notes:
Mount Kailash is known to the Tibetians as Gang Rimpoche ( Precious Jewel of Snow ) or by its aboriginal name, Ti-se (also Gang Ti-se). Tibetian Buddhists, like Hindus, recognize Kailash as the manifistation of Mount Meru, the "navel of the world" rising "like the habdle of a mill stone" into the heavens. From the slopes of Mount Meru a stream is said to pour into Mapham Yumtsho, and from this lake flow four rivers in the four cardinal directions toward the oceans: theSenge Khabab (also Khambab; River from the Lion Mouth) to the north; the Tamchok Khabab ( River from the Horse Mouth ) to the east; the Mapcha Khabab ( River from the Peacok Mouth ) to the south; and the Langchen Khabab ( River from the Elephant Mouth ) to the west. These mythical rivers are now associated with the four major rivers originating near the Mount Kailash: the Indus, the Tsango ( Brahmaputra ), the Karnali, and the Sutlej, respectively. Kailash is also regarded as the residence of Demchok, a multi-armed, wrathful deity worshipped in the Chakrasamvara Tantric cycle of Tibetian Buddhism, and his consort, Dorje Phakmo. The mountain also has a special association with the poet-saint Milarepa, who spent several years here meditating in caves.
Mount Kailash is sacred to the Bon religion as well, as it is site where its founder, Tonpa Shenrab, is said to have descended from heaven, and formerly it was the spiritual centre of Zhang Zhung, the ancient Bonpo circumambulate the mountain in their traditional counterclockwise manner, in the opposite direction of Buddhist and Hindu pilgrims.
The pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Mansaravar lake has always been one of the most difficult in Asia, if not the world. The distance where tremendous, weather particulary harsh, supplies almost nonexistent, and bandit attacks a constant worry. Novertheless pilgrims came from the far corners of the continent, defying hardships to walk the 32-mile (52-km) circuit around Kailash and to bathe in or circumambulate the sacred waters of Mansaravar.....
