Tales from the Island of Serendip

4 4

Reinhold Messner is widely considered to be the greatest climber in history. In 1978 he became the first to summit Everest single handed - without the aid of oxygen, a feat doctors had thought not humanly possible. He was the subject of a documentary by Werner Herzog, The Dark Glow of the Mountains in 1984. At about this time he was invited by the Chinese government to climb Mount Kailash but he declined.

The Chinese then gave permission for a Spanish team to climb the peak in 2001 , but this provoked such fervent international disapproval they withdrew the invitation and decided to ban all further attempts to climb the mountain.

"If we conquer this mountain, then we conquer something in people's souls ... I would suggest they go and climb something a little harder. Kailash is not so high and not so hard."

Reinhold Messner

Precious Jewel of the Snows

Despite the remoteness of it's location, thousands of pilgrims journey to Mount Kailash every year to walk the 32 mile path around it's base, believing this to be a holy ritual that will bring them good fortune.

Some achieve this in a single day. Others perform the parikrama, prostrating themselves after every step, stretching their fingertips with every prostration to mark the next footstep.

In the Ramayana, Rama sends the monkey king Hanuman on a mission to mount Kailash to find a certain herb that will revive his sleeping consort Sita.

Hanuman cannot find the herb, so decides to bring the mountain instead.

Two places I have been are Pavagadh and Mount Girnar, two sacred mounts rising from the flat plains of Gujarat.

Legend says they are scattered fragments of Mount Kailash that fell down as Hanuman flew overhead.

Though sacred, these are regularly climbed by pilgrims visiting the beautiful mountain top temples high in the clouds.

Mount Kailash was also said to be the site of a magical battle between Milarepa, who first introduced Buddhism to Tibet, and the Bön priest Naro Bön-chung, in which they vied to be first to climb the mountain and claim it for their respective religions. Milarepa won by riding a shaft of sunlight to the mountain top at dawn.

Profoundly though, the real reason Mount Kailash has not been climbed is because it cannot be found. For the true form of Mount Kailash exists only in the realm of Shambala, of which the visible manifestation is but a shadow.

Moths gathered in a fluttering throng one night

To learn the truth about the candle light,

And they decided one of them should go

To gather news of the elusive glow.

One flew till in the distance he discerned

A palace window where a candle burned –

And went no nearer: back again he flew

To tell the others what he thought he knew.

The mentor of the moths dismissed his claim,

Remarking: “He knows nothing of the flame.”

A moth more eager than the one before

Set out and passed beyond the palace door.

He hovered in the aura of the fire,

A trembling blur of timorous desire,

Then headed back to say how far he’d been,

And how much he had undergone and seen.

The mentor said: “You do not bear the signs

Of one who’s fathomed how the candle shines.”

Another moth flew out — his dizzy flight

Turned to an ardent wooing of the light;

He dipped and soared, and in his frenzied trance

Both self and fire were mingled by his dance –

The flame engulfed his wing-tips, body, head,

His being glowed a fierce translucent red;

And when the mentor saw that sudden blaze,

The moth’s form lost within the glowing rays,

He said: “He knows, he knows the truth we seek,

That hidden truth of which we cannot speak.”

To go beyond all knowledge is to find

That comprehension which eludes the mind,

And you can never gain the longed-for goal

Until you first outsoar both flesh and soul;

But should one part remain, a single hair

Will drag you back and plunge you in despair –

No creature’s self can be admitted here,

Where all identity must disappear.

Farid ud-Din Attar – The moths and the flame

righteous verse and follow-up image - thanks

Profoundly though, the real reason Mount Kailash has not been climbed is because it cannot be found. For the true form of Mount Kailash exists only in the realm of Shambala, of which the visible manifestation is but a shadow.

 

That sounds familiar!

J.M. DeMatteis has make the journey to Tibet a few times. He's discussed it on his blog a bit.

Moths gathered in a fluttering throng one night

To learn the truth about the candle light,

And they decided one of them should go

To gather news of the elusive glow.

One flew till in the distance he discerned

A palace window where a candle burned –

And went no nearer: back again he flew

To tell the others what he thought he knew.

The mentor of the moths dismissed his claim,

Remarking: “He knows nothing of the flame.”

A moth more eager than the one before

Set out and passed beyond the palace door.

He hovered in the aura of the fire,

A trembling blur of timorous desire,

Then headed back to say how far he’d been,

And how much he had undergone and seen.

The mentor said: “You do not bear the signs

Of one who’s fathomed how the candle shines.”

Another moth flew out — his dizzy flight

Turned to an ardent wooing of the light;

He dipped and soared, and in his frenzied trance

Both self and fire were mingled by his dance –

The flame engulfed his wing-tips, body, head,

His being glowed a fierce translucent red;

And when the mentor saw that sudden blaze,

The moth’s form lost within the glowing rays,

He said: “He knows, he knows the truth we seek,

That hidden truth of which we cannot speak.”

To go beyond all knowledge is to find

That comprehension which eludes the mind,

And you can never gain the longed-for goal

Until you first outsoar both flesh and soul;

But should one part remain, a single hair

Will drag you back and plunge you in despair –

No creature’s self can be admitted here,

Where all identity must disappear.

Farid ud-Din Attar – The moths and the flame

 

WOW........ Ansel Adams on steroids. You've really outdone yourself this time. I was SO fascinated by these things as a young adult when I was inspired to read the Tibetan Book of the Dead, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Secret of the Golden Flower .... for some odd reason, it reignited my interest in (and understanding of...) Christianity. Thanks Michael..... powerful. GOD BLESS...

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

WOW........ Ansel Adams on steroids. You've really outdone yourself this time. I was SO fascinated by these things as a young adult when I was inspired to read the Tibetan Book of the Dead, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Secret of the Golden Flower .... for some odd reason, it reignited my interest in (and understanding of...) Christianity. Thanks Michael..... powerful. GOD BLESS...

 

-jimbo(a friend of jesus) (thumbs u

The Penguin Classics edition of the Bhagavad Gita was my introduction to the wonderful translations of this (and subsequently many of the Upanishads) by the Spaniard Juan Mascaró. He was a poet as much as a translator.

The Gita is an extended dialogue between the god Krishna and the warrior prince Arjuna, part of a great epic, the Mahabharata, which along with the Ramayana is one of two still vibrantly alive Sanskrit sacred epics at the heart of Hinduism to this day. (I will refer to the Ramayana later on.)

The Gita is a guide to Hindu philosophy and a practical, self-contained guide to life.

Bhagavad Gita

With over 100,000 couplets, the Mahabharata is by far the longest epic poem ever written.

It is considered to be as important to world civilization as the works of Shakespeare, Homer, the Qur'an or the Bible (which it predates).

The Mahabharata describes a great war between good and evil, the Kurukshetra War, between two interrelated dynastic families, the Kauravas and the Pandavas. (There really was an iron age Kuru Dynasty that flourished from around 1200 B.C.)