Page:The Tibetan Book of the Dead (1927).djvu/115

Rh The name Jambuling would thus mean the region or continent wherein jambu-fruit fall into the water. Its symbolic shape is like that of the shoulder-blade of a sheep, that is sub-triangular, or rather pear-shaped, to which the faces of its inhabitants conform. Blue is the colour assigned to it. Riches and plenty abound in it, along with both good and evil. It is said to be the smallest of the Four Continents, being but 7,000 miles in diameter.

The Western Continent is called Balongchöd (Ba-glang-spyöd), literally meaning cow+ox+action (Skt. Godhana, or ‘Wealth of Oxen’). In shape it is like the sun, and red of colour. Its inhabitants, whose faces are round like the sun, are believed to be very powerful and to be addicted to eating cattle, as the literal meaning of its name itself may suggest. Its diameter measures 8,000 miles.

The Northern Continent is Daminyan, or Graminyan (Sgra-mi-snyan), equivalent to the Sanskrit Uttara Kuru, meaning ‘Northern Kuru [Race]’. It is of square shape and green colour. Its inhabitants have corresponding faces, square like those of horses. Trees supply all their sustenance and wants, and the Kuru, on dying, haunt the trees as tree-spirits. This is the largest of the Continents, being 10,000 miles in diameter.

Each satellite Continent resembles the Continent to which it is attached, and is one-half its size. The left Satellite of our world (Jambuling), called Ngāyabling, is, for example, the world of the Rākṣḥasas, to which Padma Sambhava, the Great Guru of Lāmaism, is believed to have gone to teach the Rākṣḥasas goodness and salvation, and to be there now as their king.

Underlying this lāmaic cosmology there is, as research will show, an elaborate symbolism. Take, for instance, the description of Mt. Meru as given by Dr. Waddell: ‘Its eastern face is of silver, the south of jasper, the west of ruby, and the north of gold’ —which illustrates a use of ancient symbols very similar to that in the Revelation of John. The complete rational explanation of all the symbolism connected with