BUDDHISM AND THE HIMALAYAS -- by Bhante S. Dhammika (Spiritual Advisor, Buddha Dhamma Mandala Society)

Not being able to worship my prince, I revere lions and tigers, those forest creatures,and the healing herbs and vines that grow in the glades.

I revere the night sky, blue as the lotus and garlanded with stars,and the Ganges River whose waters flow and spread.

I revere too those rocky and regal mountains, the mighty Himalayas.

Jataka.V,93

The Himalayas are the highest mountains in the world. They form a giant arch 2,500 kilometres long, between 200 to 300 kilometres wide and define the northern boundary of the Indian sub-continent. The Jataka describes the Himalayas as 'a vast region, five hundred yoganas high and three thousand in breadth'(Ja.V, 415). The Hindus scriptures know them as Devabhumi, 'the abode of the gods while the Buddha called them Pabbataraja, 'the lord of mountains'(S.II,137). The exact meaning of the name "Himalaya" is uncertain. It may have been formed from the words 'hima' and 'mala' meaning 'garland of snow' or from 'hima' and 'alaya' meaning 'abode of snow.' Both meanings are appropriate to these majestic mountains. Viewed from a distance in either summer or winter, they give the appearance of a string of pure white blossoms, and no matter how pleasantly warm it may be down in the valleys during the summer, there is always snow on the horizon.

Although more often associated with Hinduism, the Himalayas are often mentioned in the Buddhist scriptures and were familiar to the Buddha himself. The spectacular 8,167 meter high sentinel of Dhaulagiri can be clearly seen from his hometown of Kapilavatthu. Perhaps He had this particular mountain in mind when He compared the virtuous person to the dazzling sun-lit snow peaks:

'The good shine from afar like the Himalayas.

The bad are obscure like an arrow shot into the night'(Dhp.304).

Shortly after His enlightenment, the Buddha is said to have used his super-normal powers to visit Lake Anotatta which is now identified with Lake Manasarovar at the foot of Mount Kilash (Vin.I,27). Later in life, He occasionally 'sojourned in a forest hut in the Himalayan region,' probably the thickly wooded hills of the lower Kumon or the Hills of Nepal (S.I,116). It is hard to know how far into the mountains the Buddha might have gone but He once mentioned 'the rugged uneven places in the Himalayas where hunters and their prey could go and beyond it, the regions where neither man nor beast can penetrate'(S.V,148). Some of His direct disciples, following the hoary tradition of Indian ascetics, would have gone up into the mountains to find peace and solitude. In the Jataka, the Buddha is attributed with asking his monks, 'Do you wish to go wandering in the Himalayas?' (Ja. V, 415) The Himalayas were featured prominently in early Buddhist geography. India was known to the ancient Buddhists as Jambudipa and was one of the world's four great continents. The northern border of this land was defined by the Usiraddhaja Mountains (Vin.IV,197) and beyond that were the Himalayas, the region called sometimes Himava, Himacala or Himavata.

The Jataka names numerous caves, plateaus, valleys, hermitages and rivers in the Himalayas but almost none of these can be identified today. The most famous cave was at the foot of Mount Nanda and was thus known as Nandamula. Pacceka Buddhas are mentioned as living in this cave and flying from there to Benares or elsewhere in India (Ja.III,157,190,230,259). Two peaks that can be identified are Kelasa, now known as Kilash (Ja.VI,490) and Nanda which is of course the 7817 m high Nandadevi, the second highest peak in India (Ja.IV,216, 230,233). Amongst the first range of hills or perhaps beyond them was Uttarakuru, Northern Kuru, from which the modern district of Kulu derives its name. Uttarakuru was seen as a sort of garden of earthly delights, a paradise of eternal sunshine and free love where healing herbs and fragrant flowers grew in abundance and all sorts of fantastic creatures lived without care or toil. According to the Atanatiya Sutta, the rice that grew in Uttarakuru was self-sown, fragrant and without husks, the people travelled on the backs of beautiful maidens or comely youths, the trees always hung heavy with fruits and 'peacocks screech, herons call and cuckoos gently warble'(D.III,199). Somewhere in Uttarakuru Kuvera, the king of the north and the god of good fortune had his jewel-encrusted palace (D.III,201). If the modern visitor travels through Garhwal or Kumaon, at least during the spring time, he or she can easily understand how such legends developed. These regions offer some of the most beautiful prospects to be seen anywhere on earth.

Although fanciful in parts and completely wrong in others, the ancient Buddhist conception of India and the region to its north was relatively correct. The Himalayas form the setting for numerous Jataka stories. In many of His previous lives the Buddha renounced the world and went to live as an ascetic in the mountains or retired there towards the end of His life (eg Ja.I,140,362,371,406,440). He and other ascetics lived off wild fruits and grains and often made friends with the wild animals. As the winter approached they would come down to the plains to escape the cold, collect salt, vinegar and other supplies and then return four months later. It was probably He and other ascetics before and after Him who first explored the more remote mountain valleys and brought back to India proper descriptions of the natural and spiritual wonders of the Himalayas.

Buddhism came to the Himalayas very early. After the Third Council convened by King Asoka, five monks led by the arahat Majjhima were sent to the Himalayan region to spread the Dhamma (Mahavamsa XII,6). Unfortunately, the records do not tell us which part of the region Majjhima and his companions went although it was probably either Kashmir or the Kathmandu Valley. When the Chinese pilgrim Xuan Zang visited Kulu and its surrounding valleys in the 7th century, the area still had a significant Buddhist population. 'The land is rich and fertile and crops are duly sown and gathered. Flowers and fruits are abundant and the plants and trees afford rich vegetation. Nestled in the midst of the Snowy Mountains are herbs of much medicinal value. Gold, silver and copper are found here as well as crystal and native copper. The climate is unusually cold, and hail and snow often fall. The people are rustic and common in appearance and are much afflicted with goitre and tumours. Tough and fierce by nature, they have high regards for justice and bravery. There are about twenty monasteries and a thousand or so monks. They mostly study Mahayana though a few practices the other schools. Here, Arahats and Rishis dwell. In the middle of the country is a stupa built by King Asoka. In time, nearly the whole of the Himalayan region became Buddhist and even today Ladhkh, Zanskar, Lahaul, Spiti, Kinnaur, Mustang, Sikkim and Bhutan remain predominantly Buddhist.

With its pleasant cool waters sliding gently, freshly and nobly along, the Sutlej flows between verdant banks.

Mahavastu, II, 105

A Slide Show titled "Himalayan Journey" conducted by Ven. S Dhammika will be held at 97 Tank Rd Teochew Building on 4th Nov.

(Sat) 7pm. For details, please email Himalayan_Journey@bdms.org.sg