Seven golden mountain ranges

According to Abhidharma cosmology, seven golden mountain rages (Skt. kāñcanaparvata; Tib. གསེར་གྱི་རི་བདུན་, ser gyi ri dün; Wyl. gser gyi ri bdun) completely enclose Mount Meru. The names of these mountain ranges are, from the closest to Mount Meru to the furthest:

1. Yugandhara (Skt.; Tib. གཉའ་ཤིང་འཛིན་, nyashing dzin; Wyl. gnya' shing 'dzin)
2. Isadhara (Skt. Īṣādhara; Tib. གཤོལ་མདའ་འཛིན་, shol da dzin; Wyl. gshol mda' 'dzin)
3. Khadiraka (Skt.; Tib. སེང་ལྡེང་ཅན་, seng dengchen; Wyl. seng ldeng can)
4. Sudarshana (Skt. Sudarśana; Tib. ལྟ་ན་སྡུག, ta na duk; Wyl. lta na sdug)
5. Ashvakarna (Skt. Aśvakarṇa; Tib. རྟ་རྣ་, tana; Wyl. rta rna)
6. Vinataka (Skt.; Tib. རྣམ་འདུད་, nam dü; Wyl. rnam 'dud )
7. Nimindhara (Skt.; Tib. མུ་ཁྱུད་འཛིན་, mukhyü dzin; Wyl. mu khyud 'dzin)

The second mountain range is half the height of the first one, and the third one half the height of the second one, and so on until the seventh mountain range.

Jamgön Kongtrul writes in his Treasury of Knowledge:

Beyond Mount Meru and completely surrounding it like curtains are seven mountain ranges, each forming a square. These seven golden mountain ranges [are named according to the shape of their peaks]: Yoke, Plough, Acacia Forest, Pleasing-to-the-Eye, Horse's Ear, Bent and Rim. The spaces between [the mountain ranges] are filled with what are known as seven seas enjoyed [by the nagas], the waters of which have eight qualities.

Alternative Terms/Translations

• seven rings of golden mountains

Further Reading

• Abhidharmakośabhāṣyam by Louis de La Vallé Poussin, translated by Leo M. Pruden (Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press, 1988-1990), pages 452-454.