Memory, Memento, and Sacred Bond

Various prayers, mantras, and seed syllables (bija) are inscribed on mani (prayer) stones left by pilgrims at sacred sites. Some of these stones are visible in the foreground of this photograph of the morning light touching the north face of Mount Kailash. Buddhists and Hindus circumambulate the mountain on a thirty-two-mile-long path when they make pilgrimage to Mount Kailash. For the Hindu, Buddhist, and Bon faithful, this sacred mountain represents Mount Meru, axis of the cosmos. Bon was the primary religion practiced throughout Tibet before the introduction of Buddhism.