Bhutan - Gods and Spirits - The Philosophy

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Dzongs is what you see - so many till you tire of them. Beautiful, inspiring. Locals love them, so do tourists.

One way or the other - the idea is to get the prayers to God - be it through prayers, offerings, flags, wheels.
Cats and kittens are welcome to live in the monasteries along with the monks - dogs are no-no.

The Tigers Nest in Paro is a long walk - 2.5 hrs if you can walk at a decent pace - all uphill - and I was surprised to see many locals - modern college kids as well as villagers - all chose to spend their holiday climbing up.
All carried soft drinks and snacks. A boy carried the guitar, and when I asked why - he said "we will relax and play the guitar because it is a holiday".

The Punakha town is a disappointment - but the Dzong is beautiful.

Bhutanese are spiritual, religious people. Prayers are a part of the daily life. Not offending dieties or hurting any living creature is important. Buddhist philosophy is adopted - path to enlightenment, not being attached to worldly pursuits... the tenets of Buddhism are adopted.

However with the tantric flavour of Buddhism, there is more superstition and more rituals. More spirits and dieties.
Religion and philosophy are closely linked here.

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Photos

Dieties
Intricate paintings like this one are there in all Dzongs.
These look almost like Hindu dieties, but with a Buddhist touch.

Dochu La Pass - On Way from Thimpu to Punakha
These are 108 chortens. Symmetrical, intricate, beautiful, clean.
Each seems to appease a different diety.

Devotee
Old people travel from far off villages just to be able to offer their prayers and offerings at any of the numerous chortens or dzongs.

Woman with baby making an offering
Twigs and incense burn in this shrine structure at Dochu La. Warm smoke spirals out at the top. I thought that was just to keep our hands warm. But a local devotee came along, put in a few twigs, took blessings for her baby and moved on.
By the way, photographing babies below 1 year is not considered auspicious by locals. Always take permission before clicking a baby's face

A Large Prayer Wheel at the Old Dzong at Thimpu
Large prayer wheels / drums are rotated in a clockwise fashion, with a prayer. It is believed that the prayer reaches God when you rotate the wheel. This one is considered really holy, and there were devotees from afar who visited.

Hundreds of Prayer Wheels
Dzongs are lined with hundreds of prayer wheels. Devotees rotate each and every one of these in a clockwise manner, round the entire Dzong!
Red color, with gold lettering - its beautiful. I too felt pious rotating the wheels.

The Dzong at Thimpu
This is the main Dzong at Thimpu seen from afar.
Its old, well maintained and clean. Not just beatiful.
Tourists and devotees visit in equal measure, each one observing the other.

Prayer Flags
These flags are either in white, or colorful in red, blue and green.
They contain holy words.
Typically on any mountain top, or a place of high altitude you'll find these hosted by devotees. The idea being that the prayer flies up to the Gods from the height and with the wind.

The Punakha Dzong
Punakha is a small town - almost artificially constructed of identical houses - existing for the sole purpose of facilitating tourists to come to view the Punakha Dzong.
Which is beautiful. Was made around 1638 or so - and its unbelievable to see how well it has survived all the years and tourists!

Zig Zag Designs on the Wall - Punakha Dzong
These zig-zag geometrical designs seem very modern... we found them quite often in different monasteries. But these are as ancient as the other intricate paintings!

The Monk and the Cat
I saw lots of cats and kittens in the monasteries. Though the towns were full of dogs - but did not find a single stray into a monastery. I did find hens and roosters though.
I remembered Paulo Coelho's writing in "Flowing Like the River" where he has talked about Cats and Buddhism. And how its more of a tradition than of any religious significance.

Kitten in the Dzong
One of the many I saw. Brown cooked rice is scattered in many nooks and corners of the Dzong and I guess thats what the cats eat.

Entry into the Sanctum Santorum inside which we cannot take photos
The Inner Room is really quiet, inspiring, and beautiful.
We could not click photos though.
Bhutanese Police guard these rooms and the overall monasteries. Beautiful murals and statues are housed in these.

Punakha - The River from the Dzong
The Dzong is on the river bank. From the dzong, this is what the view looks like.

Comments

[Joseph]

Blessed
You are really blessed to have been there.

[jenna rink]

deeply religious
this is soooooooooo cool. i have never seen anything like this