Myrobalan and Papaya: Secret Metaphors of Himalayan Fruits
In the Tibetan medical system, myrobalan (Tib: ཨ་རུ་ར་；Skt: हरीतकी) represents the capacity to heal both body and mind, serving as an emblem of "good medicinal herbs and skilled medical practices." According to Buddhist scriptures, the world we inhabit is called the Southern Jambudvipa (འཛམ་བུ་གླིང་), a realm filled with Jambu trees (जम्बु—འཛམ་བུ་). An artwork titled "Nyingma Medicine Buddha Enthroned," dated to the mid-15th century and housed at the Art Institute of Chicago, depicts the Medicine Buddha grasping the root and stem of the myrobalan fruit. An excerpt from "Blue Lapis Tibetan Medicine Thangka: Classification of Herbal Medicines" comes from the first half of the 20th century and originates from the Menzikang (Tibetan hospital) in Lhasa; there, the far left shows the sea buckthorn fruit (སྟར་བུ་), widespread throughout Tibet, while the far right presents the pomegranate (སེ་འབྲུ་), a fruit of great auspicious significance. Meanwhile, "Yellow Jambhala / Yellow Wealth God," an early 20th-century piece in the collection of the TH Museum in New York, includes a detail in which the deity's right hand holds a citrus fruit, specifically a pomelo; pomelo and other citrus fruits are likewise used as similar offering substitutes. A further variant of this fruit is recognized in East Asian Buddhism as Buddha's hand.
In Tibetan culture, certain fruits carry special significance beyond the previously mentioned apples, pears, and peaches. Some of these fruits come from the Buddhist lands of South Asia, while others are tied to the East Asian cultural sphere. The fruit of the Jambu tree, also called the rose apple, is believed to make people "immortal and flawless," a trait shared by nearly all sacred fruits. Its nectar preserves the physical body, while its wisdom keeps the mind clear.
In Tibetan, sugarcane is called བུ་རམ་ཤིང་ (sugarcane tree) and is associated with the Buddha's family, referred to as the "sugarcane clan" (བུ་རམ་ཤིང་པ་). Coconut trees, citron orchards, papaya groves, and sugarcane groves all bear fruits that carry auspicious meanings. Gaining insight into the true dharma's immortality is supported by viewing sugarcane and drinking its juice. Tibetan monks often substitute red sugar pills for sugarcane juice, which symbolizes both the teachings' origins and the patriarchs' lineage.
Known in Tibetan as བེ་ཏ་ or བེ་ཏུ་, coconuts are thought to have originated from a place named बेदर (Bedar), the birthplace of the Bodhisattva Nagadeepa, an area abundant with coconut palms. Some early great yogis used coconut shells as utensils, while Tibetan monasteries often preserve coconut shell relics brought by pilgrims. In conclusion, the trees and fruits mentioned in Tibetan culture bear deep spiritual meaning and are often tied to the Buddha's teachings and the practitioners' journey.
Losang Thamphel (1819-1871), a renowned Gelugpa scholar from the Amdo region, is the subject of the "Biography of Losang Thamphel." This manuscript, discovered at Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library in the late 19th century, recounts how the Buddha and the celestial maiden Melodious Sound granted him enlightenment. Among the described events is his reception of divine fruits from the maiden, with a plate holding seven sacred fruits, including peaches, papayas, and pomegranates.
The citrus fruit, which resembles a lemon, is referred to in Tibetan as བི་ཛ་པུ་ར་, a term rooted in the Sanskrit बीजपूर, and it has long represented wealth and fertility. In the work titled "The Transmission of Tsampa Kaga: Four-Armed Mahakala and His Retinue" (late 18th century, private collection), a detail shows the deity's right hand holding a fruit that symbolizes a coconut, though this coconut is frequently absent or substituted in later iconographic versions. Certain texts identify him as "Mahakala Holding a Coconut" (མགོན་པོ་བེ་ཏ་འཛིན་ཅན་).
The Tibetan word for betel nut, either གོ་ཡུ་ or གོ་ཡེ་ (गुवाक), is another term borrowed from Sanskrit, used commonly in the southern Tibetan regions. This nut has long been a point of contention in Buddhist cultural circles, leading to bans across Himalayan kingdoms such as Sikkim and Bhutan. Meanwhile, papayas and oranges are two sacred fruits that people often mix up, or that spiritual texts present as one. As for the fruit in the hands of the god of wealth and the mongoose, it forms a full cycle of gathering and releasing, signifying prosperity.
In Tibetan, the papaya is termed བསེ་ཡབ་ or སེ་ཡབ་. It stands for asceticism and great achievements because Buddha meditated in a papaya grove for six years. Oranges, however, are termed བིལ་བ་ or བིལྦ་ in Tibetan, with the latter form taken directly from the Sanskrit बिल्व. These oranges are a component of the traditional Eight Auspicious Symbols and represent the nature of enlightenment.
According to the phrase "བིལ་བ་རྒྱུ་རྐྱེན་འབྲས་བུར་བཅས་པའི་ཆོས།," all worldly or spiritual pursuits come to fulfillment through the linked workings of causes and conditions. Within the Blue Lapis Tibetan Medicine Thangka is a section on Wood Essence and Plancha Medicinal Materials, originating from the Tibetan Medicine Hospital in Lhasa during the early 1900s—featuring trees and fruits from the papaya family. These are sorted into three grades: excellent papaya, standard papaya, and low-grade papaya.
At the Rubin Museum of Art, a detail from the mid-19th-century work "The Accomplished One, Vajra Lotus" depicts the accomplished one drinking sugarcane juice and eating fruit. In Tibet, the pomegranate—drawing on imagery from both East Asia and South Asia—represents prosperity and power. The uncommon pomegranate from Nepal was favored by ancient high-ranking nobles and scholars. In Lhasa, songs tied to the pomegranate are found in the three major temples, symbolizing an abundance of knowledge. Oranges from Sikkim and Ladakh are likewise well regarded in the Tibetan region.
In Tibetan, the banana tree is commonly called "ཆུ་ཤིང་", literally "water + tree". Bananas or plantains are known as "ཀེ་ར་" or "ཀེ་ལ་" in Tibetan areas, a term adopted from the Nepalese word "केरा". According to the scriptures, individuals are instructed to move past illusions such as "dreaming under a banana tree". The Tibetan names for mangoes and persimmons are alike, both stemming from the Sanskrit word "आम्र", which represents sacredness and completeness. As for citrus fruits, most are termed "tsalum" or "tsalum" in Tibetan, with the fruit's color being the focus.
Translated from Sorang Wangqing's blog, this article describes how persimmon cakes—referred to as "ཨ་མྲ་འཁུར་བ་" or "མི་རྒན་ཨམ་ཆོག་"—have been treasured by Tibetans since antiquity, serving as a symbol of their longing for longevity. These cakes are also viewed as a metaphorical Buddhist sacred fruit. The photograph "The merchant's daughter with a variety of foods including fruits and dried fruits," taken by Rabden Lepcha in the Lhasa region between 1920 and 1921, belongs to the collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford.