Outer Kālacakra
Previous Page – Next PageThis second painting depicts the southern continent of Jambudvīpa, and many locations within it are clearly labelled. The Kālacakra Tantra and its commentary, the Vimalaprabhā, describe a distinction between two areas. In its commentary to the verse predicting the first Kalkī king, Yaśas, the Vimalaprabhā states (the original words of the tantra are italicized):"Regarding, After this year, six hundred years, there will arise in Sambhala the appearance of the lord of men, Yaśas, this year is referring to the year when the Tathāgata taught the Dharma (of Kālacakra). Six hundred years after that year, in Sambhala, north of the River Śītā, there will arise, Yaśas, as it says in the text, Mañjuśrī, the great Yaśas, his appearance, meaning that he will take a nirmaṇakāya body. "Then after nāga hundred years, means that nāga, eight, hundred years after the nirvāṇa of Yaśas, for certain, meaning without doubt in the land of Mecca, the barbarian teachings will be established. South of the River Śītā, in the land of Mecca with ten million villages, the demonic teachings of the barbarian Tajiks will be established." Regarding the Kālacakra calendar, the Vimalaprabhā makes the point that the Hindu calendars will become corrupt in the area south of the River Śītā, due to their lack of appreciation of precession, described as an Islamic concept (ie. something the Islamic astronomers understood, and the Hindu ones did not). However, north of the river, the Buddhists methods of astronomy will not be corrupted. Some of these locations are described in the painting. The writing near the top on the right-hand side states: "The 960 million villages north of the Śīta". (The Tibetan text actually has "Sīta". In this word and Sambhala, Tibetan texts often have "Ś"/"Sh" where the Sanskrit texts have "S", or vice-versa. I use the original Sanskrit spellings here.) The writing on the left-hand side, near the half-way point, states: "South of the Sīta, adorned with the 10 million villages of Mecca and so forth." Clearly, just above the level of this writing, running horizontally across the painting, is the River Śīta. Right in the middle, very near the top, is the phrase gangs ldan, Himavat. These are the mountains said to be north of Kailash, and at the extreme north of our continent. These are clearly the mountain chain depicted along the top edge of the painting.
In the centre, just above the river, is the circular form of Sambhala. The text seems to suggest here that Sambhala is on top of Mt. Kailash. The area below, to the south of, the river has many labels. This are listed below and labelled in the picture below.
1,2,3. Muslims, kla klo 4. Turkestan, hor 5,6. Muslims, kla klo 7. Mongolia, sog 8. China, rgya 9. Muslims, kla klo 10. Khotan, li 11,12. Turkestan, hor 13,14. China, rgya 15. Muslims, kla klo 16. Kashmir, kha che 17. Western Tibet, stod 18. Ga – a region in eastern Tibet, 'ga' 19. China, rgya 20. Mongolia, sog 21. Muslims, kla klo 22. Gar-log, a border tribe, gar log 23. Mon – mountain region, near western(?) Nepal, mon 24. Nepal (Kathmandu valley), bal po 25,26. Mon – mountain region, near eastern Nepal, mon 27. Sikkim, Bhutan area, rong 28. China, rgya 29. Mongolia, sog 30. Muslims, kla klo 31. Gar-log, a border tribe, gar log 32. Mongolia, sog 33. West(ern India), nub 34. Vajrāsana in Maghadha, rdo rje gdan 35,36. East(ern India), shar 37. China, rgya 38. Mongolia, sog 39. Muslims, kla klo 40. Mongolia sog 41,42. South-west(ern India), lho nub 43,44. South(ern India), lho 45. South-east(ern India), shar lho 46. Gar-log gar log 47. China, rgya 48. Mongolia, sog 49. Muslims, kla klo 50. Mongolia, sog 51,52. Sri Lanka, lang ling 53,54. The coast, chu mtshams 55,56. Gar-log gar log 57. China, rgya 58. Mongolia, sog Tibetan region: T1,T2. North-western Tibet, byang stod T3. Turkestan, hor T4. Western Tibet, stod T5. Central Tibet, bod T6. Eastern Tibet, smad T7. Western Tibet, stod T8. Central Tibet, bod T9. Eastern Tibet, smad Map of Sambhala.
The third in this series of paintings depicts Sambhala in more detail than is shown in the picture above. However, not many details are given in the original texts, and so not much detail can be expected in drawings such as these. Sambhala is said to be circular, surrounded by mountains, and shaped like an eight-petalled lotus, possibly symbolizing the channels of the heart centre. The capital, Kalāpa, is said to be in the centre, although some consider Kalāpa simply to be another name for Sambhala.
One praise to Sambhala by Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen (dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan) states that in the midst of snowy mountains, in the centre of an eight-petalled lotus is circular Kailash, on top of which is Kalāpa, with the king's palace in the midst of a sandalwood forest. This descriptions seems to identify Sambhala as Kalāpa, with the surrounding region in the shape of an eight-petalled lotus, with each petal divided into twelve regions, each with its own ruler, and containing 10 million vilages. This gives the total of 960 million villages mentioned in the Vimalaprabhā. In the image on the right, one of these eight regions has been highlighted.
In the image on the left of Kalāpa, the king's palace is clearly seen in the centre. Another praise by Dolpopa states that the famous Kālacakra maṇḍala palace built by Sucandra in the Mālaya grove, lies to the south of the centre of Kālapa. This matches the first picture on this page, which has north at the top, but not the present one of Sambhala, unless one assumes that this one is drawn with east to the bottom, as is the case with maṇḍalas. In that case, the colours of the three-dimensional palace match. The maṇḍala palace is seen here left of centre, and the black/blue colour should be to the east, red to the south, and so forth. So, we can assume that this map is not drawn with north to the top, but west, in the normal style of a maṇḍala. Dolpopa also states that east and west of the maṇḍala palace are ponds or lakes of sweet smelling, cooling water. This again matches the picture shown here. Dolpopa also mentions the presence of various birds, also seen in this picture. | |||||||||||||
Previous Page – Next Page Last updated 1 March 2010. E. Henning. Return to Home Page. |