Mount Kailash and Its Legends

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  • カイラスと伝説
  • カイラス ト デンセツ

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Abstract

There are many sacred mountains in Tibet, among them the most important being Mount Kailash. Since primeval days to the present, Tibetans have regarded Kailash as an object of worship, believing that it is the place where various gods reside. Aṅgaja, one of the Sixteen Arhats, dwells with a retinue of 1,300 arhats there, and Jetsun Milarepa lived and held his contest of miracles with the Bönpo Naro Bönchung on the mountain. Those beliefs in the mountain as a sacred place still live on and are practiced not only in Tibetan Buddhism, but also in other traditional religions such as Bön, which is based on animism and ancestor worship. Furthermore, Kailash has been often identified as the Snow Mountain mentioned in some Indian Buddhist texts, including the Abhidharmakośakārikā (Verses on the Treasury of Abhidharma), The Avataṃsaka Sūtra (Flower Garland Sutra), and so forth. Some Tibetan Buddhist monks, however, have criticized this view, saying that the identification has no objective evidence, and that most of the stories about Kailash are only legends because they lack logical or rational grounds. In this paper, the author shall attempt to examine the relationship between those two mountains as well as the position of Mount Kailash in Tibetan Buddhism, by referring to some Tibetan texts authored by Sakya Paṇḍita Kunga Gyeltsen (1182-1251), Chödrak Yéshé (1453-1524), and Chökyi Lodrö (1801-59). Additionally, the significance of pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibetan religious life will be also investigated, through appreciating the poetry of Shabkar Tsokdruk Rangdrol (1781-1851), who spent much of his life in mountain retreats.

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