A solitary nun circumambulates Mount Kailas, revered by Tibetans as the axis of the world. The ancient practice of parikrama, or kora, is less one of defining a perimeter than one of dissolving all sense of boundary. Connecting to the holy site through intimate circumambulations, kora draws one ever inward toward a sacred center. While Buddhists circumambulate clockwise, followers of Bon-Tibet’s indigenous religious tradition-circle counterclockwise. When asked why, a Bonpo pilgrim replied, “I’m not following the Buddha, I’m going to meet him.”
Mount Kailas, Western Tibet.

A solitary nun circumambulates Mount Kailas, revered by Tibetans as the axis of the world. The ancient practice of parikrama, or kora, is less one of defining a perimeter than one of dissolving all sense of boundary. Connecting to the holy site through intimate circumambulations, kora draws one ever inward toward a sacred center. While Buddhists circumambulate clockwise, followers of Bon-Tibet’s indigenous religious tradition-circle counterclockwise. When asked why, a Bonpo pilgrim replied, “I’m not following the Buddha, I’m going to meet him.”
Mount Kailas, Western Tibet.