Royal Mountain Travel Magazine Royal Mountain Travel Magazine Issue 2 | Page 10

Mount
Kailash

Mount Kailash: Offering to the Sacred Mountain

Offering to the Sacred Mountain
Saga Dawa Festival

us, topping it with offerings of yak butter, bricks
of black tea, sugar and spices which fill the air with
fragrant incense.
As the first rays of sun strike the snow cap of
Mount Kailash, Lobsang Rinpoche begins the ritual
chants (accompanied by the bell that represents the
elementary sound of the universe and ritual mudras)
which precede our offering to the lake. Arms ache,
though we are warmed by the exercise of flinging
each of the thousand barley bundles into the sacred
waters and my poor throwing ability causes much
amusement, but is excused on the grounds of being
a woman.

Catherine Spence

The following morning long Tibetan horns sound
amid the clash of drums and brass gongs, all
accompanied by the cheers of thousands as the
13 meter flag pole is again raised at Tarboche,
festooned with new flags of red, yellow, blue, green
and white (representing the five elements).
The angle of the new pole dictates the fortunes of
Tibetans for the following year so it is a complex
process (often taking a couple of hours) as trucks
pull, instructions are shouted and men climb up and
down the pole and supports to adjust the ropes. All
the while pilgrims circle in a clockwise direction and
monks chant prayers and play instruments.
It is a rigorous journey to Kailash, but this
is one of the reasons that it is so special.
Regardless of religious inclination (or lack
of) it is truly a pilgrimage and one of the few
journeys left in the world where all cannot
be predicted and guaranteed.

This is the most important time for pilgrimage to
Mount Kailash as on the 15th day of the month
of Saga Dawa (the fourth month of the Tibetan
calendar), it is the day of the full moon when the
birth, enlightenment and earthly death (parinirvana)
of the Shakyamuni Buddha is celebrated.
Believed by the Bonpo to be the place where their
founder descended to earth and first taught, Kailash,
which they call Yungdrung Gu Tse (Nine-Storey
Swastika Mountain) continues to be venerated by his
followers long after the establishment of Buddhism
in Tibet.
In the 11th century, with the revival and ascendancy
of Buddhism in Tibet, Milarepa the poet, mystic and
teacher, followed a prophecy of Shakyamuni Buddha
naming Kailash as the abode of Chakrasambhava
and challenged his Bonpo archrival, Naro Bonchung
over control of the mountain. A contest of magical
powers left the question of supremacy unresolved
until the final challenge, a race to the summit at
dawn. Bonchung appeared before dawn riding his
magic drum. Milarepa waited until the first rays of
sun struck and rode them to the top of the mountain
in an instant. So shocked was Bonchung, he fell from
his drum, which dropped from the sky gouging out
the vertical pits and crevices visible on the south
face. He conceded jurisdiction and was granted a
neighboring mountain to the east.
From the 12th century the Kagyupa flourished
around the mountain. Monasteries and retreats
sprang up and pilgrims arrived in large numbers to
pay homage to Kang Rinpoche. As well as Buddhists,
Bonpo continue to regard Kailash as a place of
pilgrimage (circumambulating in a clockwise
direction) as do Hindus, for whom the mountain is

Mount Kailash. Photo: Rajendra Gurung.

Long shrouded in myth and mystery, Tibet lies on
the roof of the world, surrounded by the mountain
ranges of Central Asia. Amid this grandeur, rising
alone from the western Tibetan Plateau, stands
Mount Kailash (Kang Rinpoche) – the most sacred
mountain in the world and earthly manifestation
of the cosmic Mount Meru. Center of a vast tantric
mandela, it is a place of pilgrimage and rebirth;
revered by Bon, Buddhist, Hindu and Jain alike.
Thirteen hundred long, dusty kilometers west of
Lhasa your cars top a small rise and suddenly this
most spectacular and sacred sight is before you.
Prayer flags are raised in honor of the first glimpse of
Mount Kailash standing alone and distinctive before
you and the vast blue waters of Lake Manasarovar
below. Collectively known as Kangri Tsosum, Lake
Manasarovar and Mount Kailash are said to be the
heart of the ancient Shangshung Kingdom, the
supposed land of origin of the pre-Buddhist Bonpo
and one of the sources of the legend of Shambhala.

It is here too that the great rivers of Asia are born.
The Indus, the Sutlej, the Tsangpo (Brahmaputra)
and the Karnali (tributary of the Ganges) flow from
the four cardinal directions. Tibetans consider all
these rivers sacred and their sources even more so
– named for the animals that provide vehicles for
the gods – the horse, the peacock, the elephant and
the lion.
As dawn breaks, offering light and very little warmth
to the icy air, the three-dimensional, seven-tiered
mandala we are constructing from one thousand 2kg
packets of barley is almost complete. Each of the
packets has been wrapped with silk ribbons and is
carefully oriented as we build. Lengths of red, blue,
white, yellow and green silk (representing the five
elements) are wrapped around the completed top
layer. It stands on the shores of Lake Manasarovar,
the highest and holiest lake on earth, conceived
from the mind of Brahma. Nearby we set light to the
mound of juniper branches we have brought with

Mount Kailash. Photo: Rajendra Gurung.

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