ABSTRACT
Nothing definite is known about the specific religious rituals for which Borobudur was used, although there is archaeological evidence of both a Buddhist monastery and a secular village in the vicinity of the temple. Scholars are divided over whether all parts of the monument were open to all believers or whether some parts may have been restricted to people of higher religious status. Such restrictions were becoming widespread in Buddhism at the time of Borobudur's construction, but there is no evidence from the structure that any part was closed to the general public. Most scholars believe that Borobudur was a place of both instruc tion and religious observance. Although the monument is capacious, it has no single space to accommodate a large crowd; thus religious activity there was probably conducted individually or in small groups.
