Mount Everest

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Pårl
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Mount Everest

Post by Pårl »

Hi all

I wasn't quite sure where to post this question, but here goes:

I read this information on Wikipedia about Mount Everest:

"The Tibetan name for Everest is Qomolangma (ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ, lit. "Holy Mother"). "

I'm trying to find out more about this holy mountain, its history and importance in the life, religion and culture of the Tibetans, Nepalase and Sherpas who inhabit its territory.

What is the correct Tibetan name for this mountain and what is its meaning? Where is its place in Tibetan tradition. Ultimately I would like to make a pilgramage there and I'm look for well-informed historical and current information on the subject. This forum seems like the best primary resource. It seems like the British chap whose surname was seconded (reluctantly) gives it its current English (George Everest).

What do people know?

Any information welcome and gratefully received! :)

Pårl.
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nyonchung
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Location: France

Re: Mount Everest

Post by nyonchung »

Pårl wrote: Sun Jun 26, 2022 12:10 pm Hi all

I wasn't quite sure where to post this question, but here goes:

I read this information on Wikipedia about Mount Everest:

"The Tibetan name for Everest is Qomolangma (ཇོ་མོ་གླང་མ, lit. "Holy Mother"). "

I'm trying to find out more about this holy mountain, its history and importance in the life, religion and culture of the Tibetans, Nepalase and Sherpas who inhabit its territory.

What is the correct Tibetan name for this mountain and what is its meaning? Where is its place in Tibetan tradition. Ultimately I would like to make a pilgramage there and I'm look for well-informed historical and current information on the subject. This forum seems like the best primary resource. It seems like the British chap whose surname was seconded (reluctantly) gives it its current English (George Everest).

What do people know?

Any information welcome and gratefully received! :)

Pårl.
hello,
Jomolangma is the montain, and Miyo Langzangma the deity reiding on it
https://www.himalayanart.org/items/200781

a very useful and small and not expensive book is
"The Lawudo Lama, Stories of Reincarnation from the Mount Everest Region", by Jamyang Wangmo (Helly Pellaez Bozzi), Vajra Publications, Kathmandu, 2005
-ISBN 99933-695-9-4
This is about the life of the former incarnation (a Sherpa lay practitioner) of Lama Zöpa of FPMT fame by one of his longtime disciple.
The presentation of Sherpa history is probablythe best available without going into scholarly sources, or in theopposite, into tourism literature (usually horrific - I know, my wife if from there, and I'm familiar with place, teh people, their traditions etc.)

Jamyang Wangmo has a good command of Tibetan and made a really excellent use of sources in Tibetan - she's really reliable.

"Holy Mother" is probably a bad translation, this is a name of one the "Five Long-life Sisters" or "Tsering Chenga", associated with peaks in the area,
the central deity, Tashi Tseringma, residing here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaurishankar
these local deitiesn, a bit nasty, were concerted by Guru Rinpoché and reminder of their vows by Milarepa
Miyo Langzangma, her proper name, protects specially the "hidden land" of Khumbu, to the south of Everest
When the climbing season starts, a group of specialized Sherpas installs a perilous system of aluminium ladders and fixed ropes to cross the ever-moving glacier of the Khumbu icefall, just above the base camp, and maintain it during the whole season - a pretty dangerous job (each expeditions pays its share)

One of them - probably now retired and succeded by his son - is doing a daily extensive ritual to Miyo Langzangma (this a family tradition), and told me that for more than 30 years they never suffered a casualty (on rather dangerous place)
Sherpas were extremely reluctant at the beginning regarding climbing this (and other) holy mountain, for fear of disturbing local gods (some being Dharma-protectors as the Tseringmas are) - someone explained me that, in fact, her main residence is on another summmit

Regarding pilgrimage in Khumbu, if you read French:
= "Un guide de pélerinage inédit d' un lama sherpa", Katia Buffetrille, in "les Habitants du Toit du Monde" , edited Samten Karmay & Philippe Sagant - Nanterre, Société d' Ethnologie, 1997, pp. 441-460
Translation of the Tibetan text
seems to be axvailable (for a fee) on
https://allnextbooks.com/online/books.p ... Du%20Monde

Otherwise the main pilgrimage places are to the North (Chinese) side in Dza Rongphu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rongbuk_Monastery
with caves of Guru Rinpoché with a lo,-nglife sproing that never freezes even by minus 30 Celsius, and nearby the original seat of Trulzhig Rinpoché
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trulshik_Rinpoche

Wish you can go there
"Me and the sky don't hold views - Me and the river have no fixed practice
Me and the madman don't have a guide- Me and the rainbow have no experiences
Me, the sun and the moon have no certitudes - Me and the jewel bear no fruit" - Dampa Sanggyé as quoted by Domar Mingyur Dorjé (born 1675)
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nyonchung
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Location: France

Re: Mount Everest

Post by nyonchung »

Small correction:
Deity's same is more proprely Miyo Lobzangma
"Me and the sky don't hold views - Me and the river have no fixed practice
Me and the madman don't have a guide- Me and the rainbow have no experiences
Me, the sun and the moon have no certitudes - Me and the jewel bear no fruit" - Dampa Sanggyé as quoted by Domar Mingyur Dorjé (born 1675)
zerwe
Posts: 778
Joined: Mon Jun 07, 2010 4:25 am
Location: North Carolina

Re: Mount Everest

Post by zerwe »

You might want to look into Sagarmatha (skt.) as well. This is how most Nepalis refer to the mountain.
Also, Dowman's Nepal Mandal has a short section on Peaks, Rivers, Gorges, etc... Different perspective and focused around Kathmandu, but you may find it interesting.
His other text The Power Places of Central Tibet may have something to offer as well.

Shaun :namaste:
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nyonchung
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Location: France

Re: Mount Everest

Post by nyonchung »

zerwe wrote: Sun Jun 26, 2022 6:10 pm You might want to look into Sagarmatha (skt.) as well. This is how most Nepalis refer to the mountain.
Also, Dowman's Nepal Mandal has a short section on Peaks, Rivers, Gorges, etc... Different perspective and focused around Kathmandu, but you may find it interesting.
His other text The Power Places of Central Tibet may have something to offer as well.

Shaun :namaste:
"Sagarmatha" is even more recent that "Everest", when China started to use the pinyin form of the Tibetan name = Qomolungma, they had a brainstorming session to find a proper Nepali and some brahman came with this "Mother o fthe oceans" based apparaently on a misunderstanting of the Tibetan / Sherpa name

Gyurme Dorje's "Tibet Guide" has probably a little more than Dowman's guide
"Me and the sky don't hold views - Me and the river have no fixed practice
Me and the madman don't have a guide- Me and the rainbow have no experiences
Me, the sun and the moon have no certitudes - Me and the jewel bear no fruit" - Dampa Sanggyé as quoted by Domar Mingyur Dorjé (born 1675)
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Pårl
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Location: Belgium

Re: Mount Everest

Post by Pårl »

As usual, I would like to thank everyone who responded to my original post with thoughtul and genuinely helpful information.

Visiting Mount Everest - and the region in general - is something I would love to do, and I hope some day I realize this ambition. Of course, it would be the best of all worlds if I could do the pilgramage on the north side of the mountain range in a newly liberated Tibet. I'm doing my little bit to try and help that cause.

I see the painting of Miyo Lobzangma has the Tibetan script:

དབུས་ཀྱི་སྣང་བརྙན་གང་རུང་།

Does again know what this means exactly?

So, if I understand correctly, the original Tibetan name for the mountain is Jomolangma and the deity who resides there is Miyo Lobzangma?

I will certainly purchase the recommended book:
"The Lawudo Lama, Stories of Reincarnation from the Mount Everest Region", by Jamyang Wangmo (Helly Pellaez Bozzi), Vajra Publications, Kathmandu, 2005, -ISBN 99933-695-9-4

Thanks again for all your help. Hopefully this thread will be of user for future readers.

Pårl.
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