The self-arisen. The Kathmandu Valley's primordial stupa.
The only surviving form of Indic Mahayana–Vajrayana Buddhism — preserved in the Kathmandu Valley for over a millennium through hereditary Vajracharya and Shakya priesthood, Sanskrit liturgy, and lay devotion to Swayambhu and the Pancha Buddha.
The reliquary monument — the original Buddhist architectural form. A hemispherical dome containing relics, walked clockwise by pilgrims for 2,500 years. The vertical axis of the Buddhist world.
The Self-Arisen.
The Buddha Purnima puja at Swayambhu — the Vesak observance at the self-arisen stupa above Kathmandu, one of the oldest continuously-active Buddhist sites in the world.
The opening day of the Gunla discourse at Swayambhu, given by Revered Ashok Buddhacharya — a thirty-two-day series running across the whole of the holy month.
The closing day of the thirty-two-day Gunla series at Swayambhu — Revered Ashok Buddhacharya on the meaning of the holy month's completion.
