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| Boudhanath |
Yesterday morning, a Tibetan monk self-immolated at Boudhanath, the large stupa in the middle of Kathmandu. While we are in Kathmandu, we'll be staying within walking distance of Boudhanath. I wanted to make sure we were close enough so we could circumambulate the stupa every morning and evening while we are there.
The Tibetan issue is a difficult one for me to summarize in just a few short sentences in this blog. More than 120 Tibetans have self immolated since 2009, many in hopes of drawing attention to the suffering inside Tibet at the hands of Communist China. It is an issue that is close to my heart- not only as a Buddhist and the repression of religious freedom - but as a human and the repression of human rights. It is also a vivid reminder that as I am getting more and more excited for our trip with every passing day - there are people our world just struggling to survive. How will we feel when we see the unimaginable poverty in India? How will we react to seeing a level of hardship and suffering that we can't even comprehend? More importantly, how will these images change us?
