The Seal on the Cover

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

          JD:
          I'm sorry, I haven't been following the list super-close lately but
          someone just told me something about the seal... they looked at it and
          swore that it must be "Mt. Meru and a snow lion".
          
          "want to say this is used to indicate the western realm in the Tibetan
          Buddhist cosmology."

          not sure if anyone's made that connection yet.

Oh . . . 

            Mt. Kailash, at 6714 m also known as Tise, Kailasa & Kang 
            Rinpoche (jewel of the Snows), has since time immemorial 
            been celebrated in many eastern cosmologies as Mt. Meru, 
            the axis mundi. And as the center of the physical & 
            metaphysical universe, Mt. Meru is sacred to the Buddhist, 
            Jains, the Hindu & the Bonpos. For the Hindus, the 
            mountain represents the seat of Lord Shiva, for the 
            Buddhists, a terrestrial projection of the cosmic mandala of 
            Dhyani-Buddhas & Boddhisatvas….. The Wheel of Life: for 
            the Bonpos, Kailash was the sacred nine storey Swastika 
            Mountain, upon which the Bonpo founder Sherab alighted 
            from heaven. Four of the great rivers of the Indian 
            subcontinent originates from here: the Karnali, which feeds 
            into the Ganges (south): the Indus (north); the Sutlez (west) 
            & the Brahmaputra (Yarlung Tsangpo, east).



http://www.infohub.com/TRAVEL/SIT/sit_pages/10414.html

Of course, the seal is modeled after pre-existing Tibetan 
govermental artifacts, stamps, coins, seals. Tibetan seals
are used for both Legal and Religious functions.

Consider the following excerpt (uncovered while looking 
up Mt. Meru, Snow Lions, etc.) useful as background on 
the Buddhist mindset and Shambahla:

        The lights can be explained by using a format of [two sets of] 
        seven pairs: The green light at the zenith and the blue light 
        at the nadir, which are characterized by the radiant 
        awareness of total emptiness," produce two energy-winds, 
        the vital and the downwardvoiding. The black blaze in the east, 
        characterized by approaching fullness, produces the 
        macrocosmic heat accompanied and six other energy-winds. 
        The red blaze in the south, characterized by increase, produces 
        the seven fires; these are the five wrathful planets- Fire of Time, 
        Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn- plus Lightning and the Horse-
        faced Fire. The white blaze in the north, characterized by the 
        dawning of inner light, produces the seven waters: the five 
        peaceful planets- Eclipser, Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Long 
        Tail- plus the rain and the ocean. The yellow blaze in the west, 
        characterized by coarseness, produces the seven earths: subtle 
        earth, coarse earth, subtle minerals, coarse minerals, subtle stars, 
        coarse stars, and rainbows. These are the two sets of seven pairs:
         the earths and winds of the west and east, and the fires and waters 
        of the south and north. There is a single pair, space and pristine 
        wisdom, at the zenith and at the nadir. The elements of this latter 
        pair are the pervading factors and the former fourteen constitute 
        the pervaded field.

http://www.snowlionpub.com/pages/N62_7.php