Monasteries and shrines · Tashiding
Walking the chortens and mani walls
Walk clockwise through Tashiding's field of chortens and past its carved mani walls in the late afternoon, as pilgrims do, and find the Thong-Wa-Rang-Dol chorten said to cleanse by sight.
Photo: walter callens · CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Tashiding's hilltop is less a single building than a sacred landscape: the main temple, smaller shrines, dozens of chortens and long walls of carved mani stones. Pilgrims walk the circuit clockwise, turning prayer wheels and murmuring mantras.
Join them at their pace. Keep chortens and mani walls on your right, do not step over or sit on stones, and do not take any away. Look for the painted stones and the variety of chorten styles, built over centuries by donors.
Ask a monk or local which is the Thong-Wa-Rang-Dol; by tradition, simply seeing it cleanses the soul. In late afternoon the light warms the whitewash and the valley below turns blue.
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Questions travellers ask
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What is the Thong-Wa-Rang-Dol chorten?
It is a chorten at Tashiding that, according to tradition recorded in Wikipedia, cleanses the soul of anyone who looks at it. Pilgrims make a point of seeing it. Ask a monk or local to point it out among the many chortens on the hilltop.
What are mani stones?
Flat stones carved, and sometimes painted, with mantras, most often Om Mani Padme Hum, the mantra of Chenrezig. They are placed in walls or heaps as offerings. At Tashiding many are attributed to the craftsman Yanchong Lodil. Never remove or step on them.
How should I behave at Tashiding?
Walk clockwise around chortens and temples, keep mani walls on your right, remove shoes and hats inside shrines, and dress modestly. Ask before photographing monks or rituals. Do not climb on chortens or take stones as souvenirs.
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