Mount Kailash, Tibet / September 2012

Mount Kailash, 6714 m – is the most sacred peak in Asia.

It is wrapped in the mystery of ancient legends and mystical teachings, and for many centuries has been a place of worship and a centre of pilgrimage for the followers of four great religions – Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism and the Bon-Po religion, and lately it has been drawing more and more tourists from all over the world.

This peak of astonishing beauty, crowned with a shining dome of ice, is a grandiose rock pyramid of perfect proportions and the most powerful energy centre in the world, with which many myths and legends are connected. The four ridges of Mount Kailash correspond almost exactly to the main points of the compass, and the cracks on its southern side resemble in shape a swastika, the Buddhist symbol of spiritual power. Neither geographically nor geologically does Kailash belong to the main Himalayan range. According to the official version of the geologists, it rose together with the plateau from the ocean floor, and existed long before the Himalayas appeared.

Mount Kailash is revered as the spiritual centre of the universe, for it is joined by divine providence to the very Source of Being. In Tibetan Kailash sounds like Gangkar Tise, and in colloquial speech – Kang Rinpoche or the “Snow Jewel”. In Asia there is a widespread myth of a sacred mountain, the centre of the world, on whose slopes four great rivers have their source, giving life to the lands through which they flow. The source of this myth is found in the Indian epic telling of Mount Meru, the abode of the gods. Its height is immeasurable, its summit rests against the heavens, its slopes sparkle with gold, rubies, crystal and lapis lazuli.

According to Indian sources this mountain is located somewhere in the Himalayas, and in time the tale of the mythical Mount Meru came to be associated more and more with Mount Kailash. Here, indeed, four great rivers of Asia have their source. On the southern slope the Karnali begins, one of the main tributaries of the Ganges. The sources of the Indus begin on the northern slope, of the Sutlej – on the western, of the Brahmaputra (Yarlung Tsangpo) – on the eastern.

Hindus believe that Kailash is the cosmic centre of the universe. According to the tradition of the Vishnu Purana, the peak is a reflection or image of Mount Sumeru, the cosmic mountain at the centre of the Universe, the “axis of the Universe”.

Kailash (Kang Rinpoche, the “Snow Jewel” in Tibetan) is a reflection of Meru in our manifested world. Buddhists have also proclaimed Kailash the Swastika Mountain. The round cone of Kailash is almost symmetrical, and on all its faces horizontal and vertical stripes-ridges are clearly visible, forming the pattern of a swastika – the symbol of spiritual power. It may be that this is the original birthplace of this solar sign.

There are stories of the Panchen Lama travelling here and of the secret books he compiled about the paths to Shambhala…

According to the belief of Buddhists, if you walk around this mountain with the right thoughts and motivation, it is possible to cleanse the karma accumulated over several past lives. The Drolma La pass on the path around the mountain symbolises death and birth into a new life. Buddhists perform the ritual of nendra here, during which they recite a mantra 108 times on prayer beads.

For followers of the pre-Buddhist religion Bon-Po, Kailash is the mythical ladder to the sky, the centre and the soul of Tibet. In the history of Bon, the first master Tonpa Shenrab came down from the heavens precisely on Mount Kailash. For followers of the ancient Tibetan religion Bon, Mount Kailash and the lake at its foot, Manasarovar, are the heart of the ancient country of Shangshung, where Bon was born. Kailash, which in Bon is called Yungdrung Gu Tse (the “Nine-Storey Swastika Mountain”), is the soul of all of Bon, the focus of life force and of the main principle of the “Nine Ways of Bon”. The Bon tradition says: “At the foot of Mount Yungdrung 4 rivers have their source, flowing in the 4 directions.