Kora

On Sunday all the program kids went with our roommates to McLeod Ganj, or upper dharamsala. The town has the main IBD campus and the Dalai Lama's temple complex, along with a really big market.

It's about a 45 minute jeep ride up really winding, twisting roads, but the view is fabulous. We arrived at the top and made Kora (I am unsure how to spell this in english, but oh well) around His Holiness's complex. Kora translates to ritual circumambulation, which translates to walking around important things. There is a path around the outside of the temple where you walk with the mountains in the background and prayer flags hanging everywhere. There are also mantras carved or painted into the rocks along the path.

I really like the concept of prayer flags. The principal of the Sarah campus (who happens to be a monk and a very learned man, so we call him Geshe-la) came with us and explained that prayer flags put mantras into the wind so every time you inhale good wishes for the universe. The path also has Tibetan prayer wheels everywhere. You are supposed to spin the prayer wheels, which contain more mantras, and send them out into the universe. Most of them you just turn with your hand as you walk past, but some are huge and so heavy that you have to use your whole body to get started.

on the path there are stupas (this is apparently an english word, although I had never heard it), around which you do more Kora, which is a trip because you stop walking in circles to walk in smaller circles. The program director and I had a long discussion about the meaning of devotion because I have trouble accepting dictionary definitions and also because I feel like I have a lot of different associations with words that don't correspond with what they're supposed to mean in Tibetan or Buddhist thought.

We then entered the main complex and wandered around. I liked the outside better than the temple spaces, but I think it's a matter of personal taste because I like simpler spiritual spaces better and Tibetans like to dress up their prayer rooms. Also people leave chips ahoy offerings on the altar.

The second monk had everyone for lunch on campus (which is also inside the complex). Emory is seriously well connected here, because lunch was in a really fancy room with sweeping views of the town. We all sat cross legged on three inch thick rugs and had a huge spread.

After lunch our roommates took us shopping. Most of the girls went to get chupas, which is the traditional dress. It's pretty much a wrap skirt/top with no sleeves, and then you buy a shirt to wear underneath.

Today we were supposed to register at the foreigners' office, but like everything else in India it's a little slow. The man who has to sign our papers wasn't there, so we're going back on Friday. In the meantime, we start class tomorrow! Strange.

I have to go to tea now, but my next piece will be entirely about the bucket shower. Get excited.

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