Tibet: Barkhor Kora (Pilgrim Circuit at Jokhang Temple)

Tibetan Buddhist pilgrims from all over Tibet and even the world come to Lhasa to do the Kora ritual – walking (or crawling) in a circular route around the temple from sunrise to sunset. Every temple in Tibet has people walking in clockwise circles around it, but at Jokhang the sheer size of the crowd in incredible. Pious Buddhists come from far away rural Tibet often on foot over thousand of kilometers and mountains passes. The most pious ones sprawl flat on the ground in front of the temple, get up, and then drop again – all day long (this is boot camp for you). Others move around the Kora circle by dropping down body-length and then getting up and doing that again. It’s quite surreal to walk the circle and have pilgrims drop all around you and everyone walking and spinning one or two prayer wheels in their hands. All this to testify their boundless piety to Buddha.