Circling Kailash and Manasarovar

by Uden Sherpa 

The Legend of Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar

Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar are the only two places in the whole of Tibet that were visited by Lord Buddha, accompanied by five hundred Arhats. During the turning of the Three Wheels of the Dharma, Buddha Shakyamuni extensively explained the merits of building images. So Indra (the king of gods) offered precious articles of the gods, Ananda (the king of Serpents or Nagas) offered precious articles of the Nagas and Bimbisara (the king of Magadh) offered gold and silver, etc. to the Buddha and requested him to have three images of the Buddha made, as a means of generating merit for the sentient beings in the future.

On the instructions of the Buddha, the master craftsman Viswakarma made three images of the Buddha that were blessed by Buddha Shakyamuni. A fifteen-foot image was taken to realm of the gods, a ten-foot image was taken to the realm of the Nagas and a two-foot image of the Buddha was kept at Magadh, in order for the devotees to make offerings and pay homage.

One day, Mahakala miraculously took the image of the Buddha from Magadh to his palace at Lake Lanka, located at the foot of Mount Kailash, and made offerings. Then he thought a special place was needed to keep such a sacred statue and attempted to carry Mount Kailash on his back to the realm of the Nagas in Lake Lanka.

Buddha Shakyamuni and the 500 Arhats flew from Bodhgaya to Mount Kailash and landed on the rock known as Kyil Khor Teng, or ‘Ganachakra Basin of Arhats’, on the western face of Mount Kailash. Buddha left his footprint on four corners of Mount Kailash and prevented Mahakala from carrying Mount Kailash to the realm of the Nagas. These four footprints of the Buddha are known as the ‘Four Nails Holding Mount Kailash’, because they prevented Mahakala from carrying the mountain away. Then Buddha sat on the rock in front of Mount Kailash and gave teachings to the Nagas residing in Lake Manasarovar and Lake Lanka. Today, Buddhist pilgrims call this rock the ‘Throne of the Buddha’.

Mount Kailash is the only holy place in the world that is regarded as equally sacred by Buddhists, Hindus, Jains and Bonpos. To the Theravadan Buddhists, it is the abode of Sthavira Angaja, with an assembly of 1,300 Arhats; and to the Vajrayana practitioners it is the mandala or palace of Chakrasamvara. The sacred nature of Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar is mentioned in the Sutras.
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Ladakh: Lamas Dances

Time after time there come some big events and then Buddhist Lamas and probably their best pupils put on multicolored dresses, gaudy masks and start walking in circles drowsily waving their hands and legs.

From 1st to 15th of September there was Ladakh Festival in Leh and around. Besides national costumes and buddhist rituals it also included Polo games being there either as an essential part of Ladakhi culture or only for the sake of audience not getting too bored from excessive national specifics.

Using term ‘drowsily’, I’m not trying to mock at totally respected lamas, not in any way. But if we compare what Tibetans call a dance and what we, children of trance and rap culture usually refer to speaking about dances, then no other word can come to mind. Read more »

Tibet and Everest View From Space

Himalaya and Everest from Space, NASA picture

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Himalaya and Everest from Space

Green Tax To Save Himalayan Ecology

Alarmed by the recent havoc wrecked by climate changes in sensitive Himalayan eco-zones, chief minister of Himachal Pradesh Prem Kumar Dhumal has turned environment protection into a priority area, setting up a fund for it - a one of its kind initiative in the country.

Cabinet colleagues, shortly after giving a nod to setting up of an environment fund, on Saturday became the first to commit a voluntarily contribution of Rs 100 per month towards it, in lieu of the cars they own.

A day earlier mooting the proposal at a workshop, the chief minister lamented the nations attitude towards environmental issues saying, “we are unpaid custodians for rendering environmental services and our efforts to conserve the green cover is not being duly compensated by the central government.”

“For a start I turn to the state residents,” said Dhumal, “in concern for the damage fossil fuels cause to the environment, vehicle owners could voluntarily pitch in a green cess. The corpus collected would be used solely for environment protection and promotion,” he said.

Professor NH Rabindranath, chairman sustainable technologies centre at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore at the same workshop set alarm bells ringing when he disclosed that scientific models forecast a rise of as high as 6 degree Celsius in mean temperature in the Himalayan zone by as early as 2050.

Effects of such a scenario are becoming visible as an unusually long rainy season through the year has left the states road, electricity, drinking water and irrigation infrastructure fractured. The losses still being counted have already surpassed Rs 2000 crores.

“Cropping of apples, wheat, rice and other fruits will be hit as it beings to rain more, says the scientist, “and temperature sensitive forestry including the majestic deodar trees may wither away.”

However, the leadership here is one of the few states where concern for environment is high and an environment fund is a mature way of sensitizing people about it, said Rabindranath.

The governments move for a green cess is justified but just picking on private vehicle owners is not, differs Ajay Vaidya, a lawyer. Under a High Court ruling a green cess on cars is already being imposed in Manali and is a norm in many countries.

To validate a green tax in the state, cement units which are the biggest pollutants in the state and other industries that have been identified as environmentally unfriendly should be brought into the ambit, said Vaidya.

Source: himachal.us