinary happiness – then we are going to need to overcome what are the difficult aspects of our sexual behavior. Now, from a Buddhist point of view, when we speak about ethics and ethical self-discipline, it’s not a matter of having a set of laws and obeying them; that’s our Western concept either coming from the biblical religions or from civil law. The whole basis of ethics in Buddhism is structured according to discriminating awareness. In other words, the foundation for our ethical behavior is not obedience to laws, but rather it’s discriminating between what is helpful and what’s harmful. So, no one is saying that we have to avoid certain type of behavior that will cause suffering and problems; it’s our choice. If you want to avoid suffering, get rid of it, then Buddha indicated these are the type of behaviors that we need to get rid of. Then it’s your choice. So, it’s not a matter of being a good or bad person or obeying rules, and there’s no concept of guilt; guilt is if you break a law. So, the whole discussion of sexual ethics, then, is centered around this whole aspect of discriminating awareness. And, if we are not able to avoid a certain type of problematic sexual behavior, then there are many, many factors which will affect the amount of suffering that behavior will produce for us. And so, what we try to do is to minimize the heaviness of that inappropriate sexual act. That involves discriminating between what will make the action have heavier consequences and what will make it have lighter consequences, and trying to make the consequences as light as possible. Now, we need to understand certain categories that are used to classify different types of behavior. There are uncommendable actions (kha-na ma-tho-ba). “Uncommendable” means you wouldn’t recommend it to anybody. They are not praiseworthy and they are going to produce some problems. Some are naturally uncommendable (rang-bzhin kha-na ma-tho-ba), so they would be uncommendable for anybody; and some are prohibited uncommendable (bcas-pa’i kha-na ma-tho-ba), they’re called, which Buddha recommended that for certain people, in certain situations, they avoid this. And these are basically ethically neutral actions, for example a monk or a nun eating after noon. Eating after noon is an ethically neutral action, but if you are a monk or a nun and you want to meditate with a clear mind at night and in the morning, then it is best to avoid eating after noon. Now, in contrast to these prohibited uncommendable actions which are ethically neutral, the naturally uncommendable ones are destructive. “Destructive” means that they will result in suffering – unless of course you purify it. Now, all sexual behavior is naturally uncommendable. That’s not something that we as Westerns like to hear. But why is all sexual behavior destructive is the important question. All sexual behavior is destructive because – according to the text and I’m sure that we can confirm this from our experience – it causes disturbing emotions to increase. And if we want to gain liberation from samsara, we have to overcome disturbing emotions. So if we want to gain liberation, we are eventually going to have to give up all types of behavior that will cause the disturbing emotions to increase. And so, if we look at the teachings of the Kalachakra Tantra, it explains that sexual behavior and the way to orgasm increases your desire and attachment. You want to have that orgasm. And when you have the orgasm and it’s finished, then you have anger because it’s gone, you don’t want it to be gone. And then after that, you sink into a state of naivety because you get completely dull. So, this is what is says in the text and probably if we examine ourselves honestly, that’s what happens. We know that according to the teachings not everyone has to be a monk or a nun in order to achieve liberation and enlightenment. We can also be a householder. So what does a householder mean? A householder means someone with a wife or a husband and children and a house. It doesn’t mean somebody that is sexually active. So, at some point, if we really want to achieve liberation, we’re going to have to stop all sexual behavior. Those are the facts. Now, most of us are certainly not ready to be at that stage where we give up all sexual behavior. But let’s not fool ourselves: Buddhism is not filled with romantic ideas of how wonderful sex is and giving happiness to somebody else. That is not what Buddhism says, sorry. Buddhism would classify that as incorrect consideration: considering suffering as happiness. Because with sexual behavior toward somebody else, we are trying to make that person happy, but that is the second type of suffering, the ordinary happiness that will go away, it won’t last, and will just cause their disturbing emotions to increase. The point is I think it’s very important not to be naive of what sex is from the Buddhist point of view. If we are going to engage in sexual behavior – whatever type of behavior that might be – at least understand what on the deepest level is involved with it. And don’t idealize it; enjoy it for what it is, but don’t make a big deal out of it. Now, within that category of all sexual behavior, what’s naturally uncommendable, we have two divisions: what is called inappropriate sexual behavior (log-g.yem), and what is not inappropriate (log-g.yem ma-yin-pa), which I guess we would call “appropriate sexual behavior.” So that means that the suffering generated by inappropriate sexual behavior is greater than the suffering generated by appropriate sexual behavior. Now mind you, nobody is denying that sexual behavior brings us ordinary happiness. Of course it does, but that’s a type of suffering. So, appropriate sexual behavior would be with your marriage partner in just standard penis-vagina sex. Anything else can only really be for a reason of attachment and desire. This first type of sex at least could be for making a child, so from that point of view, it is less heavy. So, what is inappropriate sexual behavior? When we have the list of the ten destructive actions, this is the sexual behavior that is listed in that list. Now, there’s a long history of the development of what actually constitutes inappropriate sexual behavior, and obviously there can be many problems in understanding how this has evolved over history, and why was it more and more elaborated? Was that just added by puritanical monks later on, in India – I mean all of it evolved in India – or were the later elaborations implicit in the earliest enumerations and the later commentators just drew out the meaning? The Tibetan masters will say it was all implicit there from the beginning. Nevertheless, it is quite interesting to see what has been specified and when and by whom, because it also gives us a little bit of clue of what is heavier and what is less heavy. If something has been emphasized from the very, very beginning, then we can be sure that this is the heaviest of the different types of inappropriate sexual behavior. Even this word “inappropriate” (log-pa) here – this is an extremely difficult word to translate. It’s the same word that we find in “distorted views”; it’s the word that in other contexts is translated as “distorted.” But we certainly can’t translate it as “distorted,” because in our languages that means “perverted,” and we’re certainly not talking about that. Sometimes in other contexts this word really just means “opposite,” and I think “opposite” is closest to the meaning here. It is opposite, in other words whatever is not the appropriate behavior. Or “contrary sexual behavior” – what’s contrary to the first one – is awkward. And, sometimes I’ve translated it as “unwise sexual behavior” and sometimes as “inappropriate.” None of them are good translations, but at the moment I am using “inappropriate,” although that may be an inappropriate choice of words. The meaning is “everything that is not appropriate.” Now, the vinaya texts deal with monastic discipline for monks and nuns, and in that, one of the vows for both monks and nuns is that a monk or a nun is not supposed to act as an in-between to arrange either a marriage or sexual liaison for certain people. For monks, it’s usually a long list of different types of women, and in some of the vinayas, it also lists a similar type of men. The type of women that are listed here are those who are married or they are under the guardianship of somebody, and there’s a long list: the father or the mother, or the sister or the brother, etc. “Under the guardianship” is explained as the girl is not allowed to make her own decisions – that everything is dictated by the guardian. Remember, we’re talking about ancient India, so no concept whatsoever of women’s lib or women’s rights here. That same list, then, is going to appear in the Theravada sutras as the type of person that would be an inappropriate partner to have sex with; it’s the same list. So we can see from very early on, from the very beginning, there is a very close relation between the sexual ethics for monks and nuns and the sexual ethics for lay people. In the suttas themselves – the Theravada suttas, that’s in Pali – it explains that these are inappropriate partners, basically because having sex with any of them leads you to commit many other destructive actions. It can lead you to lying about it, and if the guardian or husband finds out, then you might even kill that person or you might have to steal in order to give them a bribe; or it could lead to having arguments within your own family. And like this, it can be too many different types of destructive actions. This is the whole list of them that is given in the Pali suttas. If we look in the later Pali literature, in the commentaries, it explains that if you have sex with a woman, whose guardian does not give permission, then only the man has a karmic transgression. The woman does not have a karmic transgression unless before or during the act she develops desire and attachment. This is parallel to one of the regulations having to do with monks and nuns. If a nun is raped, unless she develops desire and attachment during the rape, she does not lose her vows. So it is similar: if the woman is raped and does not develop any desire or attachment, she does not have any karmic transgression. What’s also added here, which I’ve never found in any other Buddhist text from any of the Buddhist traditions is, if the couple receives permission – if the woman receives permission from the guardian or the husband – then there is no karmic transgression for either the man or the woman. So if the parents say, “Well, it’s OK, my daughter is sexually active,” then that’s OK. But if the parents would be really very much against it, then that’s a karmic transgression. And you can see how that could be so, because you might have to lie about it. It could cause arguments and big problems if the parents find out. Remember, the whole issue here is how much suffering and problems does your sexual behavior produce? There’s nothing to do with being good or bad. But there’s no mention here as to whether the woman in this case wants to have sex or not. So, from our point of view, we would look at this and say, “Hey, what about these parents in Southeast Asia who are so poor and they give permission and sell their daughter into prostitution. Is that OK because the girl has permission from her parents?” It’s not specified in the texts whether it is dependent on whether the woman wants sex or not. So obviously this is a case, as I was explaining before, that just because it’s not mentioned, it doesn’t mean that it’s not implicit in the description. So again, one has to use one’s discriminating awareness here to analyze. Now, if we look in the vinayas of some of the other early traditions – there were eighteen Hinayana traditions, each of them has their own vinaya – we find a few more categories of inappropriate partners listed. You see, this is also a big issue here, the whole discussion of sexual ethics is only described from the point of view of a man. And so, does that mean, just because it’s not explained in terms of inappropriate partners for a woman, that there’s no sexual ethics for women? Obviously not. It would be implicit in the explanation that you would have to draw a parallel list with women. In some of these vinayas, they add a nun, with a vow not to have sex, and prisoners – a prisoner is somebody in jail that the king is keeping there, and for you to take that person out and have sex would be inappropriate; that prisoner belongs to the king. Now, one of these Hinayana traditions is the Sarvastivada. The Tibetan tradition is basically coming from that tradition, in terms of its vinaya and in terms of its discussion of Hinayana tenets, Vaibashika and Sautrantika – all of this is within Sarvastivada. And the vinaya that the Tibetans follow is Mula-sarvastivada, which is a later tradition within Sarvastivada. In one of its very early texts, it also adds to the list of inappropriate partners helpless travelers. This refers to taking advantage of somebody traveling alone on the road, unprotected by anyone. It also adds students. Here we have the use of another technical term: “celibate conduct” (tshangs-spyod), “brahmacharya” in Sanskrit. Literally, it means “clean or pure conduct.” Within inappropriate sexual behavior, there are two categories: non-celibate conduct (mi-tshangs-spyod) and, literally, “not non-celibate conduct” (mi-tshangs-spyod ma-yin-pa). Let's call the latter “non-chaste” conduct.  In traditional India, according to Hindu customs, students were required to keep celibacy while studying with a spiritual teacher. Non-celibate sexual conduct refers to having sex with someone else through any of the three orifices. That means through either a vagina, a mouth, or an anus. And so according to this definition, keeping celibacy doesn’t exclude masturbation, whereas keeping chastity includes it. But, since students keeping celibacy are not to have sex through any of the three orifices, they’re inappropriate sexual partners. A further addition to the list of inappropriate partners that we find in this early Sarvastivada text is an unpaid prostitute. So prostitutes are OK, according to this, so long as you pay them. So if we analyze and see what are they talking about here, what they’re talking about in terms of the sexual ethics is really just an extension of the ethics having to do with stealing. It’s taking what has not been given, what is not yours. It has absolutely nothing to do with whether you are married or not. So, the tradition here is not talking about adultery – being unfaithful to your wife or your husband; it’s having sex with somebody that’s not given to you, or that doesn’t want to. Marriage, as something sacred, is completely culturally specific. We find it in our Biblical religions, we find it in Hinduism, but it certainly is not in Buddhism. If we look at the sutras of The Close Placement of Close Mindfulness – in Pali the version is quite well known, The Satipatthana Sutra – it speaks in terms of your marriage partner: they can’t share the karmic consequences of your actions, they can’t share death and so on, and they just produce obstacles and problems. So it’s a fairly negative view toward marriage and marriage partners. And there is much advice in terms of how to lessen your attachment and desire for your marriage partner, with the famous meditations that appear throughout the Buddhist literature in terms of imagining what’s inside their stomach, and etc. So again, this is something that we as Westerns don’t really want to hear and don’t like to hear. But it is one of the bodhisattva vows not to pick and choose in the Dharma just the pieces that we like and ignore the pieces that we don’t like. But the point being not to glorify love and marriage and things like this the way that we do in our romantic notions in the West, or not to make it into something sacred and holy. And if we do have a partner, whether we’re married or not married, to have a realistic view of what’s involved. As anybody in a relationship knows, a relationship is difficult, not easy. So Buddhism is not saying, “Don’t have any relationships.” Buddhism is saying, “Have a realistic attitude about it; don’t be naive.” Now, as we look at the evolution of the abhidharma literature in Sarvastivada, then we find more and more things specified as the history unfolds. The first thing that appears in the commentary is one’s own wife can be inappropriate in terms of an inappropriate time for sex. But doesn’t specify what that means. The next commentary that appeared adds inappropriate place for having sex. And, the next commentary adds inappropriate orifice, but it doesn’t elaborate. So the first elaboration of all this we find is the Abhidharmakosha, which is Treasury of Abhidharma by Vasubandhu – this is studied by everybody in the Tibetan traditions, everybody in the Chinese traditions; everybody studies this. “Abhidharma” just means special themes of knowledge. So here there’s an elaboration of these things that were just added in the earlier Sarvastivada commentaries. So, inappropriate partner – it gives the same type of list that we had in the vinaya and earlier sutras: all these types of women who are either married or under a guardian. Even if it’s your own wife, an inappropriate part of the body is either the anus or the mouth. We can only be motivated by desire; we are not going to have a child that way. And then, an inappropriate place, Vasubandhu elaborates. He says “visible to others” – that means out of doors, where anybody can see you; and by a stupa or by a temple, because of showing respect to others and respect to religious objects. Out of respect, you wouldn’t have sex in front of them. Inappropriate time would be when the woman is pregnant, or nursing a baby, or has one-day vows of not having sex. And in one Indian commentary to this text, it explains that having sex with a pregnant woman is inappropriate because it causes harm to the baby inside her womb, and with a woman who is nursing an infant, it decreases her ability to give milk. So, the consideration here is the harm that it produces to the third party, the baby. Now, the next text we find is the Abhidharmasamucchaya – that means A Compendium of Abhidharma, by Asanga – and this is a Mahayana text, Chittamatra specifically. All the Tibetans study it and all the Chinese study it as well, so they study these two major abhidharma texts. And here it just gives the list, it doesn’t elaborate. Similarly in the main Indian commentary – so it lists, without elaborating, inappropriate partner. It just says that, and that would undoubtedly refer to the standard list of women. Inappropriate part of the body, without elaborating; inappropriate place; inappropriate time – not elaborated. But it adds three more categories which we don’t find earlier. “Inappropriate measure” and that is not explained. It’s only in Tibet, with Gampopa, that you get an explanation of that, which is more than five times in a row. Second one is “inappropriate action applied,” and again, this is not elaborated, and it’s only later in Gampopa that he explains this as meaning beating the person – so sado-masochism – and having sex by force – so rape. The third thing that is added is – and now this is specified for men – all males or castrated males, eunuchs. So this is the first and actually only explicit mention of homosexuality in all the Indian texts that I consulted. Then we have two later Indian texts, one by the second Ashvaghosha and one by Atisha, and this is quite late in the Indian Buddhism. So Ashvaghosha says again “inappropriate place,” and he elaborates a little bit more: So where there are Dharma texts; where there’s a stupa; a Buddha statue; where bodhisattvas are living; in front of an abbot or your teacher or your parents. “Inappropriate time” – he adds, in addition to pregnancy and nursing and the one-day vow, it adds when the woman is menstruating, when she is sick, and when she has great mental sorrow. For instance, she might be in mourning that somebody died. So again, I think we can see that it would be hard to say that this was added as something just made up and new, but this would be implicit in the whole idea of trying to minimize the amount of problems and suffering that you cause. Then for inappropriate part of the body, in addition to the anus and mouth, for the first time Ashvaghosha adds more. He adds between the partner’s thighs, and with the hand, so masturbation. This is the first time that that’s mentioned here, and what’s interesting is that it seems again to be added as a parallel thing to what you find in the monks’ and nuns’ vinaya, because there what we find is that you have two different types of vows. One vow, if you break it, then it’s called a “defeat” (pham-pa) – you are no longer a monk or a nun. And this is having sex in one of the three orifices: vagina, anus and mouth. Well, for a monk or a nun, they would obviously include vagina any way, since they don’t have any sexual partners, but mouth and anus are included here as well. And there’s another vow, which is not between the thighs or with your hand, and that’s of lesser heaviness. If you break that it’s called a “remainder” (lhag-ma), which means you still have a remainder left of the vow as a basis for training in ethical discipline, but the vow is weakened This fits in with the division within inappropriate sexual behavior between non-celibate and non-chaste conduct that we mentioned in reference to spiritual students in traditional India. Monks and nuns, of course, vow to avoid all sexual behavior, both inappropriate and so-called “appropriate.” Nevertheless within inappropriate sexual behavior, it’s less heavy for them to commit a celibate sexual act such as masturbation, than a non-celibate one by having vaginal, oral, or anal sex with someone. Ashvaghosha doesn’t mention specifically homosexuality. But if anus and mouth and hand and thighs are out, that doesn’t leave very much left for homosexual sexual behavior. Now again, one shouldn’t approach all of this in terms of being a lawyer, and trying to find a loophole to get around this to find someway, “Well, they didn’t say underneath your arm, so that’s OK.” So again one needs to use one’s discriminating awareness here. And then there’s also the list of safeguarded by others. Atisha has for “inappropriate place” the same list as Ashvaghosha, but just adds “in a place where people do pujas” as an inappropriate place. For “inappropriate time,” he adds to the list “during the day” and “against someone’s wishes.” And for “inappropriate part of the body,” it’s the same as Ashvaghosha, but he omits between the thighs and adds instead “with children,” and says, “The front or rear of a young boy or girl.” Now, this is clearly because of a misspelling in the text. The difference between Ashvaghosha and Atisha clearly arose because of a textural error. One letter in the word is the different in the word “thigh” and “children.” Children are included in the list of “inappropriate partners,” but here it’s thrown in with “inappropriate part of the body” so that’s clearly from a scribes mistake. And then the Tibetans took it literally and elaborated it as well. “Inappropriate partner” – he doesn’t mention males, but that would be included if you take anus, mouth and hand. And he adds animals. So that doesn’t mean that up until now it was OK to have sex with a donkey, but now it’s not OK. So you can see there’s a whole evolution here in India, and it becomes very interesting when it goes to Tibet. The earliest one we find is Gampopa, his Jewel Ornament of Liberation. It’s a Kagyu text. “Inappropriate partner” – the standard list of different types of women. “Inappropriate part of the body” – all he says is mouth and anus; he doesn’t say hand and thighs. “Inappropriate place” – he adds “where many people gather.” Then, “inappropriate time” – “when visible.” Now, “when visible,” this is interesting because then you see that there are two possible interpretations of “when visible.” Vasubandhu interprets it as being outside, out of doors, when you’re visible. Atisha took it to mean during the day, which of course is very different if you work all night and have a partner. And Tsongkhapa points out that Atisha misunderstood these words; when it refers to outdoors, it doesn’t refer to during the day. So, again we can see, there are some discrepancies here that come in and, very often, it comes from how do you understand the words? Gampopa omits when the person is sick, or has mental sorrow, or when they don’t want to have sex; he doesn’t mention it. But he elaborates on what you have in Abhidharmasamucchaya – the measure, he says, is more than five times in a row, which is difficult to really understand. Especially if our criterion here is increasing disturbing emotions, I mean somebody who would have five times in a row or four times – four times is OK, five times is not – how much obsession with sex do they have? One theory that I heard to explain this was that the consideration was the king with a harem of many wives – that was OK, by the way, you could have many wives because they all belonged to you – so not to insult the king who could have so many wives and so obviously could have sex many times in a night. Then it was stipulated like this. But that was just a guess by somebody. And he elaborates on “action applied,” so he talks about beating or with force, and includes all men and eunuchs. So, Gampopa omits having sex with your hand, so he omits masturbation, but includes homosexuality. Longchenpa, the early Nyingma master, in his text, only lists like the Pali Theravada the inappropriate women. So, in his lam-rim style text, Rest and Restoration in the Nature of the Mind – it’s been translated in English as Kindly Bent to Ease Us – only mentioned this list of ladies. Now, Lam-rim chen-mo by Tsongkhapa, the early Gelugpa text, for “inappropriate partner” he has not only those protected by their mother, but also the mother. And so here’s the first mention, actually, of incest. And he includes in this list all men, both yourself and others, and men who are castrated. For “inappropriate part” of the body, he says just anything other than the vagina. And then he quotes Ashvaghosha and Atisha. And so, there is the first time that we have in the Tibetan text of the mention of masturbation. “Inappropriate place” – where seen by many people, this is how Tsongkhapa understands “visible.” He doesn’t understand it as necessarily out of doors and certainly not just during the day, but where you can be seen by many people, so in public. And he adds, as “inappropriate place,” on “hard or uneven ground.” So now he’s taking into consideration, is it going to harm the person who’s on the bottom? And, then in terms of inappropriate time, he includes pregnant, and he explains pregnant. What he explains it as meaning is the end of the term of pregnancy – that means the last three months of pregnancy. Now, this is a very similar phrase in Tibetan to the word for “full moon.” He’s talking about the “full-moon” of the pregnancy. And so some translators have mistranslated this, and this has then become widespread in the West, that what is inappropriate is to have sex during the full moon. Although there is a mention in the Kalachakra Tantra that there’s a certain energy that circulates in the body during the course of the lunar month, and at each day of the lunar month, that energy is centered in a different part of the body. And at the full moon it is centered at the place where it could go into the central channel, and therefore it recommends not having sex on that day, because then the energy would go out rather than being able to dissolve. But that’s clearly referring to those who are at the stage in practice where this would make a difference – which brings up another topic, but let me just finish what Tsongkhapa says before I say that. “Inappropriate time” – at the end of the pregnancy, nursing, one-day vows, sick, more than five times. So, he includes here both masturbation and homosexuality explicitly, but he leaves out when the woman doesn’t want to, and he leaves out beating and force. But he specifies that a prostitute is OK, so long you pay. If you take somebody else’s prostitute without paying, that’s taking what is not given. Let me just mention the last text before I go back to what I wanted to mention about tantra, and this is the later Nyingma text by Dza Paltrul, which is Words of My Precious Teacher. He also has inappropriate persons – others’ partners, or safeguarded, and he specifies children. For time, he understands it like Atisha had it, so during the day. And then the usual list one-day precepts, sick, mental sorrow, pregnant, menstruating, and nursing. The place is again the usual list of inappropriate places – by a stupa, etc.; and part of the body – mouth, anus and hand. So there’s is no specific mention of homosexuality, but as we discussed before, if mouth, anus and hand are out, that does leave very much left. Just to sum up, from this history and the survey, we can see that there are a lot of variants here of what would be inappropriate sexual behavior. So again, does that mean that these guys are adding things to it, was it implicit? For a while, I thought well maybe we could say that the sexual ethics was culturally specific – in other words, it was relative to the culture. So in our culture, adultery in terms of not being faithful to your wife or your husband – that would be inappropriate, even though it’s never mentioned here. And, the text was written from the point of view of men in ancient India, who got married at the age of ten or twelve, so there’s not the situation of a single person, a single adult, unless you were a monk or a nun. But when you discuss this with the Geshes, that can’t be the case, that it was culturally specific. Because if it were culturally specific, then the inappropriate sexual behavior would be in the category of prohibited uncommendable actions – that are only uncommendable for a certain group of people – but not for everybody. So, that is not a correct analysis, to say that we can use the criteria for what is culturally specific to determine what is appropriate and inappropriate. The only criterion which is valid would be that there’s a lot which is implicit in the original formulation, and all of that is being drawn out in the commentaries. And rather than leaving out some that we don’t particularly like, because we are attached to that form of sexual behavior, probably we can add more – specifically being unfaithful to your wife or husband, prostitution, being forced into prostitution, consciously transmitting some sexually transmissible disease – AIDS or whatever. There are many things that could be expanded; that you could say is also implicit in the formulation. I had long discussions about this with Geshe Wangchen – he’s the tutor of the incarnation of Ling Rinpoche, who’s the senior teacher of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, so that means he is the most learned of all the Geshes in the Gelug tradition. What he said is that what we need to see is that – he used the analogy, it’s like if you have a fruit orchard, and you want to protect it, then you would put a fence that’s around it at a great distance – not just directly around the trees – because by setting a wide area of safety around it, then you make the trees inside more protected. So, by setting a very wide scope of inappropriate sexual behavior, then we make sure that if we can’t keep all of that, avoid all of that, then at least we are going to avoid the fruit trees in the middle, which is having sex with somebody else’s partner. Because that is mentioned in absolutely every text. Why is the "fruit orchard" in his analogy having sex with someone else’s partner? As it says in the Pali suttas, because that can lead to many other destructive actions: lying, killing, stealing, etc; masturbation is not going to easily lead to that. The whole idea here is that we don’t want to be just animals – that any time we have a sexual urge we just act it out. In other words, we allow ourselves to come under the control of sexual desire, regardless of anything. And, what we would want to do, if we are aiming for liberation from the disturbing emotions, is set some limits. Whatever limits we set – that’s very, very good, that’s very helpful. At least, we are beginning to exercise discriminating awareness. Now, if we are going to take the lay vow of avoiding inappropriate sexual behavior, it’s very clear how it is described in the Tibetan text. So, whether it’s Gampopa’s version, or Tsongkhapa’s version, or Dza Paltrul’s version – I haven’t found a Sakya version, but it must be similar – they are all similar. And just because Gampopa doesn’t mention explicitly masturbation, so if we like that, we’ll take the vows from the Kagyu and not from the Gelugpa – that’s not the way to do it. The point is if you take the vow, it’s the whole thing. We can’t give our own interpretation and just choose the pieces that we like and throw away the pieces we don’t like. There’s a specific bodhisattva vow against that. Also, I need to point out that there are two levels of lay vows: lay vows with celibacy and the general lay vows without celibacy. The general lay vow of avoiding inappropriate sexual behavior doesn’t exclude appropriate sexual behavior with your own partner of the opposite sex. But such behavior is also excluded for someone who takes the celibate lay vows, whereas a celibate layman (tshangs-spyod dge-bsnyen) adds having sex through any of the three orifices of anyone, including his partner, to the list of inappropriate sexual behavior that he avoids. Actually, if you want to be more precise, a celibate layman adds as inappropriate having vaginal sex with his partner – it’s already inappropriate for all laymen to have oral or anal sex with anyone, whether someone else’s partner or their own. Now, according to abhidharma, there are three types of vows. There’s a vow which would be specifically something that Buddha set – to avoid a certain type of destructive behavior, or uncommendable behavior. And there’s an anti-vow, in which you vow to always do a destructive action, like when you join the army, “I’m always going to kill.” And then, something which is in between, and this would be vowing to avoid some of these types of inappropriate sexual behavior, but not the whole package. This is how Geshe Wangchen explained it. You don’t have to take the whole vow. Don’t take the vow, but you could avoid, let’s say, having sex with someone else’s partner, but “I’m attached to masturbation, or oral sex,” or whatever it is that you like. So, you take one of these “in between category vows.” That is not as strong positive force as if you took the whole vow, but it’s much more positive force, than if you didn’t take any vow at all, and just avoided it sometimes. Now, about tantra. The point that I was saying about the sexual ethics is that it is uncommendable because it increases disturbing emotions. In the highest class of tantra, anuttarayoga, or in the Nyingma system, specifically I suppose it would be in maha-, anu- and atiyoga, but particularly anuyoga, you use desire as part of the path. However, there it’s using desire to destroy desire. That’s the phrase that’s used over and over and over again. How is that so? It’s because what you have in this type of practice is when you are extremely, extremely advanced, so you have mastered the generation stage: perfect visualization; perfect zhinay a stilled and settled state of mind, shamatha, perfect concentration; and of course bodhichitta and understanding of voidness, renunciation, all of that; and you have already gained control over the energy winds in the body and can visualize the channels and everything perfectly, so that there is no danger whatever of having an orgasm because you can control all these energies without being some beginner who tries to control the energies and just makes themselves sick because of not being qualified to do that, making prostate problems and all sorts of problems. At that point, one practices with a partner, but it is not at all sex, our ordinary concept of sex, it’s merely joining the two organs – nothing more than that – and that generates a certain blissful sensation, which then generates a blissful awareness associated with the energy winds in the central channel. That’s where you feel it. And it acts as a circumstance for being able to dissolve the other energy winds in the body into the central channel. And this is very specific. You already have been able to dissolve the other energy winds into the central channel, and this is specifically to dissolve the most difficult to dissolve energy, which is at the level of the skin, so that you can get to and access the clear light level of mind by having all these energies dissolved. And it’s these energies, these winds that carry the disturbing emotions, so this is how you can get rid of desire. So when you dissolve them, you get rid of the desire and other disturbing emotions as well as the conceptual level of mind. And, bringing in your understanding of voidness that you have already, you have that understanding of voidness together with that clear light mind – that blissful clear light mind – and with enough familiarity with that state of mind, and have it, you’ll be able to stay there forever and that’s enlightenment. So, we should not at all think that the sex that is involved with tantra and that’s symbolized or represented by the couple in union in these paintings, that this has anything to do with ordinary sex. In fact, it’s breaking one of the root tantric vows if you think that ordinary sex is a path to liberation and enlightenment. That’s why if you’re going to have sex, just have sex and be realistic about it. Don’t think it’s some great spiritual act, that if you have the perfect orgasm then that’s enlightenment. Also, there are tantric vows not to release – it’s usually called “jasmine” or “moon” liquid or something like that, which means not to have orgasm. For both men and women, so it’s not referring specifically to male ejaculation. And that’s referring to, again, when you are super advanced, the same as what we were speaking about before on the complete stage, and you’re able to bring all the energies into the central channel, you don’t want to have this orgasm which shoots all the energy externally, because that ends that situation or opportunity of bringing the winds into the central channel. So, we’re not talking about earlier stages of practice; it’s specifically at this stage of practice that that’s relevant. Now, one more thing that I wanted to explain. General principle here then to do with sexual ethics, then, is – if we’re not ready to become a monk or nun – to try to minimize any problematic aspect of our sexual behavior; in other words, any aspect that’s going to cause a greater problem. So, for this, there are the factors that are involved with making the karmic results full or complete, and then another list in terms of making it heavy. In general, there has to be a basis involved, if it’s somebody else’s partner, an unmistaken distinguishing – that you know it’s someone else’s partner. But in some texts, it says that if the woman is someone else’s partner and she lies, she doesn’t tell you, that’s still a problem, because if somebody finds out, obviously there’ll be big trouble. In some commentaries, it says that is still a fault, even if you did not recognize correctly. Now although it’s not mentioned explicitly in the texts, it would also seem, regarding the basis involved in inappropriate sexual behavior, that for men, inappropriate sexual behavior with a man is less heavy than with a woman; and with yourself less heavy than with another man. Now I’m deducing this from the second of the remainder vows for monks, which is to avoid touching with lust a woman’s body or hair. For a monk to touch with lust a man’s body or hair is considered just similar to a remainder, but it’s not a complete remainder. It weakens the monk’s vows, but not as much as does touching a woman with lust. And, as we’ve also seen from the monks’ vows, having sex with yourself by using your hand is a remainder, whereas having sex through someone else’s orifices is a defeat and results in losing your vows. Then, there has to be the motivating intention, and one of the disturbing emotions needs to be involved, and the action has to be there – that the two organs meet – and the finale of it, I misunderstood what it meant. I thought that it meant orgasm, because the Tibetan word means either “bliss” or “pleasure,” so I understood it as “bliss of orgasm,” and it’s very difficult to ask a Tibetan monk what it actually means. Nevertheless, I did succeed in finding out – again, from the discussion of this in the vinaya – and it actually refers to just experiencing pleasure at the contact of the sexual organs. And so, if you’re raped, or something like that, and there’s no pleasure involved, it’s just painful, then the action is not completed. Where this point comes from, by the way, is from the vinaya texts explaining the monks’ vows. For a monk to commit a defeat in terms of transgressing the vow of not having any sexual behavior, he merely needs to experience pleasure after his organ enters any of the three orifices and, in the case of vaginal sex, when it touches the woman’s organ. A defeat doesn’t actually require the monk experiencing an orgasm or ejaculating semen. Similarly, for a monk to commit a remainder by masturbating, he merely needs to experience the pleasure of having the semen reach the base of his organ and, similar to a defeat, he doesn’t need to experience an orgasm or ejaculating the semen. Then there are factors affecting the strength of the ripening of the karma. The first is the nature of the action involved, and this is in terms the amount of harm caused to yourself or the other person in general by the nature of the act. Oral or anal sex is much heavier than masturbation, so there’s a distinction here. This also follows in analogy to the monks’ vows. As we’ve seen, having oral or anal sex constitutes a defeat, whereas masturbating constitutes only a remainder. Then, one of the most important ones is the strength of the disturbing emotion that’s involved – how strong your lust and desire is, or your anger. It could either be to hurt this person, like raping, or you’re not necessarily angry with the woman, but you want to hurt her husband, or stuff like that, so the strength of that anger; or the strength of your naivety, thinking that it’s OK to have sex with anyone. The third one is a distorted compelling drive that compels you into the action. That’s referring to thinking that there’s nothing detrimental about this type of inappropriate behavior; that’s perfectly OK and you are going to argue with anybody that says anything different. Then the actual action involved. The amount of suffering caused to the other person or to yourself when the action is done. So if you’re doing it with force, and rape or sado-masochism, that’s much worse; hurt the person by having sex on a hard, wet ground so they are going to get sick. Then the basis at which the action is aimed: that has to do with the amount of benefit we or others have received from this person in the past, present or future – so it’s heavier to have sex with your mother than it is with somebody else’s wife – or the good qualities of the being – so it’s heavier to have sex with a nun than with a laywoman. The next one is the status of the other person, and that’s referring to if that person is sick or blind or mentally disabled or a child, then it’s much heavier. And then the level of consideration, this is the amount of respect that one would have toward this person or toward their partner. To have sex with your best friend’s wife or husband is much heavier than having sex with a stranger’s wife or husband. Then the supportive condition, whether or not we have a vow to avoid inappropriate sexual behavior; frequency, how often we do it; then the number of people involved – gang rape is much heavier than singular rape; the follow up, whether you repeat it in the future; and then the presence, or absence, of counterbalancing forces. So, it becomes heavier if we take joy in it, if we have no regret, if we have no intention to stop, if we have no sense of moral self-dignity, or care for how our actions reflect on others. If we’re supposed to be a great Dharma practitioner, but we go into a sex club or something like that, how does that reflect on our teachers? How does that reflect on our Buddhist practice, etc.? In summary, the main point here is not to act just blindly out of our disturbing emotions, but to have some sort of discriminating awareness, some sort of understanding in terms of our sexual behavior. Don’t fool ourselves – any sexual behavior is going to increase desire and that’s the opposite of trying to get free from desire – but be honest with yourself: “I’m not at that stage where I’m ready to work really for liberation. So I will try to exercise at least some limitations, some boundaries in terms of what I do.” And I think many of us do have certain boundaries or limits that we’ve set for ourselves; we’ll do certain things, but some things we won’t do. So this is very good. Have that be more decisive, and the sexual behavior that we do have, try to minimize the heaviness of it. Remember, the main thing is try to overcome being just compulsively under the influence of lust and desire. And if we follow that general guides, those general principles, then although we might not gain liberation just like that, at least we are going in the direction of minimizing our problems. A great Buddhist university in a Jambi Muslim village Chusnul Chotimah – 25 Oct 2018 The island of Suvarnadvipa (Sanskrit  for the Golden Island, now called Sumatra) was home to a great university, a vast center of knowledge at the crossroads of the Buddhist Sea Route, which attracted such great sages as the Chinese pilgrim Yijing (I-Tsing) from the seventh century and the Tibetan Buddhist Atisha from the eleventh century. Its location is now home to a Muslim village, which is seeking to understand and remember this history.  Elizabeth Inandiak, a French writer and translator who has lived in Yogyakarta for many years, told the story at the CRCS-ICRS Wednesday Forum on October 3, 2018. The precise site discussed is Muara Jambi, now in the regency of Muaro Jambi, located about thirty kilometers from the mouth of the Batanghari, the longest river in Sumatra. Past civilizations were usually built around big rivers, Inandiak stated: while there is the Nile in Egypt, and the Indus and Ganges in India, it was the Batanghari in Sumatra. The temple site in Muara Jambi has an area of ​​12 square kilometers, with a length of more than 7 kilometers and an area of ​​about 260 hectares and stretches in the direction of the river path, with 84 temple complexes each of which has a main temple surrounded by several places for teaching activities. “They may be called temples, but as villagers of Muara Jambi often say, they were faculties of once one of the largest Mahayana Buddhist universities in the world,” said Inandiak. The university of Muara Jambi witnessed the era of Srivijaya kingdom. The capital of the kingdom was Palembang, but the intellectual center was in Muara Jambi. (In Inandiak’s analogy: it is like Washington and Boston-Harvard in the U.S., and London and Oxford-Cambridge in England.) Archeologists still do not dare to call it ‘university’ due to still few epigraphs and written documents attesting its roles, but the hitherto found evidences suggest that those complexes were not just temples but also study centers. In fact, the entire design of the site is similar to that of India’s Nalanda, the largest Mahayana Buddhist monastic university of its time. Among the earliest accounts on Muara Jambi talked about by Inandiak were that of I-Tsing and Atisha. The decreasing significance of the famous continental Silk Road due to the decreasing demand of silk from China and the many wars waged in Central and South Asia made I-Tsing, who wanted to go to Nalanda, had to travel by sea through the Straits of Malacca. His travel account has been translated into English in 1896 by Junjiro Takasuku titled A Record of the Buddhist Religion as Practiced in India and Malay Archipelago, A.D. 671-695. In this account, I-Tsing told that he stopped in an island with a “fortified city” he called Fo-Che where more than a thousand Buddhist monks study all the subjects studied in Nalanda. What is Fo-Che? Many centuries later, the French epigraphist George Coedes came up arguing that Fo-Che or San-fo-ts’i was the kingdom of Srivijaya. Being “fortified” is a common design for Buddhist monasteries at the time and similar to Nalanda. I-Tsing did not mention a precise identification and mentioning of Muara Jambi, but his hints suggest a strong probability that it was Muara Jambi. Atisha’s journey in India, Sumatra and Tibet has been painted down on the wall of the apartment of Dalai Lama in Tibet. A few centuries later, Atisha, a royal-born from a kingdom in Bengal who chose to be a wanderer seeking knowledge from Buddhist masters including in Nalanda and in Srivijaya, told in his account in Tibetan that his most important master was Serlingpa or Dharmakirti. Following his descriptions in that account, it is most likely that he met Serlingpa at Muara Jambi. In his account, Atisha, named Dipamkara Jnana after monk ordination, spoke high about Serlingpa; when Serlingpa was teaching and surrounded by five hundred and seventy-two monks, Atisha felt as if he was seeing Buddha surrounded by his disciples. After spending 12 years studying at Muara Jambi, Atisha went back at the same year when the Chola kingdom from South India invaded Srivijaya. In Tibet he served for thirteen years until his death leaving writing containing teachings from his past masters, more notably Serlingpa from Muara Jambi. One then has to ask: what made the university of Muara Jambi leave only its (ruined) temples? Some argue it was due to the attack from the Chola kingdom. But this occurred in the eleventh century while a beautiful statue of Prajnaparamita from Muara Jambi found is dated from the 14th century. Another argument says it was because of leprosy. A stronger probability is that it was because of a tsunami. The design of Muara Jambi temples surrounded by many canals indicate how its inhabitants were aware that floods often come from the Batanghari river and the area itself is prone to disaster. The local people call it in the local language of Muara Jambi “menapo”. “Napo” means “deer” whereas “me” means “location”. Muara Jambi, located in a high location, was for animals to take refuge during floods. Today, the site is conserved by the villagers of Muara Jambi, some of whom are building a community center for the site conservation and reenactment of the past (becoming a center of study again) called Padmasana Foundation. Inandiak has also published a book on Muara Jambi titled Dreams from the Golden Island (2018) co-published by Padmasana Foundation. From her talk, Inandiak invited us to reconnect ourselves to the past. Remnants or influences from the past still prevail and preserved by the locals who are Muslim-majority. They are of different religion but are proud of a great heritage residing in their village. Some Muslims give Buddhist names to their kids, such as Prajnaparamita. Salawat recitation by Muslims uses a gong—and a gong is also found in one of the twin temples (candi kembar) on the Muara Jambi site. These indicate the still existing connection to the past despite different worlds. Lastly, Inandiak urged archaeologists to work with Muara Jambi villagers, because they indeed know a lot about the site. “Sixty percent of information in my book is from the villagers,” Inandiak said. She is concerned very much with the archaeologists who look down to the villagers as if their knowledge is not legitimate and so she calls for a “public archaeology” in Muara Jambi: archaeologists must work together with the local community who have conserved the site and share their findings to them. _________________ The Search for the ‘Origins’ of Melayu, Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 November 2001,Leonard Y. Andaya https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-southeast-asian-studies/article/abs/search-for-the-origins-of-melayu/2E0FEFC254101853AD509F5A12FC5F57 Dr UDAY DOKRAS 30