Mount Potalaka (,

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

: 補陀洛 ''Fudaraku-san''), which means "Brilliance", is the

mythical Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...

dwelling of the Buddhist

bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...

Avalokiteśvara In Buddhism, Avalokiteśvara (meaning "the lord who looks down", International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ), also known as Lokeśvara ("Lord of the World") and Chenrezig (in Tibetan), is a Bodhisattva#Bhūmis (stages), tenth-level bodhisattva associ ...

, said to exist in the seas south of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Origins

The mountain is first mentioned in the final chapter of the '' Avataṃsaka Sūtra'', the '' Gaṇḍavyūha Sūtra'', where the chapter's protagonist journeys to seek the advice of Avalokiteśvara. The Japanese scholar Shu Hikosaka, on the basis of his study of Buddhist scriptures, ancient

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

literary sources, as well as field surveys, proposed the hypothesis that the ancient Mount Potalaka, the residence of Avalokiteśvara described in the ''Gaṇḍavyūha Sūtra'' and

Xuanzang Xuanzang (; ; 6 April 6025 February 664), born Chen Hui or Chen Yi (), also known by his Sanskrit Dharma name Mokṣadeva, was a 7th-century Chinese Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making ...

’s ''

Great Tang Records on the Western Regions The ''Records of the Western Regions'', also known by its Chinese name as the ''Datang Xiyuji'' or ''Da Tang Xiyu Ji'' and by various other translations and Romanized transcriptions, is a narrative of the Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang's ninet ...

'', is the real mountain Potikai or Potiyil situated near the town of

Ambasamudram Ambasamudram is the principal town of the Ambasamudram taluk in Tirunelveli district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The entire taluk had a population of 392,226 as of 2001, with 42.5% classified as rural. The town of Ambasamudram had a popul ...

in the

Tirunelveli Tirunelveli (), also known as Nellai and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of the Tirunelveli District. It is the fourth-largest munici ...

District of the Indian state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. The mountain is located in an area within the

Singampatti Singampatti . This palaiyam headed 24 of 72 palaiyams was located in present day Ambasamudram taluk, two miles from the spurs of the Western Ghats, in Tirunelveli district. History According to tradition, the founder of the Singampatti famil ...

Zamindar Forest.Hikosaka, Shu. "The Potiyil Mountain in Tamil Nadu and the Origin of the Avalokiteśvara Cult." Buddhism in Tamil Nadu: Collected Papers. Chennai, India: Institute of Asian Studies, 1998. 119-41. Shu also says that Mount Potiyil/Potalaka has been a sacred place for the people of South India from time immemorial. With the spread of Buddhism in the region beginning at the time of the great king

Aśoka Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was Emperor of Magadha from until his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynasty. His empire covered a large pa ...

in the third century BCE, it became a holy place also for Buddhists who gradually became dominant as a number of their hermits settled there. The local people, though, mainly remained followers of

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

Local traditions

Later Japanese Buddhists, such as the Japanese

Yogacara Yogachara (, IAST: ') is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through the interior lens of meditation, as well as philosophical reasoning (hetuvidyā). ...

monk A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...

Jōkei, espoused aspiring rebirth on Mount Potalaka as an easier way to attain progress on the Buddhist path than the more well-known

pure land Pure Land is a Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhist concept referring to a transcendent realm emanated by a buddhahood, buddha or bodhisattva which has been purified by their activity and Other power, sustaining power. Pure lands are said to be places ...

Amitābha Amitābha (, "Measureless" or "Limitless" Light), also known as Amituofo in Chinese language, Chinese, Amida in Japanese language, Japanese and Öpakmé in Tibetan script, Tibetan, is one of the main Buddhahood, Buddhas of Mahayana, Mahayana Buddh ...

. Places named after Mount Potalaka include: *

Mount Putuo Mount Putuo (, from Sanskrit: " Mount Potalaka") is an island in Putuo District, Zhoushan, Zhejiang, China. It is a renowned site in Chinese Buddhism and is the bodhimaṇḍa of the bodhisattva Guanyin. Mount Putuo is one of the four sa ...

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

Putuo Zongcheng Temple The Putuo Zongcheng Temple (, ) of Chengde, Hebei province, China is a Qing dynasty era Buddhist temple complex built between 1767 and 1771,Foret, 155. during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1735–1796). It is located near the Chengde Mount ...

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

Potala Palace Potala Palace ( Tibetan: པོ་ཏ་ལ་ཕོ་བྲང Chinese: 布达拉宫) is the name of a museum in Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in China, built in the ''dzong''-style. It was previously a palace of t ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

Naksansa Naksansa () or Naksan Temple is a Korean Buddhist temple complex in the Jogye order of Korean Buddhism that stands on the slopes of Naksan Mountain (also called "Obongsan Mountain"). It is located about midway between Sokcho and Yangyang, Gangw ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

* Futarasan jinja in

Nikkō is a Cities of Japan, city in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city's population was 80,239, in 36,531 households. The population density was 55 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Nikkō is a popular destination for Japanese and ...

* Fudarakusan-ji in

Nachikatsuura 270px, Nachikatsuura town hall is a town located in Higashimuro District, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 14,420 in 7,622 households and a population density of 79 persons per km2. The total area of the town ...

Notes

{{Reflist Avalokiteśvara Mountains in Buddhism Mythological mountains

Origins

Local traditions

See also

Notes