Swayambhunath a.k.a The Monkey temple
Want to see quite a few temples and be entertained by some monkeys in Kathmandu?
Well look no further than the ancient religious architecture atop a hill in the Kathmandu valley west of the city. As you know in a lot of the Tibetan culture a name has a different meaning, in this case the name of this site means “Sublime Trees”. This just happens to be the most sacred among Buddhist pilgrimage sites. For the Tibetan people, its 2nd only to Boudha.
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There’s a various amount of temples on this site, one of the most famous being Stupa. Its consist of a dome at the base, and above it’s a cube structure painted with eyes of the Buddha looking in all directions. The dome represents the entire world, when a person awakes from the bonds of the world, said person reaches a state of enlightenment. Another representation is the large eyes on all 4 sides which represent wisdom and compassion. There are more but I’ll leave you with these 2 in the Hope’s that it stokes your curiosity to do more research.
This location is also known as the Monkey temple, as there are holy monkeys living in the northwest parts of the temple.
Swayambhunath is among the oldest sites in Nepal. There were parts of this site that were damaged by the earthquake in 2015 and they are currently rebuilding those buildings. Another thing you will see all over this temple site is prayer wheels which are used by locals when praying, and of course prayer flags. There are 5 different color flags, with each representing one of earth’s elements.
Make sure when you come to Kathmandu you visit this beautiful and majestic place. Find your peace in life, what better place to find it than Swayambhunath.
