Sacred Peaks and Holy Waters: An Introduction to Tibet's Landscape Deities
The filming credits for "Yamdrok Lake" were attributed to Cui Bikof and Norzunov, with the footage dated to 1900–1901. Within the text, a passage from the "Sikula Mountain God Praise" (སྐུ་བླའི་བསྟོད་པ་ཆེན་མོ་) includes the Tibetan lines བེའུ་ལུག་ཕྱྭ་གཡང་རྨ་གཡང་ཚོགས། མ་ལུས་བྱ་རྣམས་སྐད་སྙན་སྒྲོག། རྩ་བ་བརྟན་ཅིང་བྱིན་ལེགས་མཛེས། མཚོ་སྨན་གངས་སྨན་མང་པོ་འདུས། མཛེས་པའི་འཇའ་ཚོན་སྣ་ལྔས་བརྒྱན། ཝ་དང་སྟག་གཟིགས་གཅན་གཟན་ཚོགས། ཞྭ་གོས་སྤྲིན་དཀར་ན་བཟའ་མནབས།, which is rendered into English as follows: cattle and sheep flourish and draw fortune, livestock multiply with blessings, birds sing harmoniously with necks outstretched, mountains stand firm and majestic, herbs grow in abundance by the lake, a beautiful rainbow adorns the scene, and foxes, tigers, leopards, and other wild creatures gather, clothed in rainbow hues with cloud-like hair. A note explains that the term "Sikula" arose from a misreading of the Chinese characters meaning "four sisters," which is the accurate translation. Such missteps in translation have produced many curious and entertaining interpretations.
Within sight of the Tibetan Plateau, sacred mountains and holy lakes form its essential landscape grouping, serving as focal points through which residents of this isolated natural setting imagine and enact their world. These features operate as spiritual monuments that help bind culture into a unified whole. Moreover, they function as markers directing people toward the most concealed chapters of history, with the divide between the familiar and the unknown upheld by the mountains and lakes themselves.
Descending from the sacred mountain or walking beside the holy lake, one encounters countless cultural scenes and blessed relics along the designated pilgrimage routes. The valleys' winds bear the reverberations of times gone by, while the lake shores mirror the images of forebears—be they rulers, scholars, farmers, or herders. Within the mountains and waters are preserved the recollections of families, clans, and even entire dynasties.
At the base of the sacred mountain, classic literature and folk tales converge, while legends cradle and shape the course of history. Deities are said to reside either atop the sacred mountain or at the heart of the holy lake, where the dynamics of ordinary family life are mirrored and cast onto these natural landmarks. Their physical forms—composed of rocks, rippling water, vegetation, and animals—stand watch over villages and pastures.
On the Tibetan Plateau, where sacred mountains and holy lakes define the communities' landscape, a perpetual cycle now governs existence: the mountains and lakes remain eternal, while human life is subject to the constraints of time. We arrive and depart repeatedly, drawn back to these ageless peaks and waters, our voices carrying the faint trace of mournful melodies. In our efforts to make sense of the transcendent bonds we hold sacred, we redirect that reverence toward those who established it, all the while dwelling within an illusory world.
From the Rubin Museum collection and dating to the 19th century, "The Five Sisters of Longevity" depicts Tibet's most renowned mountain-deity group: the Five Sisters of Long Life. Their imagery and texts were first brought together in the 12th century and subsequently expanded into six core worship systems. The central deity is the Goddess of Longevity (བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཚེ་རིང་མ་).
Mountains and lakes, as visible projections of culture, are held in high esteem across the globe, reflecting the observation by Rilke that "People are exceptionally efficient at creating symbols". Within Tibetan regions, such sacred natural sites are understood through a threefold identity: as individual entities, they are remarkable natural formations; as spiritual beings, they are deities within the religious framework; and as ritual objects, they are sanctified through ceremony. Two illustrative examples are the local deity Emerald Beauty (མཐིང་གི་ཞལ་བཟང་མ་; Main Deity of Everest) and the local deity Virtuous Woman (མི་གཡོ་གླང་བཟང་མ་).
Mountains and lakes acquire individual identities through their natural features, their personification as mountain deities or lake spirits, and their connection to the local community—ties that are not necessarily ancestral. Regional mythological narratives recast these identities as a fixed backdrop, turning them into native symbols of the area, as exemplified by certain sacred mountains in Western Tibetan areas.
It must be noted that not every sacred mountain or lake is shaped into a deity, and the image of a deity does not necessarily start with nature worship (feelings of displacement may be present). Rather, it was through the integration of grand history and established religions that sacred mountains and lakes came to be endowed with complete personalities, being called mountain gods or lake gods (jointly referred to as domain gods; ཡུལ་ལྷ་).
Discussions and debates about the spiritual and physical aspects of sacred mountains and lakes move to the foreground once these sites have acquired their spiritual identity. Moreover, no hierarchical relationship exists between mountains and lakes, and the process of attaching lake gods to mountain gods spans a very long period. In their regenerated state, sacred mountains and lakes are no longer simply objects of emotional attachment for people.
Through their actions—ranging from sounds to footsteps—people continuously enrich the ritual identity of the sacred mountain and lake, merging natural and human traits into a seamless whole. In the end, the advent of classical texts fully frees the representational model of the sacred mountain and lake, turning renewal into a recurring cycle. Meanwhile, they are steadily evolving into embodiments of order and legality, weaving punitive mechanisms into their everyday routines.
Different conceptions of mountains and lakes are linked to distinct natural landscape types, and comparable mountains and lakes carry stable symbolic groups. To elaborate on the sacred mountain and holy lake system in Tibet, especially its unique aspects beyond ordinary mountain and lake culture, I will use the following two articles: Local: Coronation Songstress （ཅོད་པན་མགྲིན་བཟང་མ་） and Local: Sherin Lhamo （གཏལ་ཀར་འགྲོ་བཟང་མ་）.
How should we view sacred mountains and holy lakes? Within particular historical circumstances and aesthetic frameworks, the personification of these natural features has shifted over time—from individual acts of reverence toward the articulation of specific existential standpoints and power structures, with sacred origins growing increasingly heterogeneous. Though the space separating us from holy mountains and lakes may appear considerable, we ought to remember that their watchful presence extends over all living beings.
This piece is translated from Sorang Wangqing's blog. It asks how we can comprehend the purpose of our being on this blue planet—a sacred place that lies between heaven and earth.