Additionally, Bon myths regard Tise as the sight of a legendary 12th century battle of sorcery between the Buddhist sage Milarepa and the Bon shaman Naro Bon-chung. Milarepa's defeat of the shaman displaced Bon as the primary religion of Tibet, firmly establishing Buddhism in its place.
:) Beautiful thread!
Yes, N, you have no idea how timely it is: thank-you.
Indeed, other pilgrims venture a much more demanding regimen, performing body-length prostrations over the entire length of the circumambulation: The pilgrim bends down, kneels, prostrates full-length, makes a mark with his fingers, rises to his knees, prays, and then crawls forward on hands and knees to the mark made by his/her fingers before repeating the process. It requires at least four days of physical endurance to perform the circumambulation while following this regimen. The mountain is located in a particularly remote and inhospitable area of the Tibetan Himalayas.
Just thinking on what that could do for a person -- spiritually. Really after you made the trek and then crawled around the base of the Mountain for four days, all else, all wories and strife and self important dramas in our daily life would be so in-consequential. Probably we would laugh at how silly we had been. ;D
Absolute humility to prostrate. Keeps the land sacred and holy. It signifies the struggle within - its the one way to get there.
I am going to think of these pilgrims as often as I can now to remind myself. Maybe I'll write myself a note and put it in my pocket.