Once i m back with SwayambhuNath Temple also known as Monkey Temple . I discussed about brief introduction and history of Monkey temple today we discuss following
Mythology
According to Swayambhu Purana, the entire valley was once
filled with an enormous lake, out of which grew a lotus. The valley came to be known as Swayambhu, meaning "Self-Created."
The name comes from an eternal self-existent flame (svyaṃbhu) over which
a sūpa was later built
Swayambhunath is also known as the Monkey
Temple as there are holy monkeys living in the north-west parts of the
temple. They are holy because Manjushree, the bodhisattva of wisdom and
learning was raising the hill which the Swayambhunath Temple stands on. He was
supposed to leave his hair short but he made it grow long and head lice grew.
It is said that the head lice transformed into these monkeys.
The Bodhisattva Manjusri had a vision of the lotus at
Swayambhu and traveled there to worship it. Seeing that the valley can be good
settlement and to make the site more accessible to human pilgrims, Manjusri cut
a gorge at Chovar. The water drained out of the lake,
leaving the valley in which Kathmandu now lies. The lotus was transformed into
a hill and the flower become the Swayambhunath stupa.
Architecture
The stupa consists of a dome at the base, above
which is a cubical structure painted with eyes of Buddha looking
in all four directions with the word "unity" in the main Nepali
dialect between them. There are pentagonal Toran present above each of the four sides
with statues engraved in them. Behind and above the torana there are thirteen
tiers. Above all the tiers there is a small space above which the Gajur is
present.
Symbolism
The dome at the base
represents the entire world. When a person awakes (represented by eyes of
wisdom and compassion) from the bonds of the world, the person reaches the
state of enlightenment. The thirteen pinnacles on the top symbolize that
sentient beings have to go through the thirteen stages of spiritual
realizations to reach enlightenment or Buddhahood.
There is a large pair of
eyes on each of the four sides of the main stupa which represent Wisdom and
Compassion. Above each pair of eyes is another eye, the third eye. It is said
that when Buddha preaches, cosmic rays emanate from the third eye which act as
messages to heavenly beings, so that those interested can come down to earth to
listen to the Buddha. The hellish beings and beings below the human realm
cannot come to earth to listen to the Buddha's teaching, however, the cosmic
rays relieve their suffering when Buddha preaches.
There are carvings of the
Panch Buddhas (five Buddhas) on each of the four sides of stupa. There are also
statues of the Buddhas at the base of the stupas. Panch Buddhas are Buddha in
metaphorical sense in Tantrayana. They are Vairochana (occupies the center and
is the master of the temple), Akshobhya (faces the east and represents the
cosmic element of consciousness), Ratna Sambhava (faces the south and
represents the cosmic element of sensation), Amitabha (He represents cosmic
element of Sanjna (name) and always faces the West) and Amoghsiddhi (He
represents the cosmic element of conformation and faces the north).
No comments:
Post a Comment