On the kora: walking in circles in McLeod Ganj

Om Mani Padme Hum in Tibetan characters is carved on most stone
  offerings placed along the kora. Chanted and written it is the
heart mantra of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, emanation of
the Buddha of Compassion.

Tsuglakhang Temple is the heart of the Tibetan diaspora, and circling that heart is the kora. 

Strung out along forested ridges in this ex-hill station town, McLeod Ganj, home of the Tibetan government-in-exile, in no way resembles Tibet, but the old ways of Buddhist devotion are maintained. Clockwise circumambulation - or kora - around a revered site like the Tsuglakhang is a popular devotional practice that combines a daily constitutional with walking meditation. 

In McLeod Ganj, we walk the Tsuglakhang kora, sharing the swooping concrete path under the pines and high above the dusty plain with old Tibetan men and women, monks, young professionals, tourists, pilgrims. The background sound track to our circular walk is whirring prayer wheels, crashing squabbling monkeys, cicada hums, murmured Om Mani Padme Hum mantras. 

Tenzin is volunteering to refurb the prayer wheels along the kora. 

Ordained or lay people, every one makes the kora their path

Jampeling Elders Village sits just off the kora, so residents can easily get to 
the  path. This Jampeling resident repainted the stone bench that he and his 
friends use to rest along the way.

Old friends meet and pray and swap news.