108-Kora (circumambulation) of Dra Karpo Lhakhang in Paro, Bhutan
In Buddhism, kora (which means circumambulation) is the act of walking around the sacred site in a clockwise direction. Buddhist pilgrims do kora of the religious temples, sites, objects, etc to gain spiritual merits; cleanse sins of past and present lives and purify negative karma; and to attain spiritual and mental enlightenment. Pilgrims usually recite mantras and say prayers as they do the rounds. Bhutan being a Buddhist country, Kora is very prevalent and no temples are usually seen without pilgrims doing koras. However, the trend of 108-kora is quite a new thing in Bhutan, started or at least grew its popularity only a few years ago. It may have existed earlier amongst the elders but it became a good new thing to talk about and show off on social media handles recently, me being one of them :D. Honestly, apart from gaining spiritual merits and cleansing off sins, I don’t know the specific reason behind circumambulating the temples 108 times. Of course, t...