བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས་

Tsuglagkhang Kora #1

Our first week at Sarah, we went to McLeod / Upper Dharamsala with our Tibetan roommates.  We did one kora (ཀོར་བ་) around the Tsuglagkhang (the main temple and the Dalai Lama’s residence).  Along the way, we saw stones with mantras (and some with Free Tibet) carved in them, prayer flags, and prayer wheels.  Halfway around the complex is the residence of the Nechung Oracle, some small temples, and some stupas.  The first set of pictures has mani stones (with Avalokiteshvara’s / Chenrezig’s སྤྱན་རས་གཟིགས་ mantra: Om Mani Padme Hum), a small house(?) along the kora, a stupa, and the detail from the upper part of one of the buildings.

Tibetans often do kora around sacred places as a way to gain merit.  Wednesday is an auspicious day to do this particular kora.  We’ve walked this kora twice, both times on a Friday, but I hope to visit on a Wednesday when we move to McLeod.

Tsuglagkhang Kora #2

The second set of pictures has one of the largest engraved stones we saw, a column with the Tibetan greeting (Tashi Delek བཀྲ་ཤིས་བདེ་ལེགས་, also the title of this post), and more prayer flags.