Mt. Kailash, Kang Rimboche, Kang Tise -- call it what you will -- is the ultimate pilgrimage destination for Buddhists, Hindus and Shamans in Asia. The mountain is the residence of the Buddha Chakrasamvara, the Great God Shiva and the supreme Bon deity. Like Guru Rimboche and Jetsun Milarepa all the great saints and yogins of Central Asia have visited this great magical mountain.
The mountain is worshipped by prostration, by offering and by mantra and visualization; but for the ordinary pilgrim khorra (circumambulation) is the way to go. Thereby awareness is heightened, vision is focussed, meditation is spontaneous, obstacles on the path are removed, the goal is achieved and every boon is granted.
The pilgrimage began at Tarboche on the full moon of the fourth lunar month of the horse year which is the optimal moment in the twelve-year Jupitarian cycle, celebrating the enlightenment of the Buddha Gautama in India. It began at Tarboche and marked by the time-honoured raising of a great timber brought from Lhasa.
These pictures of the mountain, sured against our ruin, provide a finite record of the essentially ineffable experience of the magic mountain. The faces of the pyramidal temple to the no-name father-mother of all tell the story of the Kailash khorra.
The first view approaching on the highway from the south-west.
Pole raising at Tarboche from the Mahasiddha Sky Burial Site.
The south and west faces from Tarboche
The north face flanked by Chenrezik and Chakna Dorje.
Final ascent of the Drolma La pass.
The north and east faces from the Drolma La pass.
The last view of the magic mountain.