Tibetan Mt. Kailash

by Teressa
(Thames, New Zealand)

Hi,

I was wondering what the correct spelling is Kailas or kailash?.
I have seen both used in different books.

Thanks teressa.


ANSWER:

According to Wikipedia...

"The word Kailāśā means "crystal" in Sanskrit. The Tibetan name for the mountain is Gangs Rin-po-che, meaning "precious jewel of snows".

Another local name for the mountain is Tisé (Tibetan: ཏི་སེ་) mountain, which derives from ti tse in the Zhang-Zhung language, meaning "water peak" or "river peak".

In the Jain tradition, the mountain is referred to as Ashtapada.
Chandra (1902: p.32) in his dictionary identifies the entry for 'kai la sha' (Tibetan: ཀཻ་ལ་ཤ; Wylie: kai la sha) which is a loan word from Sanskrit 'kailāsa' (Devanagari: कैलास)."


I have always seen the word written as Kailash. Since it comes from a sanskrit word then you will always see different spellings as not one spelling is 'correct' in english.


Mt. Kailash or Kang Rinpoche as the Tibetans call it is a sacred pilgrimage site and a very holy Buddhist place. It is also considered holy by Jains, Hindus and followers of the ancient Tibetan Bon tradition.

Every Tibetan hopes to be able to circumambulate the beautiful mountain once in their life. Usually it is done on foot and is a holy ritual that will bring good fortune (merit), create good karma and will bring them one step closer to enlightenment.

They reverently go around the mountain in a clockwise direction counting mantras on their meditation beads and chanting prayers.

The path is 52 km (32 miles) long. It should be done in only one day but that is very difficult for some people.


My daughter Pema comes from the region of Mt. Kailash so it holds an extra special place in our family.



Patricia from Tibetan Life