Buddhist Sidewalking Scraping?
July 11, 2011 6:11 AM Subscribe
What was this (presumably Buddhist) guy doing?
I work in a building next to the Verizon Center in Washington, DC, which is hosting the 2011 Kalachakra for World Peace. Today, as I was going out to get some breakfast, I saw a guy walking around the outside of the Verizon Center. Every few feet he would fall to his knees, prostrate himself, and scrape the sidewalk with these bricks he had attached to his hands.
I'm guessing that it has something to do with the Kalachakra, but I don't know enough to be sure, and I was curious if anyone could explain to meaning of this activity to me.
I work in a building next to the Verizon Center in Washington, DC, which is hosting the 2011 Kalachakra for World Peace. Today, as I was going out to get some breakfast, I saw a guy walking around the outside of the Verizon Center. Every few feet he would fall to his knees, prostrate himself, and scrape the sidewalk with these bricks he had attached to his hands.
I'm guessing that it has something to do with the Kalachakra, but I don't know enough to be sure, and I was curious if anyone could explain to meaning of this activity to me.
I can't speak about the bricks. But I know of some folk, Tibetans, who put thongs (do Americans call them flipflops? rubber toe shoe things..) on their hands to protect them when they are doing long distance koras around some mountains and other holy places.
MrTaff is currently making me some dal... and so therefore unavailable. If he gives me further, and more illuminating information, I shall return. He is Tibetan, so might know more.
posted by taff at 6:21 AM on July 11, 2011
MrTaff is currently making me some dal... and so therefore unavailable. If he gives me further, and more illuminating information, I shall return. He is Tibetan, so might know more.
posted by taff at 6:21 AM on July 11, 2011
More information on Kora (pilgrimage). He'll probably circumnavigate the building 108 times.
posted by desjardins at 6:24 AM on July 11, 2011
posted by desjardins at 6:24 AM on July 11, 2011
Here's the wiki link. Are you sure they were actual bricks?
posted by taff at 6:24 AM on July 11, 2011
posted by taff at 6:24 AM on July 11, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks everybody, it looks like that what was going on. The picture desjardins posted is pretty much exactly what he looked like. I'm not positive they were actual bricks, since I figured stopping and staring at his religious ritual was probably not polite, but they definitely made a noise that sounded like bricks on the sidewalk.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 6:27 AM on July 11, 2011
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 6:27 AM on July 11, 2011
Prostrations are part of your long-term meditation practice. I believe each Nundro (a complex practice that you have to do daily until you've finished a certain amount of repetitions) includes 100,000 to 1 million prostrations.
posted by outlandishmarxist at 6:40 AM on July 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by outlandishmarxist at 6:40 AM on July 11, 2011 [1 favorite]
My spelling was off on that. Ngöndro. But the way I spelled it is phonetically accurate.
posted by outlandishmarxist at 6:54 AM on July 11, 2011
posted by outlandishmarxist at 6:54 AM on July 11, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by desjardins at 6:21 AM on July 11, 2011