Kathmandu Day 2: Boudhanath Stupa

Our next stop was the one of a kind heritage site: Boudhanath stupa.

This is one of South Asia's largest stupas and the only one of its kind in the world. The stupa stands proud above the surrounding shops and bustling town in the shape of a mandala, with buddah’s all seeing eyes looking out from each direction at the top.

The entire center was filled with tourists, pilgrims, and worshipers a like spinning Mani wheels (prayer wheels decorated with mantras holding prayer scrolls inside) in hopes of clearing negative Karma, and picking up some good luck /wisdom. (I spun the heck out of these 🤞)

The stupa is surrounded by shops, monasteries, and restaurants forming a prefect circle around the holy site. One of these shops is an art school that specializes in mandalas/ thangka. We did a quick tour with the owner and learned a lot about the process/ intention that goes into each piece, and how to use them.

Some interesting facts are: no eyes may be painted (they are also always only half open- in a perfect meditative state) until a lama gives the Painter approval. They also MUST use 24K gold for certain portions as it’s closest to the earth and is good for meditation. Additonally all the pigments are created by grinding natural minerals down into a fine powder.

After a quick stop into a monastery to be blessed by the monks and receive a red thread bracelet for good luck on our trek, it was back to dinner and early bed as tomorrow is a 4am wake up!