Violent Buddhist Superheroes at Mt. Kailash

  Mt. Kailash, China
Saturday, July 15, 2006

The Tibetan Buddhist pantheon of deities, I think, would make an excellent cast of characters for a cartoon show, even better than Marvel Comics' Superheroes. So would the stories revolving around Mt. Kailash--Kang Rinpoche.

Today's Episode: The Battle for Mt. Kailash.

Two thousand five hundred years ago, Buddha magically flew with five hundred arhats to Mt. Kailash, then a holy Bonpo and Hindu mountain. Declaring an auspicious connection between Buddhism and Tibet, he correctly prophesized that the lands of Tibet would become a refuge and repository for Buddhism as it declined in Hindustan. This prophesy was made over 1,000 years before Buddhism would reach Tibet. He also named this mountain the sacred abode of Cakrasamvara, the Circle of Bliss, known in Tibet as Khorlo Demchok.

Khorlo Demchok is a meditational deity of the yogatantras, representing the cessation of desire and ego--the enlightened mind. His sharp bared teeth, crown of skulls, necklace of severed head, blue skin, bulging eyes, and twelve arms convey power as he drinks blood from a skullcap. He is always with his female wisdom aspect Dorje Naljorma. Together they represent complete enlightenment.

Yet the mountain was home to Bon shamanistic deities and was the abode of Hindu's Shiva, the Destroyer, and his consort Parvati. Shiva, as the destroyer, also represents change--death, destruction, growth through shedding the old--that leads to creation. Under his feet, the Lord of Yoga crushes the Demon of Ignorance.

"Shiva likes isolated, beautiful places that are hard to reach," said an Indian pilgrim I met at Mt. Kailash.

Mt. Kailesh, known to Bonpos as the Nine-storey Swastika Mountain, Yungdrung Gu Tse, is the location where their founder descended to earth over ten thousand years ago. To Bonpos, Yungdrung Gu Tse is the abode of the Sky God Sipaiman.

Now the mountain is getting crowded: Sipaiman, Shiva, Parvati, Khorlo Demchok, Dorje Naljorma. It's a big mountain, but is there room for all these gods and deities?

An intense magical battle ensued fifteen hundred years after Buddha reached Mt. Kailesh: Milarepa versus Naro Bonchung, two magicians, one Buddhist, one Bonpo.

They met face to face at Mt. Kailash and competed with their magical powers to determine supremacy. After many tests of magical strength, the first to reach the summit of Mt. Kailash at dawn was to be the victor. Naro ascended on a flying drum while Milarepa watched from below. Finally, however, the first rays of sunlight reached the summit and Milarepa instantly joined them on the summit. To this day, Milarepa is the only person to have reached the summit, although you could still call it an "unclimbed mountain."

Naro conceded, and Mt. Kailash became a principal Buddhist mountain. Still, Bonpos revere the mountain and circumambulate it anti-clockwise.

Buddhism was not finished, however: it still needed to psychologically crush the gods of the samsara world, including Shiva. That battle ended with deities such as Ganesh, Bramha, and Shiva crushed under the feet of wrathful deities such as Khorlo Demchok. This represented that gods of the various religions are illusory.

Based on this episode, Khorlo Demchok emerged the victor. But what of Khorlo Demchok versus Sipaiman or the Jain gods. Stay tuned for the next episode.

In the morning at a decrepit dorm, Losang was reading his yogatantra texts of Khorlo Demchok in preparation for the kora. The pages were long, rectangular, brown, and hand-written by monks. He flipped through each, reading aloud in a droning spiritual mumble.

Outside was the town of Darchen, a rapidly-growing beginning point for the kora. New buildings to accomodate tourists and pilgrims were being built throughout the town. Soon, perhaps, the new airport in Ali would be completed and the road to Darchen paved, bringing more tourists. Stray, semi-wild dogs roamed the streets. Outside pool tables were surrounded by billiards enthusiasts. Trash and excrement were everywhere; the few toilets were too disgusting for most people's taste, so near the stream or behind a wall was suitable. Clearly waste disposal or any sanitation were not part of the tourism growth plan.

Luckily, we were unable to find a good place to stay so, at 1 pm, Losang, Ichi, Dolma, and I began the kora, a 53 kilometer (32 mile) journey around massive Mt. Kailash.

After an hour of hiking past prayer flags and piles of rocks, we entered the Lha-chu valley. Pilgrims have placed so many rocks on the cairns that the surrounding landscapes are essentially rock-free: a popular kora, indeed.

Soon we arrived at the Great Flagpole, where prayer flags whipped in the wind. Losang placed cedar in the incense burner and sprinkled tsampa around it as an offering, lighting it with a couple of small incense sticks after several tries in the wind.

After a rain and sleet storm that stung our bodies, we reached one of the rest tents on the way for tsampa and butter tea. After the storm, the large sandstone formations and cliffs rising thousands of feet from the valley were covered in waterfalls of all sizes, darkened by the rain, yet reflecting wetness as the late afternoon sun shone through the clouds.

The trail followed the Lha River up the valley as we passed the three pinnacles of Longevity, representing Amitayus, White Tara, and Vijaya. Many of the peaks along the kora have a sacred aspect and story to them, whether the Saddle of King Gesar or hills of the three main Bodhissatvas.

Six hours after we began, we reached Drirapuk, where we would stay for the night in a tent dorm room. Ichi was confronted by two camp children, part of a nomadic contingent, as yaks returned from grazing. The children had two small wooden swords and were ready for battle. As Ichi was unarmed, I gave him my trekking pole, extended to the fullest for maximum effect. The Pirate Boys and Ichi battled fairly harmlessly, and I prepared a stirfry meal that we cooked on one of the nomad's stoves. Below was a large camp of Indian pilgrims.

In the morning, hundreds of Indian pilgrims and a few Tibetan pilgrims left Drirapuk to ascend Dolma La, the 18,500 foot pass named after the deity Tara. Ichi and I joked that the pass was also named after his mom. This isn't too far from the truth, as Dolma is seen as a mother deity.

Near the pass, Ichi and Losang built a couple of small cairns, in honor of Dorje Naljorma, who lived within these hallowed grounds.

A cold wind whipped around us as a recent snowstorm whitened Dolma La. We didn't stay too long at the pass as it was inhospitable. After a few pictures and prayers, we descended past the Pool of Great Compassion and across a snowfield into the Lham-chu Valley.

Along the way, we passed Bonpos heading anti-clockwise. As they passed, I wondered how they felt about the battle between Naro and Milarepa. How did they feel about their brothers and sisters heading clockwise?

About this point, details aside, I found out that some friendly round worms were living in my intestines.

Ode to Intestinal Worms
(spoken)How did you get in there? What did I eat? Must have been pretty gross, but I ate it anyway. Now you're inside my and I'm stuck with you. Maybe we should become friends: what kind of foods do you like? Then again, maybe I should destroy you: its MY food, back off, worm!!!

(sung by Frank Zappa's ghost)
You're inside of me
and I'm feeding you
Thought you were just for cats and dogs
But now you're in my poo.

Maybe it was that nasty gruel
that led you into my stool
Maybe you came into me
when I ate that rancid ghee.

But now you're inside of me
and I'm stuck with you
Did you like that stirfry last night?
Would you prefer some beef stew?

(spoken with radio microphone voice)I know you're in there, in my jejunum and ileum, eating my food...my food...it's my food. Doc please just don't give me an exploratory laparotonomy...

And so on.

Advice on websites say I should wash all my food in ozonated or bleached water, keep my living environment clean, avoiding swimming, not walking barefoot, and cleaning my colon in an "ALL OUT WAR."

That said, I declared ALL OUT WAR on the Intestinal Worms with a barrage of raw garlic and other things. I think they're dead.

Buddhism does not condone killing, however, so what would a monk think?

Too late: that monk has killed millions of living organisms. Massacres and genocide occur every day at a large scale as people take showers, killing skin bacteria and swat mosquitoes. We are all murderers! We just don't take into account most of our murders. I'm fine with that: the world is a violent place and monks should be allowed to bathe once in a while. The battles and lessons of Khorlo Demchok teach us that as we encircle the mountain.

After singing about my Intestinal Worms, we hiked another six hours to Darchen, celebrating our successful kora with dinner in town. We were exhausted at this point, and Ichi was too tired to do the five koras they had planned: they would leave tommorrow.

I decided to stay for another kora, after a day of rest. They gave me a family picture that I vowed to take around the mountain with me so they would be there in spirit. The intestinal worms would also join me for another kora. Can worms become enlightened too?

Next Episode: Khorlo Demchok battles Intestinal Worms