User:Doug Elton/Kora (Pilgrimage) DRAFT

Kora (Tibetan: སྐོར་ར, THL: kor ra, Wylie: skor ra) is a transliteration of a Tibetan word that means "circumambulation" or "revolution". Kora is both a type of pilgrimage and a type of meditative practice in the Tibetan Buddhist or Bon (Tibetan: བོན, THL: Bön, Wylie: Bon) traditions. Kora are often performed as a constituent part of a pilgrimage, specific ceremony, celebration or ritual; however, it is a term that is also often used to refer to the entire pilgrimage experience in the Tibetan Buddhist region.

For pilgrimage, Tibetans generally use the terms né-kor (Tibetan: གནས་སྐོར, THL: né kor, Wylie: gnas skor), literally, "circling around an abode" (Tibetan: གནས, THL: né, Wylie: gnas) referring to the general practice of circumambulation as a way of relating to such places. As the word relates to Kora, the né, or né-chen (Tibetan: གནས་ཆེན,  THL: né chen, Wylie: gnas chen) is renderred as "empowered", "sacred" or "holy" place/object, and the né is credited with the ability to transform those that circumambulate it. Aspects of both the natural and the man-made world are also considered to be the abodes or né of a wide variety of nonhuman beings, such as, tantric meditational deities (Yidam) (Tibetan: ཡི་དམ, THL / Wylie: yi dam) or Dakini (डाकिनी ḍākinī; Tibetan: མཁའ་འགྲོ་མ་, THL: khandro ma, Wylie: mkha' 'gro ma).

Né generally fall into the following four types:
 * Natural Sites. The most momentous né are the great sacred mountains  and lakes. They cover large areas, sometimes hundreds of square kilometers. Within these areas the points of power may include: peaks, rocks, caves, springs, confluences and sky-burial sites. The associated Kora can be treks of long distances, that cross a number of high passes and be very arduous. In the Tibetan region, some traditional Kora sites important to the region include: the sacred mountains of Mt. Kailash (or Gang Rinpoche or Mt. Tisé) (Tibetan: གངས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ, THL: gang rin po ché, Wylie: gangs rin po che), Lapchi (or Labchi)    (Tibetan: ལ་ཕྱི, THL: la chi, Wylie: la phyi), Tsari (Tibetan: ཙ་རི་, THL / Wylie: tsa ri) and Kawa Karpo    (Tibetan: ཁ་བ་དཀར་པོ།, THL: khawa kar po,  Wylie: kha ba dkar po); the sacred lakes of  Manasarovar (Tibetan: མ་ཕམ་གཡུ་མཚོ།, THL: ma pam yu tso ma, Wylie: pham g.yu mtsho), Yamdrok (Tibetan: ཡར་འབྲོག་གཡུ་མཚོ་, THL:  yar drok yu tso, Wylie: yar 'brog g.yu mtsho) and Namtso (Tibetan: གནམ་མཚོ་, THL: nam tso, Wylie: gnam mtsho)
 * Manmade Sites, including: cities, monasteries, temples, stupas/chortens, hermitages, etc. For example, in Nepal, Kora are commonly performed around Swayambhunath (Devanagari: स्वयम्भूनाथ स्तुप) and Bodhnath (Devanagari: बौद्धनाथ), two important stupas in the Kathmandu Valley; in Tibet, around the Potala or Jokhang in Lhasa.
 * Hidden Lands, (Tibetan: སྦས་ཡུལ, THL: bé yül, Wylie: sbas yul): secret or hidden lands; paradisiacal realms located in the remotest parts of the Himalayas.
 * Holy Person. A pilgrimage can be made to pay respects to a holy person, the holy person in such instances being considered a né.

The pilgrim is known as a né korwa (Tibetan: གནས་སྐོར་བ, THL: né korwa, Wylie:gnas skor ba), “one who circles a né ", thus defining them by the ritual cicumambulation(s) they perform as part of their journey . Pilgrims seek to attain religious merit by performing Kora which are a major merit generator. The more potent the power place destination the greater the merit accumulated. A Kora is performed by walking or repeatedly prostrating oneself. Prostration (e.g., versus walking), circumambulating repeatedly or an auspiscious number of times all producing greater merit. Kora may be also be performed while spinning prayer wheels, chanting mantra, or counting mala. Buddhist pilgrims most typically emulate the path of the sun and circumambulate in a clockwise direction. Bön pilgrims traditionally circumambulate in the counter-clockwise direction.