Treatise on Himalaya

Treatise on Himālaya

The one adept with proof of skillful means
The artisan who self-inscribed
Insignias of wheels on soles of feet
Will be the one to guard all living beings

Here will come a brief conversation on the topic of snow-capped peaks, particularly on Himālaya, which is also known as Himavanta, and referred to here as Land of Snows. This place we call Land of Snows, though, is not to be equated solely with snowy mountains. Why? This is a general name for the mountain range of northern India that consists of thousands upon thousands of snow-capped peaks, forested mountains, hilly meadows, and the like. There are examples from sources like Applied Mindfulness, which says:

"Transcending it all like the king of mountains, Land of Snows."²

These mountains are variegated, countless, and barren until they gradually descend into forests of juniper, shala, tamala, and many other trees so splendid to see. The mountains of Land of Snows are full of such forest groves. Even Elders' Letters speak to the particular phenomenon of Land of Snows being full of forests in the story of how the hoofprint of a yak had set in stone.³ Moreover, look at the poetry of India composed on these particular mountain subjects of Land of Snows: there are forest groves, entire canvases of flowers, yak, and more: so many are the species that emerge!

Thus, mistaking Land of Snows for its mere nominalization is akin to the notion that all existent phenomena at Snowpack (Tibetan: ས་སྐྱ་) is packed snow, “white-ish earth”. Similarly, certain medicinal ingredients that are said to originate in this snowy range are also found in a variety of forms within the mountains of grasslands and forests. So that which is named "snow lion" originates in much the same way.

Within the great forests are tigers and lions, rhinos and elephants, all manner of ruminants. And as it says in the great treatise, Deeds of Buddha:

What we call the elephant of land of snows
Is that same snow elephant in the forest found⁴

And from Circumambulation of the Reliquary in Verse: 

Hundreds of pairs of great snow elephants...⁵

These are just a few examples from Scripture.

The lion is a living being. It roams the forest. It has a golden-yellow body and a long tail with a bundle of fur at the end. The male sex is obviously marked by a reddish-yellow mane. Since its countenance is ruthless and its range extensive the lion is called pañcānana in Sanskrit. The species has thus been translated as "five-faced" in Tibetan. This is said to refer to their extensive range with pañca, or “five,” representing their most-prominent features of forehead, chin, two cheeks, and nose. But if "ānana" means "face," then what would be the use of accounting for its five protrusions? And then there are others who claim "five" represents four paws plus a head! One should be certain that these explanations are based on extravagant, childish faculties and, on account of this, without any more discourse of superimpositions whatsoever: nobody really wants to come face to face.

One must understand that the thesis of this essay regarding the nominalization of "snow lion" also applies to the great snow elephant: both exist only in the forested areas of Himālaya.

But there is yet another lion: a white one with turquoise locks that prances high on the mountaintops of peak experience. Judge Translator the Great was the one who fabricated the existence of this one.

While all the Indian source-books explain the snow lion as a beast of the forest. For example, Candrakīrti's Commentary on Four Hundred says:

As the king protects living beings, living beings protect the king: likewise, as the lion protects the forest, so too, the forest protects the lion.⁶

Furthermore, One Gone Thus is portrayed in Candrakīrti's Clear Words:

"One Gone Thus is like a lion of the mountain..."⁷

And, in Shawari's Spontaneous Songs:⁸

How, in the jungle, the lion roars!

Moreover, within the precious biography of King Aśoka, in the compilation of Letters, there is "the lion of the unparalleled forest."⁹ Suppose, then, if the snow lion possessed such great power, then even the king having obtained the name exclusive to himself, at the nominal level, he would have met his match! 

Not only that, but the lion can be found at the tip of Aśoka's pillars, at the Old School's representation of Indian thrones, and at the thrones of old Tibetan statues. Today there are many people in cities who are aware of the forest lion, that species with a long tail, &c. And yet, though there are many who know what a real lion looks like only the pug-nosed form has ever appeared at Lhasa's central temple: at the lotus protrusions of its rafter tips, at its ornamented gateways, &c.

Thus Judge Translator has contradicted himself in his citation of Scripture to support that lion's existence in our country. And many other learned Tibetans, based on their own perspective of snows, have also passed on (as lions to their cubs) the Scriptural authority of The Play in Full.¹⁰ But perhaps it would be better not to cite contradictory Scripture at all, as such befuddlement just leads to more of the same.

Given the context, Land of Snows was previously regarded as existing in the general area of Himālaya. As a day's walk does not come close to spanning the extent of ground from Kapilavastu¹¹ to the forested mountains, still, according to Scripture, it is relatively close to the snowy slopes. So it is said. 

That being the case, the transmission comes to us via the eighth chapter¹² of The Play in Full, the ancient scene of the birth of the Spiritual Hero. There, from upon Mount Meru's snowy range, birds-that-hide-lotuses, parrots, crested blackbirds, cuckoos, peacocks, wild geese, ducks, and whatever other kind of birds decided to come with them, arrived and proceeded to sound off at the perch of Clean Food. This episode is from the second chapter.¹³ Though these birds are spoken of as having come from the snowy side of the mountains, they are actually forest birds. How, then, could they so much as survive in the snows? Their activities take place in the forests of Himālaya, and the same can be said of the lion's.

Many sources say, "forest of Land of Snows," along with other sayings, like 'woods of the crown jewel.' The Play in Full places the lion's abode in the forest again and again. The lion is writ in the section featuring the great Sacred White Crest as, "tamer of the forest, born as a human at the forest's edge."¹⁴ And in the midst of the verses on how the demons were tamed, it says:

So many foxes in midst of the woods,
If not for lion, then, their yaps would roar!¹⁵

Likewise, as it says in Scripture, fox heeds well the lion's roar!¹⁶ Furthermore, from "Discipline":

While lions, tigers, through the forest roam
All other creatures herd well into place¹⁷

There is even a line of verse from the short section of Son of Kena, which says:

Like so, when mighty lion's fangs
Encounter creatures in the woods...
The lion, then, is meet to be fearless

And:

Within the woods the lion's meet to roar!¹⁸ 

Quotes like these are easy to find! Throughout history dreaded lions abode within the forests' depths. According to Scripture these lions are said to have been the most superior of creatures. Some people have even gone into the forest and fallen into pits with lions like these!

Once when our Teacher and his Order were passing through the forest two boys nearby began beating a drum, signaling a lion was afoot. That night, while the Order was camping in the forest, one of the infamous Group of Six awoke with a start and due to the uproar of his clamor the other five thought it was because of the lion and fled!

Now, if the entirety of Indian source texts refer to the lion as the one who lives in the forest, how could the lion live anywhere else? Look to see whether this is fact or fiction.

Though Utmost Continuum¹⁹—along with many precious biographies and collected hymns—features in its own manner a discussion of the forest lion, still the name has yet to rise into popularity. And even if "forest lion" is somewhat appropriate at the nominal level, this name still has yet to become popular in speech. Though the name of "forest lion" is fitting, no one ever says it!

Other names have come about that are even less fitting. Snow lion, swamp lion, rock lion, plains lion, ice lion, and more: marvelous! In Immaculate Splendor a "hide of swamp lion"²⁰ appears. And in another book, the deeds of this singular lion prompted Little Teacher to plant such a"swamp lion" in one of his annotations: for real!

The most prominent term in Sanskṛt for "forest" is āraṇyaka. Since this term literally means, "ever solitary and empty," it applies well to the forest lion's abode. Various epithets are also apparent. "King of the forest" is another name for this lion. The lion's mane, though, is not green. Many liturgies say: "like the lion's, his golden-yellow hair is dreaded." And so it is.

Generally speaking, this lion ought to go live with the creatures of India. Even its Tibetan name is a mere corruption from the Indian language.²¹ In our region, living creatures that have existed since the beginning include the horse, sheep, dog, and pig: these creatures stand on their own regardless of the Tibetan vernacular with all its imported terms.

Nevertheless, the turquoise maned lion of our paintings—with its characteristic posture, dog's head, and radiant form—is completely and utterly an adulteration of Chinese style. Chinese paintings portray the lion with a blue head and body, while our version is portrayed as white and appears on canvas fragments from Khotan (portraits that would have been renowned by the ancient Bön, though some may dispute this). Drawing on this context, the ancestral roots of our Tibetan lion are threefold:

1. Primordial White Lioness who clasps a rope to the sky
2. Wolfpup, torch of the wisdom deity
3. Black Cow endowed with dog's tail

The elder Bön-folk have thus maintained, and we know they've no bias nor delusion.

But the best of all is Lord Godsong²² who said he saw the snow lion appearing like an elephant outside the forest, conch-white with the inconceivable power of a golden ox, or crystalline maidens spinning crystal thread: the snow lion is all that, and more!

Though one may claim that these kinds of things appear, one must posit with our newfound perspective that, indeed, such horns on rabbits simply do not exist. So it's time to let them off. With certainty, the snow lion is unacceptable. That's just what I think.

So whether it's snow lion or forest lion the scope of this key point will be limited without actually going on an expedition. If one were to reiterate their distinctive qualities: the snow lion and forest lion have, respectively, a turquoise mane with white fur, or a yellowish-red mane with pale yellow fur. They are explicitly captured in liturgy, history, and the many statues of India and Tibet, of ancient times and later—mistakes and all.

Then there is Indra's scepter that dashes the legs of mountains, and other stories of the Vedas: these are similarly composed as fiction. Anything at all can arise! Not only that, but 'Land of Snows' and forest lion could even be made into a compound term, in which case, 'snow lion' could very well exist, if but conventionally. And so, since individually defining each term is all I've done, there should be nothing whatsoever perceived as harmful within the extent of this treatise, nothing whatsoever at all.

Snow Lion doesn't dance on high
King Gesar himself hasn't even reigned
They seem so real to peculiar minds
Reverberating names between our ears

Scholarly Notes

For the most part notes are non-existent in classical Tibetan. StevenRAJ includes his scholarly research for the reader's benefit (and further amusement).

1. ‍Pure Religion, Applied Mindfulness. The transcendent qualities of Buddha are drawn as a simile to the most transcendent mountain range in the world, Land of Snows. (Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna. Buddha Word. 68: 165-637; 69; 70; 71: 3-460.)
2. “...Then there's the yak who left its hoofprint in stone as it pranced around like a cloud atop the mountain range. And the vitality of the cedar forests are due to its continually enveloping raindrops and sunshowers. If one must pay for the absorptions that ensue it wouldn't be the stuff of palaces, but the stuff of religious robes whose luck is to live so near these Land of Snows—it's truly a delight!” Elders' Letters. (Sthaviropāṇimantranaṃ. Indian Treatise. 173: 319.)
3. Earnest Priest is probably quoting everything from memory, this time he may not have been perfectly precise. To quote directly from Deeds of Buddha: The Amazing Ode: "Cow elephants together in a group // Look in the forest for their snowy bull // So too the maiden in her prime // Courses the forest for her wand'ring love." (Buddhacaritanāmamahākāvya. Indian Treatise. 172: 29.)
4. To elaborate, from Circumambulation of the Reliquary in Verse: "Hundreds of pairs of great snow elephants // With awesome bodies and broader chests // Their trunks as long as the plow of an ox // Bedecked with resplendent jewels and gold // The sixteenth waxing moon could not relate // To even a single step they circumambulate." (Caityapradakśīṇagātha. Buddha Word. 72: 400.)
5. Commentary on 400 Stanzas: The Yogic Activity of Spiritual Heroes. (Bodhisattvayogacaryācatuḥśakaṭīkā. Indian Treatise. 103: 155.)
6. The quote, probably also from memory, is rather understated. To expand on the meaning we quote directly from Clear Words: Commentary on Root Verses of the Middle Way: "Do not say that there are all kinds of forests in the mountains of Land of Snows; that's like saying there are aggregates in One Gone Thus. Like a lion in the snowy range; there is no aggregate in One Gone Thus." (Prasannapadā. Indian Treatise. 102: 283.)
7. Also, from Songs of Adamantine Mahamudra: "Commonfolk aint fine with lion's milk... // ...Fox is king of sheeple dressed in lion hide... // ...Just as a precious vessel's stain is purified and clean // This crazy, baby boy like dog, this pig! a lion turns to be!" (Mahāmudrāvajragīti. Indian Treatise. 52: 301 - 306.)
8. All we could find in Letters is a chapter of the story of how Ashoka tamed the nāgas. The story is from a larger text entitled Gate to Aśoka; it would seem no longer extant. Though King Aśoka is said to have ascended the “lion throne,” the "lion of the unparalleled forest" we have yet to find. (Aśokamukhanāgavinayapariccheda. Indian Treatise. 173: 293 - 300.)
9. The Buddha's life story in twenty-seven chapters, beginning as Spiritual Hero in Heaven of Joy, his birth to royal family, his minority, escape from the palace, austerities, etc., enlightenment, and first sermon as The Thus Gone One in Deer Park. (Lalitavistarasūtra. Buddha Word. 46: 3 - 434.)
10. Kapilavastu is the birthplace of the Spiritual Hero.
11. Actually, Chapter 7, "The Birth [of the Spiritual Hero]".
12. Many of these birds are present in Chapter Two, "Inspiration," in the description of the Spiritual Hero's heavenly palace, Heaven of Joy. They are again mentioned in Chapter 7 as good omens directly preceding the birth of the Spiritual Hero in Kapilavastu.
13. In Chapter "Inspiration." (Lalitavistarasūtra. Buddha Word. 46: 12.)
14. In Chapter 21, "Taming Māra." Ibid. 46: 307.
15. Likely a little embellishment of the author.
16. "Discipline," or Vinaya. This citation is actually from a dialogue of the "Sūtra Section," Going Forth. (Abhiniṣkramaṇasūtra. Buddha Word. 72: 63.)
17. The oldest of the Upanishads are in prose and date from approximately the 7^th century B.C. They include the Brihadaranyaka, Chandogya, Taittiriya, Aitareya, Kaushitaki, and Kena. The Kena also contains a less ancient section, written in verse. That said, anything resembling the verses cited here are difficult to find in English translations of Kenopaniṣat.
18. Maitreyanātha's Mahāyānottaratantraṣāstra. (Indian Treatise. 123: 109-148.)
19. From the chapter, "Empowerment," within an extensive description of the many types of hides used as seats by the deities of the multiple maṇḍalas within and without our body. Condensed King of Tantras, Subsequent Tantric Commentary on Wheel of Time, One Thousand [Buddhas in this eon with the] Twenty Two [eons of Endurance], Immaculate Splendor. (VimalaprabhānāmamūlatantranusarinidvadāsasahaṣrIkalaghukālacakratantrarājatika. Buddha Word. 102: 665.)
20. The original Sanskrit for "lion", siṃha, is correctly transliterated in Tibetan as "singha" or even "sengha" but has since been incorporated as "seng ge".
21. Ocean Godsong, Dalai Lama VI, who perhaps escaped his kidnapping and defied his apparent execution to wander free across Asia and even spot the snow lion one time.

Tibetan Bibliography

Canonical: Buddha Word

bka' 'gyur (sde dge par phud): 103 Volumes: the sde-dge mtshal-par bka'-'gyur : a facsimile edition of the 18th century redaction of si-tu chos-kyi-'byun-gnas prepared under the direction of h.h. the 16th rgyal-dban karma-pa: Dege Kangyur. Facsimile of the parpud or 'first fruit' printing of the 1733 blocks, meaning it was pressed before later changes were made to the blocks. Produced under the patronage of the Dege King Tenpa Tsering. Chief editor was Palpung Tai Situ Chokyi Jungne in 1733. One of the first editions of the Tibetan canon to be widely distributed, and is almost universally praised for its clarity. Editors in India made numerous changes in preparation for this edition, printed 1976-1979.

Canonical: Indian Treatise

bstan 'gyur (sde dge): 213 Volumes: Dege Tengyur. Produced in 1737-1744 under the patronage of the Dege King Tenpa Tsering. Edited by Shuchen Tsultrim Rinchen. Facsimile was published in India in 1982-1985 as a part of Karmapa XVI Rangchung Rikpai Dorje's (1924-1981) memorial ceremonies.

Collected Works

dge 'dun chos 'phel. gsung 'bum/_dge 'dun chos 'phel. [khreng tu'u]: si khron dpe skrun tshogs pa; si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang , 2009.