An Early Buddhist Kelāsa

chapter 5 An Early Buddhist Kelāsa Introduction The modern understanding that Kailas is sacred to Buddhists as the home of the Tantric deity Demchok/Cakrasamvara is entirely absent from the early Indic Buddhist material preserved in the Pali sources and other texts1 predating the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet. Most notably it does not occur in the Abhidharmakośa of Vasubandhu, the foundational text of later Tibetan Buddhist cosmology. In this chapter we discuss the Kailas complex as it appears in the early Buddhist sources, which represent both similar and distinct bodies of knowledge to those found in the Epic and Puranic texts. The Pali material comprises the canon, commentaries and other paracanon- ical texts which form the doctrinal foundation of Theravada Buddhism. While the core of this material is traditionally considered attributable to the Buddha himself, or to have been recorded within a century or two of his passing,2 the earliest written texts probably date to around the first century bce. But it is Buddhaghosa’s 5th century ce. commentaries that mark the actual establish- ment of the later canon, and while much of it is certainly far earlier, it is only from that era—and on the basis of much more recent manuscripts—that the specific content of the canon can be properly established.3 Thus in discussing the Pali references to Kelāsa (Pali: Kailas) or a related sacred lake, we face problems very similar to those we encounter with the Sanskritic material. Firm dating is usually impossible and informed estimates may be several centuries out. Traditional datings actually suggest the Pali texts represent a somewhat earlier discourse concerning the Himalayan realms than the material in the Sanskrit Epics. But there are too many variables to permit 1 Including those in Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit, etc; for simplicity I use ‘Pali’ in the general sense to describe the early Indic Buddhist texts of the Theravadin tradition. 2 An attribution that has academic support; see for example, de Jong (1993: 25); Gombrich (2006: 20). Given my unfamiliarity with Pali, I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Lance Cousins in providing me with a list of the principal Pali sources on Kailas, and of Greg Bailey and in particular Professor Richard Gombrich for assistance in translating and understanding the Pali material. 3 Schopen (1997: 3, 23–24); also see Davidson (2002: 146–147). © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2015 | doi: 10.1163/9789004306189_007 an early buddhist kelāsa 115 us to safely conclude that a Buddhist body of knowledge preceded other such bodies, not least that most of the relevant references in Pali sources appear in the later commentarial literature, and thus cannot be proven earlier than similar references in the Sanskritic tradition. G.P. Malalasekara for example, recounts a Pali myth in which Kelasa is mentioned.4 This involves an evil Himalayan king, Alavaka, who is in league with a demonic yaksa. On hearing of the Buddha’s arrival the king (who is eventually converted by the Buddha), was angered, and placing his left foot on Manosilatala and his right on Kelasakūta,5 uttered a shout heard throughout the continent of Jambudivipa. This myth appears however, only in the later commentarial literature. Also probably late is the description of the seven great lakes and the five surrounding mountains of the Himalayas, which identifies Kelasa as one of five mountain ranges surrounding a Lake Anotatta. In seemingly earlier sources Kelasa is of little prominence, and again there is no evidence to elevate the sanctity of the site above many other features of what is a heavenly rather than earthly landscape. Nor do the locations referred to seem to match modern locations with similar toponyms. A Jataka Parallel Most of the earliest Buddhist references assumed to refer to the Kelasa region occur in the various biographies of the lives of the Buddha and those of his disciples, the 500 Arhats.6 We have seen that early Indic references to Kailas were usually in the context of metaphor and this is generally the case in the Jatakas.7 A white elephant, for example, is as “tall as a peak of Mount Kelāsa.”8 4 Malalasekera (1937) Dictionary, consulted on: www.palikanon.com/english/pali_names/dic _idx.html, which does not give page numbers. 5 Malalasekera (1937) citing sna.i.223; sa. (Sāratthappakāsinī, Samyutta Commentary) i.248. kūta, according to Rhys David’s Pali dictionary carries a variety of meanings including “shoul- der”, “point”, “summit”, “peak”, “prominence”, “a jewelled top”, or “a pitcher” (c.f. “vase”); http:// www.abhidhamma.com/Pali_English_Dictionary_RhysDavids.pdf. Accessed December 2010. 6 These accounts are found particularly in the Jatakas, in the Apadāna (Pāli: ‘stories’) biographies in the Khuddaka Nikāya section of the Sutta Piṭaka, and in the Mahāvastu. 7 Malalasekara (1937) states that Kelāsa is “used in similes to describe an object that is perfectly white …, very stately (e.g., an elephant’s head or a big building) …, or difficult to destroy.” 8 Cowell (1901: 145–146; Jataka No. 479: Kāliṅga-bodhi); also see Chalmers (1895: 104; Jataka No. 40: Khadiraṅgāra), where the Buddha’s forehead is “as the snowy crest of Mount Kelāsa.”.

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