Bali is known as the land of 1,000 temples, but in reality it is home to at least 20,000 Hindu temples, each with a specific function and ritual marked in the 250-day Balinese calendar. However, there is only one Buddhist monastery and temple on the island and it is majestic.

Located in the Banjar subdistrict, a 10-minute drive from the coastal town of Seririt, in the green foothills of the northern Bali mountain ranges, its name is Brahma Vihara Arama. And it is a place of almost total calm.

On the morning of my visit, there was only one other person in sight, a tourist from the Czech Republic. “I’m staying at a nearby hotel and the staff suggested I visit it. Otherwise, I would never have heard of it,” she said.

Brahma Vihara Arama, meaning “sublime and boundless attitude” in Sanskrit, was built over two years and was inaugurated in 1971. It was commissioned by a wealthy Buddhist philanthropist (Buddhists make up only one percent of the population of the island) and designed by a Balinese. religious architect who worked with Balinese landscapers. The result, a marriage of Balinese Hindu and Thai Buddhist design, is completely unique. There is nothing like it in the world.

“A lot of different people come here. Every full moon, there is a big Hindu ceremony. For Indonesian Buddhists, it is an important pilgrimage site and last week a group of Russian tourists stayed there for a meditation retreat,” says Putu, who works at the ticket office and, like many Indonesians, has only one name. “But you don’t have to be religious to visit. You just have to have a good heart. »

Visitors pay the equivalent of $2.50 to enter, which includes the use of a traditional Balinese sarong, which must be wrapped around the waiting for women and men, the same rule applies to visitors to the island’s main Hindu temples.

From the Hindu gate at the entrance to the resort, a staircase leads to the first in a series of terraced Balinese gardens bursting with flowers. In the center is a large circular water lily pond crowned by a statue of a standing Buddha. Its palm is raised and facing outward, which means teaching or reassuring.

A longer staircase leads to the next level, a vast terraced garden with two life-sized origami trees and Thai-style temples with bright orange roofs. Inside are shrines with golden Buddha statues in different poses, as well as bas-reliefs and frescoes depicting Prince Siddhartha’s journey from suffering to enlightenment as Buddha.

At the northern end of the garden is the temple’s longest and steepest staircase. It is bordered by two long stone “nagas” – divine serpents or dragons which, according to Hindu mythology, reside in the underworld and can take human form. There is another Hindu gate at the top and a thick ledge or rampart with four large white statues of seated Buddhas. From here, one can enjoy incredible views of the lower gardens and temples of the compound, as well as the surrounding valley.

This is not the end of the monastery as I had imagined, just a new beginning. On the other side of the ledge is another large meditative garden and a family house-sized replica of Borobudur, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Central Java, considered the largest Buddhist archaeological site in the world.

And just when I thought I couldn’t get any better, I discovered that the replica was not made of solid stone like at Borobudur but hollow inside, concealing a vast meditation and prayer room with marble floors, columns engraved with traditional Balinese ornamental details and Buddhist iconography. and yet another golden statue of Buddha in the center.

Brahma Vihara Arama is not just another monastery or temple. It is a paradise in the sky, a place of perfection and calm; a little-known treasure on the Island of the Gods.