It’s said that Guru Rinpoche after achieving immortality came here to meditate and go deeper into practice. He found this area very beneficial because the trees and plants were all medicinal.
He practiced in the Yangdeshö Cave (Tib. ཡང་ལེ་ཤོད་ཀྱི་བྲག་ཕུག) despite having Nagas acting as obstacles around him. He achieved siddhis. Finally he subdued those nagas as protectors. When he left the cave the nagas went for him and he melted them into the cliff that can be seen above:
It’s said also that the Nagas caused natural obstacles, such as stopping the water springs the hill is infused with. After 3 years, Guru Rinpoche subdued them and ask them to bring it back. There are some ponds and water taps where you can clearly see how pure the water is: in other ponds the water is translucent or opaque with a green tone, but in that area it was crystal clear, and you could count even the smallest stones underneath, among the various fishes that moved around.
When visiting the holy place you usually visit these three places:
| Yangleshö Cave | Vajrayogini Temple | Asura Cave | Self-Arising Tara |
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |
Syncretism
Again, like Muktinath Temple it looks to me almost Syncretism Buddhism-Hinduism because:
- In the self-arising tara rock a self-arising Ganesh is on its left, and a Ganesh thangka is hung painted in the Tibetan style. Lopön Thubten tells me in Buddhism he is a protector (with the same attributions he gets in Hinduism). Hindu Saraswati is also shown above the entrance to the temple. Lopön Thubten tells me the Hindu goddess is present in buddhism as Yanchenma, a manifestation of Kuntuzangmo, and manifestation of the consort of Manjushri.
- The Yangleshö Cave is actually in the area of a Vishnu temple, we can see the statue next to it. At the entrance there’s a curled cobra that opens up widely above its coiling tail, representing that shape holds the world and Vishnu rests on it. Nagas are spirits that have reptile appearance in Buddhism and even sometimes the Buddha is represented surrounded by the cobra as it was its umbrella.
Wind Horses
I was amazed at the quantity of wind horse prayer flags there were in the area. I had never seen such density before.