Pilgrims and Divine Companions: How Buddhists Reimagined Tibet's Landscape
Photographed by H., “The Two Pilgrims Resting on their Journey through the Mountains” was taken in 1940-1941.
According to Staunton, a contested interpretation, Buddhists have redrawn Tibet's landscapes to match South Asian narratives by leveraging the convergence of sacred relics and revising pilgrimage routes. Such textual modifications constitute a deliberate effort to bring the mountains and lakes under the sway of the sages' hallowed traditions. "The Twelve Danma Goddesses" (mid to late 18th century, collected by the Rossi family) represent the foremost grouping of goddesses in the indigenous mountain and lake faith, and they maintained a pivotal role within Tibet's power hierarchy, having been ceaselessly elevated by the Fifth Dalai Lama and successive political dynasties. The Tibetan verse runs: ང་ནི་པད་མ་འབྱུང་གནས་ཡིན། དཔལ་མོ་དཔལ་ཐང་གཙང་གི་སྟོད། ལྷ་མཚོ་སྲིན་མཚོའི་རྩ་བ་རུ། དམ་ལ་བཏགས་པ་བརྟན་མའི་ཚོགས། ལ་ལ་ནག་མོ་སྲིན་མོའི་ཚོགས། ལ་ལ་དམར་མོ་གནོད་སྦྱིན་ཚོགས། ལ་ལ་དཀར་མོ་མཛེས་མའི་གཟུགས། ལ་ལ་སྔོན་མོ་ནམ་མཁའི་གཟུགས། མ་མོ་ཆེན་མོ་བཅུ་གཉིས་པོ། བོད་ཀྱི་ཡུལ་བདག་ཆེན་མོ་ཡིན།, which translates as: "I am the great Bodhisattva of the lotus born, In the white Moira temple of the hidden heap Resides the vow-keeping assembly of dakinis A multitude of black-skinned wrathful females, a multitude of red-skinned yaksas A multitude of white-skinned beautiful goddesses, a multitude of sky-blue entities The twelve supreme Dakinis, the fundamental deity of the Tibetan domain." This passage is excerpted from "The Practice Cycle of the Twelve Dharmapala Goddesses" by Dechen Rinpoche (1646-1714), first seat holder of Minzhu Monastery. (*Place names marked with an asterisk / Dharmapala can be translated as "guardian deity" / Mahamo can be translated as "demon mother"). Another excerpt, ཀྱེ་རིག་འཛིན་ཆེན་པོ་པད་འབྱུང་གིས། བསྟན་འགྲོ་སྲུང་བར་གཉེར་གཏད་པའི། རལ་གྲི་སྟོང་གི་གཤོག་པ་དང། ཆུ་གྲི་སྟོང་གི་མཇུག་སྒྲོ་ཅན། གཉན་ཆེན་སེ་ཀུ་ག་རུ་ཊ།, reads in English: "Ah ~ the entrusted protector of sentient beings by the great enlightened one, Lotus-born Master With wings like a thousand precious swords And tail feathers like a thousand water knives This divine thought of the great Peng bird," and comes from "Great Reading God Sigu Roc Bird Smoke Explanation" (གཉན་ཆེན་པོ་སེ་ཀུ་བྱ་ཁྱུང་ལ་བསང་མཆོད་འབུལ་ཚུལ་) by the second Rongbo yogi Ngawang Chile Gyatso (ངག་དབང་འཕྲིན་ལས་རྒྱ་མཚོ་; 1678-1739). The term ག་རུ་ཊ་ is the Sanskrit word for "ड". From the Rubin Museum collection (18th century, mid to late period), "The Mountain God Susgu and its Retinue of Great Peng Birds" portrays the personified Skug Great Peng Bird Mountain God, who dons the traditional hat of the Ando region and is a key attendant of the ancient Tibetan deity Animaqing Mountain God.
Padmasambhava, known today as the "stranger from a distant land," arrived in Tibet and subjugated and awakened the mountain and lake deities that had been venerated for ages—or, in other words, the entire native deity system of Tibet. Meanwhile, the Regong region features its own particular belief and ritual framework.
Early Buddhist practitioners, as this text accurately shows, looked ahead with eager hope and adopted a calculated approach, believing that a superior divine order of discipline lay beyond their native culture’s spiritual realm. In that order, deities previously marked by ethnic and historical identity are wholly remade into guardians and advocates for the Buddhist cause.
With the spread of the Lotus Born's teachings throughout Tibet, a "reform movement" targeting the mountain and lake spirits was officially initiated. In the so-called ritual texts, the gods have acknowledged, through a third-party mouthpiece, their own inferior status as natural spiritual beings and their limited intelligence. This portrayal closely parallels the descriptions of rulers and subjects found in Buddhist narratives from the Tubo period of the Tang dynasty.
The initial point involves a spatial substitution, whereby the distinctive character of mountains and lakes is attributed to a specific South Asian narrative. Indeed, this South Asian perspective appears in Tibetan Buddhist philosophers' depictions of mountains and lakes, where ancient gods with extraordinary powers are subjugated by sages or deities.
Examples include Milarepa (1040-1123), whose accomplishments occurred during the Year of the Horse within the Mount Kailash cycle; Tertön Zhabje (1161-1211), who completed his work in the Year of the Monkey throughout the cycle of sacred mountains; and the Third Gyalwa Karmapa Rangjung Dorje (1284-1339), whose achievements took place in the Year of the Sheep as part of the Mount Kawa Karpo cycle, which pertains to the main peak of the Meili Snow Mountain landscape.
The intervention of the philosopher's life history—a process marked by the appropriation and recreation of the lotus birth plot—combines with alterations to the mountain and lake's origin myths to gradually bring clarity to "How to initiate the Buddhist lifecycle in the mountain and lake.
In the surviving Bon tradition—particularly within the new Bon community—the "imperial metaphor" behind its sacred mountains and lakes (such as the well-known Bonpo Sacred Mountain and Gyawu Sacred Mountain) holds critical importance, since it is tied to specific historical markers. For the photograph "The Sacred Enclosure for the Domain Deity," taken by Frederick Spencer Chapman in August 1936, the focus should be on stressing the separation from the mountains and lakes while making the ceremony as simple as possible.
The deeper logic behind rituals—preserving regional characteristics within a universal structure and continually extending diverse, independent ways of thinking—is often overlooked. Revered as a "secret continued practice site" by the Kagyu and Nyingma schools, particularly by the Zhukba Kagyu school and within Bhutan, Tsari Hermitage is also regarded as a sacred place for transmitting the Vajra Yogini practice. The work "Panoramic View of Sacred Mountains in the Realm of the Divine Sun" dates to the late 18th century and belongs to a private collection.
In Tibetan mythology, Protector Zalagongbu—celebrated as the “unique guardian of souls and lives”—is the principal mountain and territorial deity of the Muya region in eastern Tibet. His iconography mirrors the mythological structure and historical phases of that area. More than two hundred notable spiritual masters have practiced at this location. The artwork “Protector Zara Gongbu and His Family and Attendants,” created in the mid to late 19th century, belongs to the Rubin Museum of Art.
After the space was reshaped, the selection and standardization process for the deities was placed on the agenda. The previous hierarchy and kinship relations became restricted under the watchful eye of Buddhism's chief deity—for instance, the connection between Zara Gongbu and Avalokitesvara—so that any closeness or distance had to rely on the new spiritual origin of the mountain and lake deities and on their rank. In the Zalgaonbo region, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso (1798-1868), directed his attention to exposing the Buddhist role there.
In Tibet, while a few ancient deities—such as the mountain god of Nyenchen Tangla—still occupy a supreme position, the majority of mountain and lake gods have been compelled to take on new identities and forms of offering. The category of "domain gods and life gods" grew vastly broader, and with temples at the center extending into all four directions, certain deities from the traditions of teaching and hidden treasures were likewise raised to the status of territorial protectors.
From that time onward, the spirits of mountains and lakes—previously viewed as the wellspring of existence and all answers—were requested to carry out one concrete worldly task after another (guarding the original territory was regarded as a form of spiritual practice rather than a command of power), in order to correspond to the wishes and blessings of the faithful. These immense beings of the heavens and earth eventually came to rest in obscure corners, kept in people's memory yet often forgotten.
Originating from the Nyingma school's hidden treasure teachings, the wealth deity system was subsequently adopted into the region's mountain and lake worship practices by the Gelugpa order. Nevertheless, it should be remembered that these deities have never been absent from our everyday lives and emotional expressions. A mid-19th-century example is "The Residence of the Protector, Regent Jie Niebu, and His Palace" (ཞིང་སྐྱོང་རག་རྒྱལ་གཉེན་པོ་ནོར་གྱི་བདག་), held in the Rubin Museum collections.
The reverse side of the painting bears a mantra wheel, ritual inscriptions, and handprints of high lamas—namely those of the 9th Pabala Awang Losang Jampel (1849-1900) and his teacher, the 5th Shivala Losang Dondub Gyamtso (1800-1863). Rabjenebu, a protector deity held in particular esteem in the Chamdo region of eastern Tibet, is regarded as the guardian of all sacred lakes and mountains. It was these two monks who sought to substitute Dorje Neljorma for every indigenous deity.
Translated from Sorang Wangqing's blog, this article describes the practice of circling repeatedly to pray for peace.