Snow Lion- Tibetan CreatureCreature · Beast"Celestial Lion of Tibet"
Also known as: Senge Karmo, Gang Senge, གངས་སེང་གེ, སེང་གེ་དཀར་མོ, gangs seng ge, and seng ge dkar mo
Description
A white lion with a turquoise mane who leaps among snow peaks with a roar that scatters ignorance. Always depicted in pairs, Snow Lions support the thrones of buddhas and flank the jewel on the Tibetan national flag. Their milk can only be held in vessels made of diamond.
Mythology & Lore
The Celestial Lion
The Snow Lion lives above the tree line, where only rock and ice remain. White-bodied with a turquoise mane, it leaps between summits in pairs, roaring. That roar clears the air of fear.
In Tibetan Buddhist art, Snow Lions crouch beneath the thrones of buddhas and bodhisattvas. The Buddha's teaching is itself called the lion's roar: truth spoken so directly that nothing can answer it. On the Tibetan national flag, two Snow Lions face each other with forepaws raised on a flaming jewel, guarding the Three Jewels of Buddhism between them.
The Snow Lion is one of the four dignities of Tibetan symbolism, alongside the tiger, the garuda, and the dragon. It holds the east. Its quality is joy that needs no reason.
Milk of the Snow Lion
Tibetan tradition holds that the Snow Lion's milk is so potent that ordinary vessels cannot contain it. Pour it into a clay cup and it burns straight through the bottom. Only a vessel made of diamond can hold it.