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Chapter 02
Three Field Trip Reports
The existence of Lungten Phuk establishes that the southern flanks of the so-called Shri Ashtapad mountains were indeed selected for permanent habitation by the early Bon Po of Zhang Zhung. Moreover, the east side of the so-called greater Shri Ashtapad mountain is where the Sheldra (Tib. = Shel-'dra) site is located. The all-stone corbelled structures of Sheldra occupy deep fissures that run horizontally across a large escarpment. Lungten Phuk and Sheldra represent the same Zhang Zhung cultural grouping. No Jain cultural materials have come to light at these archaeological sites. 2. Serdung Chuksum By marching up the Serlung valley it is possible to reach the very base of the Mount Kailash massif. This is the most inner aspect of the holy precinct, the place where devotees can touch the very fabric of the holy mountain. Sheltered in a narrow fissure in the lower portion of the massif is a line of 13 stupas belonging to the Drigung Kagyu subsect. This highly revered site is known as Serdung Chuksum (Tib. = gSer-gdung bcu-gsum). The reliquary shrines of Serdung Chuksum once contained the holy relics of Dringungpa hierarchs, but these sacred receptacles were desecrated in the Chinese Cultural Revolution. The Bon Po maintain that the 13 stupas of Serdung Chuksum once belonged to them. When the Bon Po were ousted from Mount Kailash with the formation of the Guge-Purang kingdom in the 10 and 11th centuries CE, all their holy sites were requisitioned by the Buddhists. Serdung Chuksum (also known as the 'neck of Mount Kailas') is apparently where the Bon Po concealed scriptures during various waves of persecution, but this cannot be positively confirmed. No residential ruins of any kind were found at Serdung Chuksum. At 5800 m above sea level, this site falls well outside the zone in which human beings can comfortably inhabit. It is extremely cold and the air very thin at this elevation. Even the inhabitants of Zhang Zhung, who were eminently well adapted to their highland environment, did not establish their Dokhang at such a high elevation. There are bas relief carvings of prayers and deities and sculpted clay votive plaques at Serdung Chuksum as well as at other sites around Mount Tise. These are well-known Buddhist religious emblems and should not be confused with Jain cultural materials.8 The heads of the two branches of the Serlung valleys were at one time glaciated. This is
6.
The term ' early Bonpo' refers to the followers of archaic religious traditions, rather than an institutionalized religion like that of today. For information on this site see John V. Bellezza, 2002. Antiquities of Upper Tibet: An Inventory of Pre-Buddhist Archaeological sites on the High Plateau. Delhi: Adroit. It has come to my attention that certain Jains now believe that the mam idol installed in the Choku monastery (Tib. Chos-sku) is actually one of theirs. This is certainly not the case. This stone representation of the Dharmakaya aspect of the Buddha is one of the most famous statues in all of western Tibet. It is one of three brothers' revered by the Tibetans for centuries. Many native folktales surround these Il' century CE idols. In the same vein, I understand that there are certain individuals who are artificially linking Jain Sanskrit terms with Bon terms rendered in the Zhang Zhung and Tibetan languages. One example will suffice to make my point: the Jain taparishi being related etymologically to Ta-pi hri-tsa, a Zhang Zhung saint of the 8th century CE. In order to establish such linguistic links one would first have to show that the extinct Zhang Zhung language was influenced by Indie languages such as Sanskrit. At this juncture in comparative linguistic research, this is far from certain.
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A reconnaissance mission to locate the Ashtapad Temple
