Blogs from Bhutan, Asia - page 15

If an eighth century saint answers a village’s prayer to cure a leprosy epidemic, it is only fitting that the miracle be commemorated for ever after in dance and colour and panache. And when that village is in Bhutan, the dance and colour and panache are truly fabulous. On my first trip to Bhutan, I’d been lucky enough to go to one of the biggest festivals in the country, the Tsechu held in the imperious Punakha Dzong, which marks the anniversary of the Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel’s seventeenth century victory over the Tibetans. The Tsechu had been an incredible occasion, presided over by Bhutanese Buddhism’s highest-ranking official, the Je Khenpo, with elaborate dances and re-enactments, fabulously-dressed crowds and colour, bemused tourists and rituals, and the closest I’ve seen to a traffic jam in this sparsely-populated country. This ... read more

Saturday morning, we visited Punakha Dzong, one of the most important and, indeed, beautiful in Bhutan. We all felt so fortunate to be in Bhutan this time of year as the dzong was surrounded by mature blooming jacaranda trees whose soft petaled purple blossoms were utterly magical. We arrived to witness a slew of monks, with their robes up to their knees, using a fire hose to wash off the very high wooden steps leading into the main entrance into the dzong. Not something you see everyday! One reason that the stairs needed cleaning was the presence of several enormous bee hives, larger than any we've ever seen, suspended from the eaves of the dzong entrance. Apparently, as the bees naturally die off, they essentially litter the steps with their bodies, thousands of little bee corpses ... read more

We were sorry to leave the Dang Chhu and the beauty of Hotel Kichu. Nonetheless, many hours of driving were ahead of us as we moved into the final 2 days of our Bhutan experience. After driving all morning through the endless beauty of Bhutan's mountainous landscape, we arrived in Thimphu for last minute shopping and lunch. We then continued on to Paro where we visited the very moving former home of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, the revered teacher of the 14th Dalai Lama, who left his body in 1991. A Tibetan who fled the Chinese invasion, he eventually made Paro, Bhutan his home, and was greatly honored there. His home felt very personal with lots of photos and personal effects. Next door was his monastery which had some of the finest statues of Padmasambhava we've seen. ... read more

Thursday morning, Rinchen spoke with us about the 10 rules to be born as a human. The guidelines were quite similar to the 10 commandments. Tobgay helped with the translations as Rinchen's English still sometimes eludes us. After his talk, we meditated together. It was easy to go deep in such a conducive environment. Finally, we had the opportunity to place objects on the altar for blessing. We placed our 2 red marble pieces that Tshering gave us on Wednesday as we hiked up to Kuenzangdak Gompa. We had stopped by a water-powered prayer wheel halfway up the mountain and Tshering found the marble in the stream. In the blessing, Rinchen read prayers, three rice, poured holy water along the altar, then distributed rice to each of us. At his cue, we repeatedly tossed rice upon ... read more

Tuesday morning, we drove an hour along windy roads through a beautiful mix of mountains and valleys filled with farms growing wheat and potatoes. A long climb up a dirt track of hairpin turns, quite muddy in some spots, made us greatly appreciative of our 4-wheel drive vehicles. Water-powered prayer wheels dotted the track all the way up to a tiny village where we left the cars. From there, under a light rain, a steep but short hike brought us up to Tharpaling Monastery, a very small monastery of a dozen or so monks, including several boys. This site is one of the special meditation places of Padmasambhava and his consort, Yeshe Tsogyel. There are images in many temples we've visited of Padmasambhava riding on the back of Yeshe Tsogyel, in the incarnation of a flying ... read more