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Mount Kailash
Mt Kailash has been deemed a holy mountain by different peoples for over 3000 years. In Tibetan, the mountain's name is Kangrinboqe, meaning "precious snow jewel". To Hindus, the mountain is worshipped as the home of Shiva, the Destroyer and Transformer. The Bonpo religion in Tibet is also said to have originated here when the founder of the religion came down from heaven at this spot.

Each year, countless pilgrims from India, Nepal and Bhutan as well as those from around Tibetan areas come here to pay homage to the mountain, making this one of the most important religious mountains in Tibet.

On the south face of the mountain, there is a vertical cleft and a horizontal rock shelf that forms a Buddhist swastika symbol, which is holy to both the Buddhist and Banbo religions. The Benbo religion is a native Tibetan religion based heavily on belief in magic and demons.

Abhidharma-kosa Sastra describes a journey which, after going northward from India and crossing nine snow mountains, led to a "large snow mountain." It is Kangrinboqe, the main peak of the Kangdese Mountains, extending hundreds of kilometers. Kangrinboqe in Tibetan means "treasure of the snow mountains." The holy mountain looks like an olive rising to the sky.

Its peak resembles a colorful hat surrounded by eight lotus pedals, and its body seems to be made of crystal, looking like a jade-inlaid ice sculpture of extremely skillful craftsmanship. Legend has it that when Sakyamuni was still living in this world, Buddha, gods, human beings, Asura (a kind of evil spirit in ancient Indian mythology) and musicians in Heaven gathered around the holy mountain. The gathering took place in the year of horse.

It is said that pilgrims can wash away their lifetime sins after traveling once around the mountain; they can be exempt from the sufferings in Hell during the 500 samsara if they travel ten times around the mountain; and, finally, the pilgrims can become Buddhas during their lifetime and go to Heaven after death if they circle the mountain a hundred times.

If the pilgrims go around the mountain in the year of horse, which was when Sakyamuni was born, they can acquire a-dozen-fold charitable and pious deeds, which equal circling the mountain thirteen times during other years. For hundreds of years, pilgrims have come in a continuous stream to the mountain, which has taken deep root in Tibetan religion, history, and culture. Mystical and fascinating, it is a mountain of spirit, culture, and belief, a combination of man and divinity, and man and nature.

Many Tibetan religious followers enshrine and worship the picture of Kangrinboqe together with the figure of Buddha in their homes. Kangrinboqe is a symbol, not only of natural beauty, but also of a belief.

In Sexung, at the west foot of the holy mountain, there stands a 24-meter flagpole (called Daqen in Tibetan). It has a diameter of 0.3 meters and is wrapped with untanned cowhide still covered with hair, looking like a huge mast.

One end of the flagpole is buried deep in the ground and is supported with many big stones piled at the bottom. In addition, the pole is pulled from four directions with thick, long ropes to prevent being blown over. On the top of the pole are a brass crown and the ropes holding the pole firm are bound with colorful religious flags.

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