Why Can't Women Climb the Sacred Mountain?
In a 1994 essay, Professor Toni Huber of Humboldt University in Germany posed the question: "Why can women not climb the pure crystal mountain?" The mountain he referred to is Zari God Mountain（དག་པ་ཤེལ་རི）in Tibet's Shannan region, whose Tibetan name translates as "pure crystal." This query is tied to the Tibetan scroll painting "Pilgrims and the Holy Crystal Mountain" and the taboos that forbid ascent of the peak.
One of the twenty-four great sacred mountains in Tibetan Buddhism has a main peak that is said to be the location of the Vajra Throne of the Pure Land of Sukhavati, where many sacred monks like Padmasambhava and Tsongkhapa left footprints through their practice. It is described in 'The Light of Dabashe Ri' as: "The pure and luminous Dabashe crystal mountain, like the palace of the Buddha of the Sambhogakaya, the mandala of the self-arising secret wisdom, a brief discussion of the layout of Zari.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Shengle Golden Vajra Pagoda City New York. During the 12th century, Zhabje Kargye Yeshe Dorje（གཙང་པ་རྒྱ་རས་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྡོ་རྗེ）, a high lama of the Kagyu sect, practiced in this place and lauded it as a realm of enlightenment. Since that time, countless devotees from every direction have journeyed here to pay homage to this sacred mountain.
Pilgrims to Mount Kailash can choose among three primary routes: the summit circuit encircling the main peak, the mid-level circuit that passes through side peaks and valleys, and the valley circuit, which extends farther from the main peak along surrounding rivers and canyons. Devotees find the journey around Crystal Mountain deeply compelling, since the sacred mountain possesses abundant purity and offers substantial opportunities for spiritual practice. A route situated closer to the "altar city" at the summit enables pilgrims to gain greater merit.
According to Huber’s research, nearly all women—whether lay followers or nuns—are barred from the mountain’s upper circuit and much of its middle circuit. They may only worship via the canyon route encircling the sacred mountain’s outer edge, earning merit through twice the physical exertion and by gazing at the far main peak. This grand activity, however, excludes women. The item titled "Tibet Map of Mount Tsari Pilgrimage Sites" is held by the British Museum.
Huber provides the following translation of a Western
Italian missionary Ippolito Desideri (1684-1733) recorded in 1720 that for any woman, including a nun, reaching the mountain’s summit was viewed as a sacrilege, and that women were forbidden to go beyond a designated point. He further observed that the small circumambulation—which follows the mountain ridge—could not be undertaken by women, since its path passes over the Chomo La mountain pass, a site considered taboo for them. Nonetheless, some women do travel to the pass and then turn back, thereby obtaining a modest amount of merit that the taboo allows.
At Chomo La, a 16,000-foot mountain pass, no woman may cross. Additionally, women are barred from moving past the initial stage of the middle circuit. On my first day, after a five-mile climb uphill to Lapu, one of the women in our party was turned back because of her sex. Descending from Shang-lu, we dropped 3,000 feet to Tongtang, a rest station located in a spruce forest.
Fredrick Bailey, in 1913, reported: 'We found a woman in charge of the rest station, but women are not allowed to continue on the road between Chomo La pass and this rest station, as they are excluded from the pilgrimage route.' This was written by Frederick Marshman Bailey (1882–1967), who had earlier served as British Commercial Commissioner in Gyantse and Political Officer in Sikkim, undertaking covert operations in the Tibet region. Bailey's explorations in Tibet formed the basis for the delineation of the McMahon Line. Zhuomara and the Snow Monster.
Huber observes that the absence of written explanations in Tibetan literature for why women are barred from sacred mountains stems from the limited attention traditional Tibetan authors gave to female-related subjects. Nevertheless, oral traditions offer hints, including a legend involving the goddess Zhoma La（སྒྲོལ་མ་ལ་）. According to this story, the goddess sought to test the moral character of both men and women by stretching herself across the path to the summit. When a man encountered her, the goddess appeared as an elderly paralyzed woman, obstructing his passage.
When a man saw the goddess, he courteously requested her to step aside. She answered, "My brother, I am so powerless, I cannot move; if you have pity on me, please find another path, if not, then cross over me." After hearing this, he took an alternate route. Later, a woman encountered the goddess and ordered her to move. The goddess repeated the same words, but the woman stepped over her regardless. From that time onward, women were forbidden to enter that place, as any woman who did would die on the spot. The mountain pass thus came to be called Zhoma La.
Another widely recounted rumor involves the daughter of a noble government minister. Upon hearing that women were not permitted to circumambulate Mount Kailash along the middle and upper circuits, she resolved to disguise herself as a man, cross the Dolma La pass, and walk the circumambulation inside the mountain's forbidden zone. Eventually she arrived at a rest stop and proclaimed, "Women cannot complete the pilgrimage is just nonsense!" That night she abruptly disappeared from the rest stop. In English, Dukkar corresponds to the Tara.
It is thought that the guardian deity of Mount Kailash, manifesting as a beast, inflicted this punishment. The creature—a towering, hairy being known as Migöd (man-ape)—secretly seized her, toppled a huge tree, split the trunk apart, hid her corpse within the gap, then sealed it shut and cast it away. By the time she was discovered inside the trunk, she had already perished.
In traditional Tibetan society, men are considered to embody respect, humility, and caution, making them more likely to be favored. These two captivating rumors, without exception, characterize secular women as arrogant and disrespectful, reflecting the troubling gender bias in pilgrimage rituals and further exposing the imbalanced power dynamics and distribution in Tibetan society under traditional culture. The legendary Yeti is also referred to as the Abominable Snowman. Gender Views behind Language.
The stereotypes labeling women as rude, proud, arrogant, and jealous suggest that men must restrain them to prevent divine wrath. These images were shaped by the unequal distribution of power in ancient Tibetan society. Traditionally, Tibetan women handled farming and herding in addition to domestic duties, and even those of noble birth who were spared physical labor had no access to politics, which men regarded as their exclusive domain.
Barbara Nimri Aziz, one of the first anthropologists to study Tibetan women, examined the gender concepts that may be expressed in the Tibetan language. In traditional society, men had the chance to become politicians, landlords, or monks, while women were typically confined to the social category of "women"—as with the noblewoman (སྐུ་དྲག་བུད་མེད།). This unequal distribution of power is directly mirrored in linguistic usage.
The Tibetan word སྐྱེ་དམན, meaning 'of low birth,' is the standard term for both 'women' and 'wives.' It is not a recent coinage, slang, or regional usage, and it is found widely in classical texts as well as modern everyday language. This literal interpretation is not an obscure piece of history; anyone who uses or hears the word can state its meaning accurately. By contrast, there are no equivalent terms for 'men' or 'husbands' that carry discriminatory connotations.
In Tibetan pronouns, gender differences are clearly evident. For example, "མོ" can denote "she" or be applied to poor women and female animals; when referring to animals, it carries the sense of "it," as seen in prostitute (ཁྱི་མོ), mare (རྟ་མོ), ewe (ལུག་མོ), sow (ཕག་མོ), female demon (བདུད་མོ), and so on. Men, meanwhile, are termed "ཁྱོ་ག", "སྐྱེ་པ", or "བུ", with "ཁྱོ" implying bravery and nobility. A noblewoman is likewise called སྐུ་དྲག་བུད་མེད།
The pronoun ཁོ, which corresponds to English "he" or "him", is the standard masculine term, whereas its associated suffixes ཕོ and པོ are not used as widely. These masculine forms are applied to women only occasionally, as a gesture of respect. In contrast, མོ—found in the word འབྲོག་མོ་ (Tibetan Shepherdess)—carries such inherent discriminatory connotations that it is never used for mothers, noblewomen, or goddesses. Moreover, neither མོ nor ཁོ is ever employed for animals; instead, the equivalents of "it" or "they" are used. Finally, there are no distinct pronouns for poor males, male servants, or minors.
The severe gender disparities in Tibetan culture are signaled by terms such as "བུད་མེད" and "ནག་མོ," slang expressions for women that persist alongside the low-caste label དམན་རིགས། To the extent that language mirrors societal power structures, such vocabulary should prompt greater concern. On the subject of བུད་མེད།, the "Myth of the Witch" illustrates this dynamic, reminding us that the existence of the principle of equality does not automatically translate into an equal society.
From a religious standpoint, women in Tibetan areas continue to experience unequal treatment. Many male monastics still regard women as impure and contaminated, even though Buddhism permits female ordination and Vajrayana places significant value on female practitioners. According to Anne Klein (1985), the pervasive absence of egalitarianism within Tibetan society reflects a departure from core Buddhist teachings, adversely affecting women socially, economically, and psychologically.
Some scholars believe that, within the cycle of rebirth (Saṃsāra), women’s inherent responsibility for childbirth leads them to be regarded as essential to sustaining that cycle—an observation that partially explains the bias. To a certain degree, they then appear unable to escape the constantly turning wheel of karma, find it hard to break free from suffering, and even carry some blame for the cycle’s operation. This is illustrated in the six realms of reincarnation diagram, a THANGKA MANDALA displayed in a Buddist art gallery.
This prohibition, observed in numerous regions of Tibet, bars pregnant or menstruating women from entering sacred mountains. In the localized framework, the outer circle's female depiction of "birth" corresponds to the twelve links of dependent origination, known as Jati in Sanskrit. The stigmatization is reflected in the aforementioned pejorative phrase "ནག་མོ" (black woman). Black is consistently tied to impurity, negativity, and evil, whereas white is linked with purity and virtue.
Buddhism thus also labels good deeds as white deeds (དཀར་ལས་). A passage appears in the epic of King Gesar, shaped by Buddhist storytelling: "When the earth is turned black by groundhogs, when thieves tarnish the reputation of the tribe, and when black women (ནག་མོ) lead men astray towards darkness, that's when the pure white teachings will prevail." Separately, a witch legend—one associated with King Gesar and the demon—relates that a macaque was practicing in the snowy land.
Guided by karma, the rock witch (Raksha) appeared while the macaque was engaged in cultivating bodhicitta and contemplating emptiness. She attempted to allure him with words, transforming into feminine attire to seduce him and offering marriage. Nevertheless, the macaque, devoted to dharma practice, rebuffed her advances. In response, the witch warned that should they not unite, she would ally with a demon and bring harm to the beings of the snowy land.
According to "The Chronicles of the Kings of Tibet", it is recorded: "The people of this snowy region are descended from a father who is a monkey and a mother who is a demon." This lineage traces back to the macaque, who, driven by compassion for all beings and a wish to avoid generating negative karma, was left with no option but to take the rock witch as his wife. Their union gave rise to the earliest Tibetan people.
Based on their lineage, two distinct temperaments emerge. Those embodying the father monkey bodhisattva's nature are mild-mannered, unwavering in belief, compassionate, industrious, drawn to goodness, gentle in their words, and adept at debate. In contrast, those carrying the mother demon's essence tend toward avarice, stubbornness, commercial dealings, profit-seeking, deep-seated grudges, a delight in ridiculing others, courage paired with quickness, hesitancy, instability, a heavy load of anxieties, irascibility, and a disposition toward envy.
The description of different traits inherited from mother and father in "The Chronicles of the Kings of Tibet" offers a view of the moral burden imposed on women from a Tibetan Buddhist perspective. In later mythic versions, the monkey is an incarnation of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, embodying compassion, while the demon mother is an incarnation of the Indian goddess Tara (or the Buddhist mother of liberation). "These are all characteristics of the mother.
The image depicts a Rakshasi woman clutching a human bone in one hand and a kapala skull cup in the other. A second tale concerns the witch: In old Tibet, evil spirits ran unchecked, and whenever Princess Wencheng arrived, the temples she raised were repeatedly torn down by demons. Consulting divination, she learned that the whole of the Tubo territory took the shape of a reclining witch demon (སྲིན་མོ). Raomoqi in Lhasa holds the Dragon King Palace, and the witch's heart blood lies in Lake Otang. The three peaks around Raomoqi stand for the witch's two breasts and her vital force (སྲོག་བརྩ).
Harvard professor Janet Gyatso regards the rokshasa woman in the Tibetan Town Demon Map as a symbol of a wild, primordial feminine force that Buddhist authority rejects. The narrative recounts that the eastern cape troubles the west, the west troubles the east, the south troubles the north, and the north troubles the south. Following Princess Wencheng's advice, Songtsen Gampo built thirteen temples across Tibet to subdue the witch demon, bringing peace and calm to the land as part of his mission to establish Buddhism there.
The image of such a formidable witch calls to mind the fierce, uncivilized roots of the Tibetan people. Compared to women in neighboring Asian societies, she embodies for Tibetan women a stronger, more independent sense of identity—a trait of greater resolve. Female power looms so large in this context that the male-dominated hierarchy within Tibetan mythology must resort to extraordinary efforts to contain it. Though she may be ancient and even pure, she is by no means a passive figure awaiting subjugation.
Through these two myths, it becomes evident that the Rakshasi woman, a primitive deity indigenous to Tibet, holds a significant role in the region's earliest origin myths and Bon religion narratives. Faced with foreign cultures, she stirs up numerous disturbances, demanding extensive Buddhist architecture and male narratives to subdue her. Her existence may signify that prehistoric Tibet, akin to other civilizations, could have undergone a phase of matrilineal society.
The myths of Gaia, Greece’s Earth goddess; Pele, Hawaii’s volcano goddess; and Izanami, Japan’s unclean underworld goddess, show how prehistoric civilizations honored the "Great Mother" and held on to female power structures. This reverence for women, often tied to early fertility worship, embodies the shared consciousness of human society during its earliest stage.
The original sacredness of women was stripped away as male-dominated power systems emerged, a process reflected in the myth-altering practices of numerous civilizations. Within Tibet, the advent of Buddhist narratives marked a pivotal shift, recasting the Tibetan mother goddess as a fierce, avaricious demon and framing the primordial feminine essence as a chaotic rakshasa. This analysis is drawn from Erich Neumann's The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype.
During the gradual shift of society from disorder to order, women were reduced to sacrificial offerings. Since the 1980s, an increasing number of researchers from both the Eastern and Western worlds have devoted their attention to the lives of women in Tibet, specifically in areas such as Zha Ri Mountain, Ne Dakpa Shelri, Takpa Shelri, and Tsari. To our pleasant surprise, despite the dual pressures of secular and religious systems, Tibetan women continue to promote historical advancement and social change with extraordinary courage and resilience.
Some famous Tibetan women. Throughout Tibet's long history, numerous women have risen to prominence in the 'male privilege domain', and their success has often come with great sacrifice. For these women, Crystal Mountain may be a far-off, unattainable dreamland, yet their resolute and pure qualities—like that mountain—will be engraved by history into the pristine soil of this land.
After King Trisong Detsen's death in 704, the young Prince Chide Zan took the throne, and Queen Jarmazar again served as regent in her capacity as grandmother. Prior to that, from 676 to 689, following the premature demise of her husband King Mangsong Mangzan, Mei Lu · Chi Ma Lei འབྲོ་ཟ་ཁྲི་མ་ལོད (d. 712), the Queen of Tubo, was the Tubo Empire's de facto ruler, during which she foiled Garshi clan plots and kept her son Trisong Detsen safe.
Guru Padmasambhava referred to Princess Kyabje Yeshe Tsogyal (Yikisojia, ཡེ་ཤེས་མཚོ་རྒྱལ, 757-817 AD) as "my equal." Originally the consort of the Tibetan Emperor Trisong Detsen, she later became the principal disciple and consort of the Nyingma master. An exceptional Tibetan Buddhist female teacher and treasure revealer, she went into exile in remote regions, where she continued to practice the Dharma and achieved mastery in the Eight Sadhana Teachings, especially the practice of Vajrakilaya.
Known originally as Salong Zhenma, Sangdo Dolma (བསམ་སྡིང་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཕག་མོ) serves as the abbess of Sangye Monastery and holds the distinction of being the highest-ranking female practitioner in Tibetan Buddhism. Her previous incarnation was Vajravarahi. Meanwhile, Yeshe Tsogyal, who preserved and spread Guru Padmasambhava's teachings, is regarded as the lineage holder of the Nyingma tradition and an emanation of the dakini Vajravarahi; she is deeply venerated in both the Nyingma and Kagyu schools.
In the 1440s, Kunga Zomey, the initial Sangye Rinpoche, established Sangye Monastery in the Yarlung region. As a student of Perton Chola Langjie and Tangdong Jiebu, she was identified by Tangdong Jiebu as the third incarnation of Salong Zhenma. The Sangye Doji Pab system, instituted after her death, occupies the third rank among reincarnation lineages, trailing only the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama, with official endorsement from the Tibetan government and the Qing Emperor. This lineage has persisted to the present, now represented by its twelfth reincarnation.
From 1055 to 1149, Machig Labdron (མ་ཅིག་ལབ་སྒྲོན) lived as a female Buddhist master within the Tibetan tradition, and she established the lineage of female lamas.
Padampa Sangye, the founder of the lineage, later encountered her and hailed her as the "embodiment of the four great wisdoms, an emanation of the mother of the Buddhas in the practice of empty conduct." In her early years, she had studied under Geshe Zhaba. She married and had children, but at age 34 she left home to receive empowerment from Sönam Lama, adopting the name "Dorje Wangmo." Acting on Padampa Sangye's instructions, she founded the female lama lineage at age 37, established the primary monastery of Sangyé Karmo, and imparted the teachings to her followers.
Great and difficult are they. In 1144, she died and is revered as an incarnation of the wisdom dakini.
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Muchas gracias. ?Como puedo iniciar sesion?