Remarkable Landmark: Mount Kailash (Part 2)
Photographed by Peyanbojack, 2020
Mid-19th century, stored in the Rubin Museum
Detail: The master preaching the Four Gates in the Gangdise Mountains and accepting disciples widely.
Drawn by Krishnahari Das, 1880
The teachings flourish,
From the collection of songs by Milarepa.
Mid-19th century, housed in the Rubin Museum
Part: The master preached to monks and laypeople multiple times after paying homage to the mountains and turning around the lake.
(འཕྲིན་ལས་ཤིང་རྟ་；1718-1766)
Held in the Rubin Museum in the early 19th century
Partial: Transcending mountains to proclaim the Dharma, finally receiving teachings from the main deity and gaining enlightenment.
Buddha is rengay
Mid-18th century, Rubin Museum collection
"The Battle for Sacred Sites" runs through the history of human belief, and the word "belief" here is not limited to the religious aspect. "Contending for sacred sites" means controlling the interpretation, pilgrimage rights, and usage rights of these specific spaces. The process of contention also adds uniqueness to the "sacred sites" in reverse. In the local narrative of the "Gangs Rinpoche landscape group," the story of "Buddha defeating demons" has become a topic that scholars cannot avoid. It is true but exaggerated by later generations, with temporal and spatial displacements, and what is said is not true. Remnants commemorating the same event coexist in different contexts. The Shaivites defeated the demons occupying the snowy mountains, early Bon practitioners defeated other groups, and Buddhists forced Bon practitioners to abandon the sacred site in the battle. Three parts fact mixed with seven parts imagination, giving rise to the story of Milarepa (1040-1123) and Naropa (ན་རོ་བོན་ཆུང་) contending. Although the story first appeared in the writings of the Third Karmapa (1284-1339), in the following century, neither the history of teaching of the Karma Kagyu tradition nor the writings of disciples mention this event. The "original texts" community in the Nepalese hills indeed contains the plot of "contending," but its content is different from the current popular versions, and the narrative of "Buddhism winning" seems to have been established only after the emergence of the writings of the later Tibetan master, Longchenpa (1452-1507).
Tradition of pilgrimage
Late 19th century, collected by the Rubin Museum.
Fifteenth century, private collection
Late 16th century, in the collection of the Rubin Museum.
Purify the sacred lake
Private Collection, late 19th century
Taken from "Kailash: A Pilgrimage to the Sacred Mountain of Tibet"
by Russell Johnson and Kerry Moran, 1989
The "mountain-lake faith" in Tibetan culture has formed its own system, with the combination of Gangdise and Lake Manasarovar constituting a classic pair in this belief. Similar to the narrative of Gangdise and Kyersa in the previous article, the storytelling about the "undefeated jade lake" (direct translation of Lake Manasarovar) has also undergone a specific process from local ideas to implanted imaginations. In the context of Tibetan Buddhism, Lake Manasarovar is considered the soul of the entire Shangri-La region and even the entire Tibetan area. In existing classics, the world within the lake can be divided into three to six layers, with countless aquatic beings gathering there, and four types of treasure troves hidden within: the world's treasure trove, the soul treasure trove of deities, the immortal nectar trove, and the trove of wisdom of the teachings. Alongside Gangdise, the "Lake Manasarovar" is accompanied by the "Lake Rakshastal" (ལག་ངར་མཚོ་/ལག་ནག་མཚོ་), originally referring to a lake where deities permanently reside and heroes and practitioners aspire to as a "lake of consciousness". With the introduction of the concept from South Asia and the subsequent "Lake Anavatapta" (མ་དྲོས་མཚོ་) into Tibetan culture, the local sacred lake is described as a paradise guarded by dragon clans in the Buddhist world. Beside Lake Manasarovar, there is another lake named Rangojie (ལག་ངར་མཚོ་/ལག་ནག་མཚོ་). In the South Asian context, this lake is derogatorily referred to as the Lake of Demons (राक्षसताल); but in Tibetan Buddhist classics, it is actually known as the Sacred Silver Lake (མུ་ལེ་མཚོ་), which is the residence of the deity Sipajium.
The source of four rivers
18th century, private collection
Detail: Source of Four Rivers
"Dragon Girl [Can be associated with local rum]"
At the end of the 18th century, private collection
In addition to the different meanings of the word "Des" (ཏི་སེ་) mentioned in the previous article, some parts of the Buddhist scriptures also define it as "protective water peak". The so-called "protective water" refers to guarding the four famous rivers that originate from "one mountain and two lakes". These four rivers symbolize the cultural veins of the Himalayas and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, nurturing the mother river of the millions of people. In the existing classics and folk literature in Tibet, four rivers flow from the four source mouths of "one mountain and two lakes" (Baoxiangkou, Lionkou, Peacockkou, and Shanmakou). When the four rivers flow, "cattle and sheep prosper and flowers and grass thrive"; when the four rivers pass, "people are strong, horses are strong, and the hometown thrives". In South Asian texts, the Sutlej River (now the Sutlej River) flows out of the No Heat Lake, and the Ganges River (now the Ganges River), Fuchu River (now the Brahmaputra River), and Stone River (now the Sarayu River). However, we need to pay attention to two points: 1. The conclusion that correlates the four rivers in Buddhist scriptures with the four rivers in reality was not a consensus that existed early on (the difference between imagination and reality); 2. The description of the four source mouths in Buddhism is not completely consistent with the popular four source mouths in Tibet. Whether it is the ancient cosmology or the mountain-lake group of the altar city, the "four rivers originating" once again highlights the uniqueness of the "Mount Kailash landscape".
Sacred landmarks
From "Kailash: A Pilgrimage Journey to the Sacred Land"
by Russell Johnson and Kerry Moran, 1989
"The North Face of Mount Kailash"
From "The Holy Mountain"
Published in 1934
One of the earliest Western writings about Mount Kailash
In the study of cultural history, "landmarks" are used to refer to specific spaces that are intertwined with power networks and have relatively complex systems of interpretation, and the "Gang Rinpoche landscape group" discussed in this article is precisely the most famous "sacred landmark" in Tibet. The local cosmology shines brightly in this space, with imaginations of the paradise of South Asia being implanted within it, and people contribute to the memory of the past through scientific observation. However, we still cannot declare that our current understanding of this space is "complete and accurate". Although the four schools equally respect it, pilgrims from South Asia (including Hindus and Jains) may have only recognized this mountain and lake as the sacred snow mountain and lake in the classics until the 18th century. The active involvement of the British in the "scientific final validation" of colonial classical imagination (continuously stimulating pilgrimage) directly affected subsequent spiritual practitioners and emerging religious groups in South Asia and the Western world, such as Lama Govinda (1898-1985) and Swami Pranavananda (1896-1941). With the arrival of the era of self-media, the sacred mountain and lake will face more skepticism and imagination.
Selected from "Kailash: A Pilgrimage to the Sacred Mountain in Tibet"
by Russell Johnson and Kerry Moran, 1989