I walked about two hours from Pulchowk to Boudhanath Stupa, the largest stupa here in Nepal. After a round of fiddling the prayer bells around the stupa, I stumbled upon a very quaint, Taiwanese tea house that serves organic vegetarian food. The flavors of food and tea, combined with the owner’s hospitality and her interpretation of Buddhist theories (although familiar yet foreign to me), reminded me much of Taiwan, and of home. Waves of nostalgia mixed with a slightly more awakened sense of heritage pride gently surfaced my mind more.
The Boudda’s eyes and the stupa directly faced my view, from the window on the second floor; an excellent vantage point for people-watching, and I observed the motions around the stupa.
Believers, young or old, devote their bodies by constant motions of up and downs, almost like eight-count push-ups inside the courtyard of the stupa. Their hands are equipped with cloth for sliding up and down their bodies on the plank of wood. Their motion starts from top of the head, the heart, then a bow, then the slide down, both arms forwards, on the side, kneeling, then repeat from the top; repeat for many, many repetitions. People spectate from the steps above; and the devotees go on. Outside the courtyard, some devotees continue this same motion slowly and surely, around the great stupa.
Devotees or tourists alike, stroke the prayer bells around the stupa in a clockwise fashion. There are either four or five bells per row; once people come to a stop by the wall, they touch the wall with their head and made a worshipping/prayer motion.
I find the devotees’ worshipping motions to be fascinating. There could be so many different ways to pay tribute to the heavens - money, fruits, burning incense or paper money, animal sacrifice, et cetera - but they choose to employ this repetitive physical motion to offer themselves. This makes me wonder the meanings within the motion, and if there might be other types of motions.
Quick sketch from the tea house
Taste of home