The Legend of Bodhnath Stupa

Legend says that during the reign of Manadeva, fifth century CE, Kangma or Jazema (chiken caretaker), the daughter of a swine herder had four children.  She was widowed but managed to earn a living as a goose girl in the kings’ court.

Kangma worked hard and saved her money.  When she had enough she petitioned the king for a piece of property on which she would build a Stupa to honor the Buddha Ashoka.  The king granted permission stating that this was a noble cause.  Other members of the kings’ court who were jealous for the land then challenged her petition.  She was able to over come the objections by saying that she only wanted as much land as she could cover with the skin of a water buffalo.  Thinking that this would now only amount to a small piece of land, she was granted permission without challenges.  Once the king gave his word no one could now object.  Therefore Tibetans call this stupa Jarung Ka shor (spoken word of the king).

Kangma then tanned and stretched the buffalo skin as thin as it could be stretched and cut it into thin strips.  She joined these strips into a long rope and was able to then create a circle that covered a diameter of 40 meters.

Here Kangma and her sons began building the great Stupa of Bodhnath with the help of an elephant and a donkey.  Despite various adversities, for four years they labored until construction reached the beginning of the great dome.

By that time the poultry woman, who was old and dying, called her sons and made them promise to fulfill her life's purpose.  They worked on the Stupa for three years after her death.  In all, it required seven years to complete.

The great deeds of the sons earned them a choice in reincarnation – the first wanted to be reincarnated in the Tibetan highlands and was re-born as King Trisong Detsen.  The second was re-born as the monk Shantarakshita in India and the third was re-born as the great teacher Guru Padmasambava (Guru Rinpoche).

King Trisong Detsen invited Shantarakshita to Tibet to help control the demons and teach Buddhist philosophies.  Shantarakshita was unable to control the demons and recommended that King Trisong Detsen invite Guru Padmasambava.  This reunited the brothers.  Together they vanquished the demons, began the great teaching monastery Samye and had profound influence over the fate of Buddhism in Tibet.

To further the understanding of the power of Bodhnath, there is a further legend that a dog spotted a pig circling the Stupa and gave chase.  In the scramble around and around the Stupa the pig picked up some mud on his tail and when he accidentally bumped into the side of the Stupa he filled a small crack.  This act of goodness enabled both the pig and the dog to receive great re-incarnations, the pig for fixing the crack and the dog for chasing the pig thus setting into motion the pig’s actions.

Other Facts about Bodhnath

With both a diameter and height of 40 meters, the Bodhnath Stupa is also the largest religious structure of its kind in the valley.  It is located about eight kilometers northeast of Katmandu on the old trade and pilgrimage road between Tibet and India.  A pair of Buddha's eyes painted on the stupa's tower can be seen from a good distance.

This stupa is the largest Buddhist structure in Nepal, and has been a power place and an important site of pilgrimage since its construction.  On their way north out of the Valley, caravans of salt traders, monks, lamas and others made an obligatory stop here to perform protection and prosperity rituals.

Nepalese historians trace the construction of the Stupa to the early reign of Manadeva who ruled Nepal in the fifth century CE.

In the 1960s many Tibetans seeking refuge from Chinese aggression settled around the stupa and opened factories and shops there.

In 1969 the pinnacle of the Stupa was struck by lightning and destroyed.  When asked by King Trisong Detsen about the permanence of the Stupa, Guru Rinpoche replied, "Listen, Great King, the real perfection of this Great Stupa is indestructible, inviolate and incorruptible.  It is inseparable from the Body of Infinite Simplicity of all the Buddhas.  But the phenomenal fabric of the Great Stupa is perishable; a transitory form in a changing world, and it can be damaged by the four elements.  The damage will be repaired by the incarnations of the Lords of the Three Families - Manjushri, Avalokitesvara, and Vajrapani - and the Wrathful Bhrikuti and Tara Devi.”  His speech goes on to discuss the many calamities that would befall this earth.

After Guru Rinpoche had spoken, King Trisong Detsen and his attendants were stunned and disheartened.  Then recovering his senses, Padma Khungtsen, the spiritual leader of Gos, arose and prostrated himself one hundred times before Guru Rinpoche and then addressed him. "Great Guru, let me be reborn to restore the Great Stupa when it is in ruins during the decadence and corruption of the kaliyuga, when man's life is short."

Guru Rinpoche granted this prayer.  King Trisong Detsen also asked to be reborn as an assistant to restore the Great Stupa and his attendants prayed that they too should be born to assist in the restoration."