Swayambhu is on a steep hill above the valley of Kathmandu, and is believed to derive from a time when, tradition says, the whole area was under the waters of a vast lake in a territory that was once home to nagas.
Vipashwi (Tib. Namparzi) Buddha is credited with having sown the lotus seeds which grew into a giant jeweled lotus there. Several buddhas and bodhisattvas are said to have visited in prehistoric times including Vajradhara and Manjushri.
Keith Dowman in A Buddhist Guide to the Power Places of the Kathmandu Valley tells us that Tibetans refer to the stupa as a grove (Skt. chaitya), the place of 'Phags-pa shing-kun' or Sublime Trees where:
" ... the Jina Vajradhara spontaneously arose from
the Pure Land of Akanistha as a great sacred Tree of Life
(mChod-sdong chen-po -- a Bodhi Tree or stupa) called Jnana Gandola Swayambhu (The Self-Sprung Temple of Wisdom) which brings spiritual release by sight of it, hearing of it, reflecting upon it, or touching it. Look into Newar chronicles called the Swayambhu Purana for extensive details on the arising of thirteen billion times
more merit (for practising mantra etc.) in this place than in other great power places, and other interesting topics. "
Buddham Sharanam Gacchami
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