KAGYU. SeeBka’ brgyud
KAILAS ́A (KAILASH)
Kailas ́a (Kailash) is one of Asia’s preeminent sacred
mountains. It is located in southwestern Tibet near the
borders of India and Nepal. By Himalayan standards
Mount Kailas ́a is a modest peak, standing at 22,028
feet; yet the stature of its isolated snow-capped dome
forms a striking image against the arid plateau. To-
gether with Lake Manasarovar, eighteen miles to the
southeast, Kailas ́a forms one of the region’s richest and
most active PILGRIMAGEsanctuaries, revered for nearly
two millennia by followers of diverse religious tradi-
tions including Jains, Hindus, and members of the in-
digenous Tibetan BON religion. Beginning in the
eleventh century, Mount Kailas ́a occupied a central
position in the sacred landscape of Tibetan Buddhists,
who associate the sanctuary complex with an array of
BUDDHAS, tantric deities, and past Buddhist masters.
Situated at Asia’s watershed, four of the continent’s
largest rivers originate within fifty miles of the moun-
tain: the Brahmaputra, the Karnali, the Sutlej, and the
Indus. Tibetan literature refers to the mountain as
Gangs dkar Ti se (White Snow Mountain Ti se); in
common parlance, however, it is simply called Gangs
rin po che (Precious Snow Mountain).
Mount Kailas ́a is popularly associated with Mount
Meru, the central pillar of the world system as depicted
in Buddhist and Hindu COSMOLOGY. Tibetan descrip-
tive guides to Kailas ́a, however, equate the mountain
with a site known as Himavat or Himalaya (the Snowy,
or the Snow Mountain), one of twenty-four sacred
lands (pitha) named in the Cakrasamvara-tantraas ge-
ographic locations efficacious for Buddhist practice (as
well as sites “mapped” within the visualized vajra-body
of the yogin meditator). The mythic narratives of the
Cakrasamvara literature recount how, in primordial
times, these twenty-four lands fell under the domin-
ion of Mahes ́vara (S ́iva), manifesting in the guise of the
fierce, blood-thirsty god Bhairava (or Rudra). The
buddha Vajradhara, in wrathful form as a Heruka de-
ity, then subdued Bhairava, blessing each location as a
MANDALAof the deity Cakrasamvara and his retinue.
The tradition of identifying Kailas ́a within this sacred
landscape was especially promoted by members of the
BKA’ BRGYUD(KAGYU) sect of Tibetan Buddhism, who
grouped the peak together with two other important
mountain pilgrimage sites in southern Tibet, La phyi
and Tsa ri, identified respectively as Cakrasamvara’s
body, speech, and mind. These claims drew criticism
from some Tibetan quarters; the renowned scholar SA
SKYAPANDITA(SAKYAPANDITA; 1182–1251), for ex-
ample, argued that the sites associated with Cakra-
samvara were located not in Tibet but India, and were
part of a visionary geography accessible only to highly
skilled meditators. Modern scholars such as Toni Hu-
ber have begun to track the manner in which impor-
tant sacred locations of India were “remapped” onto
Tibetan soil.
Tibetan tradition credits both the historical Buddha
and the Indian adept PADMASAMBHAVA(ca. eighth
century) with visits to the mountain. Another impor-
tant narrative recounts how the poet-yogin MI LA RAS
PA(MILAREPA; 1028/40–1111/23) inaugurated Bud-
dhism’s ascendancy at Mount Kailas ́a by defeating a
rival Bon priest, Na ro bon chung, in a contest of mir-
acles. The mountain later became associated with the407