Seven golden mountain ranges
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
seven golden mountain rages (T. gser gyi ri bdun གསེར་གྱི་རི་བདུན་) are a group of mountain ranges that surround Mount Meru, according to Buddhist cosmology.
The names of these mountain ranges are:[1][2]
- Yoke (Yugandhara; T. gnya' shing 'dzin)
- Plough (Īṣādhara; T. gshol mda' 'dzin)
- Forest of Acacia Trees (Khadiraka; T. seng ldeng can)
- Pleasing (Sudarsana; T. lta na sdug)
- Horse Ear (Aśvakarṇa; T. rta rna)
- Bent (Vinataka; T. rnam 'dud)
- Rim (Nimindhara; T. mu khyud 'dzin)
The first range of mountains, Yugandhara, is a quarter of the height of Mount Meru.[3] Each of the subsequent mountain ranges are half the height of the previous ones.[3]
Jamgön Kongtrul states:
- Beyond Mount Meru and completely surrounding it like curtains are seven mountain ranges, each forming a square. These seven golden mountain ranges [are named according to the shape of their peaks]: Yoke, Plough, Acacia Forest, Pleasing-to-the-Eye, Horse's Ear, Bent and Rim.
- The spaces between [the mountain ranges] are filled with what are known as seven seas enjoyed [by the nagas], the waters of which have eight qualities: cool, tasty, light, soft, clear, odorless, harmless to the throat if swallowed, and harmless to the stomach.[4]
Dudjom Rinpoche states:
- Mount Meru is surrounded by seven golden mountain ranges disposed like screens in a square around it—Yugandhara, Ishadhara, Khadiraka, Sudarshana, Ashvakarna, Vinataka, and Nimindhara—each range being half the height of the previous one.[5] These mountain ranges are separated from each other by the Seas of Enjoyment, whose waters have the eight perfect qualities described in the Vinaya scriptures:
- Cool, sweet, light, and soft,
- Clear and odorless,
- Soothing on the stomach when drunk,
- And not irritant to the throat—
- Such is water that has the eight perfect qualities.
- They are filled with wish-fulfilling jewels and the other multifarious riches that belong to the nagas.
- Outside the seven golden mountain ranges are the four great continents, whose colors correspond to those of the four sides of Mount Meru.[3]
Notes
- ↑ Jamgön Kongtrul 2003, pp. 249-250.
- ↑
གསེར་གྱི་རི་བདུན་, Christian-Steinert Dictionary
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Dudjom Rinpoche 2011, s.v. Chapter 12.
- ↑ Jamgön Kongtrul 2003, p. 110.
- ↑ "The first range of mountains, Yugandhara, is a quarter of the height of Mount Meru."
Sources
Dudjom Rinpoche (2011), A Torch Lighting the Way to Freedom: Complete Instructions on the Preliminary Practices, translated by Padmakara Translation Group, Shambhala- Jamgön Kongtrul (2003), Myriad Worlds, The Treasury of Knowledge, Book One, Snow Lion
Further reading
- Abhidharmakośabhāṣyam by Louis de La Vallé Poussin, translated by Leo M. Pruden (Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press, 1988-1990), pages 452-454.