The Circumambulation of a Sacred Mountain
To walk a circle around a mountain, to circumambulate, is an ancient ritual practice. Today, I'm walking around the peak where the radio comes from: Slide Mountain.
The Wind · Michael P. Branch
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Show Notes
Folks of many religious persuasions have ways of doing it, sometimes around or between temples, sometimes encircling specific mountains, like the Kora of Mt Kailash in Tibet.
In the 1960s, poets Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen and Allen Ginsberg began annual circumambulations of Mt. Tamalpais in the SF bay area. Snyder learned the practice from Zen Bhuddists in Japan, and the three explained their walk as “opening of the mountain.”
Though there is at least one Tibetan group that calls for a counter-clockwise direction, most clearly denote the clockwise movement an important directional distinction, to avoid throwing order into chaos.
So as the sky illuminates to the East I head clockwise, down the mountain.
Thank you to Michael P. Branch who read the Mark Twain passage (Highly recommend his book How to Cuss in Western) Mark Maynard, Eleanor Qull, Scott Mortimore, Mike Corbitt and all of the folks who’ve helped support the show this year, there are too many to list.MUSIC:
Two tracks from Haana Lee’s new album called Textures
Emily Pratt, who makes music as Howls Road
Friend of the show Yclept Insan
and a few tracks from the Public Domain through Free Music Archive.
Further reading: The Way Around by Nicholas Triolo • The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane • The Living Mountain by Nan Sheperd
Thank you for being here, and keep listening.
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