Born in Nepal : A Miscellany of Buddhist Stories, Legends and Traditions

Contents: 1. Introduction. 2. The birth of the light of Asia. 3. How prince Siddhartha became the Buddha, and then.... 4. The flaming sword, Swayambu and the Kathmandu Valley. 5. The legend of Namobuddha. 6. Boudhanath: Nepal\'s \'Little Tibet\'. 7. The medicine Buddha: Tibetan traditions of healing. 8. The legend of the Mustard seed. 9. The thousand-armed Buddha of compassion; Thangkas and Poubhas. 10. Patan\'s Kwa Bahal Temple: a tale of a spurned queen, a Buddha image, and a golden rat. 11. The five Dhyani Buddhas. 12. The Tibetan wheel of life. 13. Two misunderstood symbols: the swastika, the \'Star of David\'. 14. More symbols in Buddhist tradition: the eight auspicious signs, the Thunderbolt. 15. OM/AUM Mani Padme Hum. 16. Prayer flags, wind horse and prayer wheels. 17. The Turquoise lake of Dolpo. 18. Powerful female forces: Taras, Dakinis, Tashi Tseringma. 19. Shangri-La: the legend of Shambhala. 20. Beyuls: sacred Hidden valleys. 21. Suggestions for further reading. 22. Boxed text: short Himalayan chronology.

"For millennia, people throughout the world have told stories - to entertain, to inform... and also to try to make sense of the universe around them. Every religion has developed its own set of \'stories\' - myths, legends, parables - accompanied by a system of rituals, symbols and various traditions. Just as religious systems evolve and develop, so do their stories and traditions. The Buddhist stories told in Thailand, or in Korea, or among Zen Buddhists, often differ from those told in India, or in Nepal, or Tibet. Also within the same country there will be variations, as exemplified by the many syncretic Hindu-Buddhist Newari legends of the Kathmandu Valley as compared with the Tibetan Buddhist tales of the High Himalayas."