Hindu · Buddhist · Jain · Bön
གངས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ
Mount Kailash
“Four faiths lifting their eyes to the same summit”
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Photo: Ondřej Žváček · CC BY 2.5
Scenes
Meaning
The snow-covered peak parts the sky, and the footsteps of pilgrims wrap the mountain in one slow circle.
Held sacred in Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, and Bön traditions alike, the mountain is honored not by climbing to its summit but by the kora, a pilgrimage walked around it.
Field notes
- Location
- Ngari · Tibet · N31.1° · E81.3°
- Best time
- May to September, when the snows melt and the kora path opens
- Getting there
- Five to six days or more overland from Lhasa; time to settle into the high altitude is part of the journey.
- Etiquette
- By long custom the summit is left untrodden, and reverence is offered through the circling pilgrimage.
Sources
- · Encyclopaedia Britannica
- · Sacred Land Film Project
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