😎😎😎 OK. Jokes apart, this is big, and very prestigious in our world – the rarefied ivory towers of academia, where your whole research work done in your PhD years is recognised. It was conferred at the National Communication Association in Washington, DC – the world’s biggest association of academic peers in the communication and social science.
I am coming back to speak of it again for two reasons.
In recent days, seeing some of my good friends being recognised, some acquaintances on the victory pedestals, and some of my mentees going triumphant – all made me extremely proud as a Bhutanese. In spite of all our misplaced egos, we must remember that we are a nation of less than a million and to be doing well as a country, as a nation, and as individuals is something we need to take pride in. So, I thought this piece might also warm up many hearts on the even of the National Day.
Second, and more importantly, there are many young Bhutanese who are doing their postgraduate studies. Anything academic is stressful. We all know that. Postgraduate years are even more stressful, and frustrating and exasperating. PhD time is actually a very lonely journey. Very very lonely. And depressing at times. You wake up every morning and start rethinking your life’s choices. “Who forced me to do this?”, “I am dumping everything and going home. NOW!”, “Why is everyone’s research topic smarter than mine?” “Why does mine sound so dumb?”.
How many times have such deprecating thoughts crossed your mind?
With this post, I thought, maybe all those who are going through such dilemma and the pain of finishing the dissertation, and those who plan to pursue the highest that modern academia has to offer, will be encouraged to believe that this over-glorified thing called PhD is not only within their reach, but that they could also produce something that others in the field will recognise and acknowledge. It is within everyone reach.
I have taught three nationalities – in large cohorts, I mean. And let me say that Bhutanese are no less than anyone. In fact we are as smart or even smarter. Our problem is: we are bit laid back and one ugly thing is: we refuse to acknowledge each other.
So, to all of you, lonely people (read as PhD and maters candidates), out there, keep going!
You can’t imagine how many times I kicked myself. I even had to go back to the field, and write the main summary chapter, in the midst of pandemic, when I was also protecting my 30+ clan members from coronavirus.
And to all those who are not in this business of postgraduate studies, just tag your friends or family members doing masters or PhD, so that this simple message gets to them.
Happy National Day (On Dec 17th)
NB: Anyone who wants to read my super Dissertation, which actually no one will read😁😁😁, can drop me your email
(Sorry! No photo of mine with the award. I couldn’t travel to Washington DC to receive it because of prior work commitments. My guru and PhD supervisor, Prof Sandel, received it on my behalf on Nov 15 🤩🤩🤩)
Got invited to the first Write Circle in Thimphu – an event for writers in conversation with other writers and readers – brought to town by Bhutan Echoes Festival Team.
It was a lovely evening. Such cultural events are something that I miss in Thimphu. Meaning the city has very little on permanent offer in terms of contemporary art and culture. For instance, there isn’t even a large public library where people can just hang out. Few book shops and an art gallery are all we have in the country.
Of course, those of us seeking such a place, or events, may be in the minority, but then a society could easily stagnate and regress when there is no investment in art, philosophy and culture. (And just to clarify, dzongs and temples are more of spiritual heritage sites in my definition. Culture is something more dynamic that responds to the changing circumstances around us – and which reflects mundane life and society).
So, amidst the overpowering election campaigns and gossips, and the nausea from AI-generated pictures flooding my social media feeds, it was a refreshing evening to listen to an author who sees beauty in the ordinary.
That’s what art and literature do. You see beauty in everything. Beauty in a tree, a river or in people. You heart opens. You see more. You live more.
Sometime back, someone asked my opinion on the changes in the course offerings of the Royal University of Bhutan – where apparently lots of arts and humanities courses were done away with – and replaced with digital technology programs.
My response was, “Science and technology, which have taken the first part of my life, make things comfortable for us. But art, philosophy and social science, which have given me a second inning to my career, make life itself worth living”.
Yes, that’s paraphrasing a line from my favourite movie, Dead Poet Society:
“Medicine, business, law, engineering… these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love… these are what we stay alive for.”
This hidden sacred paradise is my favourite of all the sacred places in Bhutan – even more than the super famous Taktshang.
The temple was established by Sacha Rinchen (1710-1759) – the ninth Je Khenpo, and perhaps the greatest of them all.
Chumphu was built as Tsari Nyipa (Second Tsari) – with reference to the famed Tsari (Crystal Mountains) in Tibet, which is believed to be the eternal abode of Dorje Phagmo. Story has it that Sacha Rinchen in his vision saw Dorje Phagmo telling him that in future the first Tsari would see a decline, and Chumphu Nye will be her main abode.
The main inner relic is a 5-feet tall statue of Dorje Phagmo (Vajravarahi), which according to one legend is rangjung (self-arisen) and not man-made. The other legend is that it was discovered in a lake – located some 30 minutes up the temple.
Whichever be the true story, the marvellous thing about this statue is that it is levitating – meaning it is floating.
I first visited this place in 2010 with a friend of mine called Sherub who grew up down in the valley. Sherub remembers playing with a bow string, by holding each end and making an arc, and throwing the string behind the statue, like a magician, and pulling both the ends from the gap below. This was done to prove that the statue was not anchored to the wall behind it.
Some 20 years back, a framed altar was built and the statue is sealed behind the glass, now, no one is allowed to do that. However, the levitating left foot can still be seen.
Chum(o)phu (meaning Female Water Mountain) can be reached from Paro Lhakhang Saarp after a gradual 4-hour climb and can be done as a pleasant day hike.
Dorje Phagmo (Skt: Vajravarahi; lit: Thunderbolt Sow) is the wrathful form of Vajrayogini, known as the foremost, supreme queen of all dakinis and a divine consort of Heruka Chakrasamvara (Khorlo Demchok). She is the Samantabhadri of wisdom, activities, and accomplishments, and therefore known throughout as the “Mother to all Buddhas”—the Ultimate Refuge for all deities, practitioners, and meditators of the Buddhadharma.
Story #1 – A young boy is in a long coma – somewhere in a hospital in New York. He was born with cerebral palsy. The doctors have given up hope and have asked the family to prepare for the worst – and to sign off to pull the plug. His sister, however, reached out to me through a common friend from the US with a “Heard you say they do miracles there in Bhutan. Can they do something for my brother?”.
My friend and I were trekking up to the Dodeydra Monastery in Bhutan, which was good timing – a good tendrel (auspicious coincidence), as we believe. When we get to the monastery the abbot compassionately listens to our request. He told me to instruct the family in America to gather around the boy at noon the next day, and face towards the east and pray, while he, the abbot, would launch blessings and prayers from Bhutan.
The next day, 15 minutes after the rituals were over, my friend’s phone rang again. There was screaming and sobbing on the other side. My friend thought the boy was gone. Nope. The boy woke up, and the family was crying out of joy. The doctor rushed in saw what was happening, and left the room in tears. “I have been doing this for 35 years. I don’t what you are doing but keep going,” he was quoted saying.
Story #2 – Recently, this same friend from the US told me that another friend of ours in LA was feeling low. His brother (a practising Zen Buddhist) has been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and has been getting treated. He was going for the last radiation, followed by his review two weeks later. The doctors cautioned any optimism.
I invoked the blessings and conducted prayers for him in several places. My lama, Dorje Phagmo Rimpoche, after blessing him in absentia assured me that he would be alright.
Two weeks later I got a long text from my friend in LA. His brother’s lungs were clear and the doctors couldn’t believe their eyes when the CT scans came back.
I have more such stories from recent years. A newborn, who was breathing but not moving in a hospital in the US, and who moved her tiny finger after I invoked deity Palden Lhamo. Someone I know, again in the US, who felt fine receiving chemo after we commissioned the monks of Dodedra to chant Sangye Menlha (Medicine Buddha) mantra. He eventually recovered too.
Do these make sense?
I was born in a traditional Bhutanese family – of Buddhist dharma, rituals, prayers, and ceremonies. As a child, I used to accompany my grandfather, who was a lay lama, to conduct rituals for ordinary people in their homes in upper Tashigang in east Bhutan. For me these “things” are normal.
I was sent to a Catholic boarding school and later was sent off to Italy to major in microelectronics and engineering at the University of Bologna. Meaning, science and technology have been my better half, with spirituality and mysticism being the other side. Besides, I was exposed to other spiritual traditions – in that I lived among them.
In my third career in academia I have looked at the relationship between society and spirituality, and the role it plays in individuals. I still a have long way to go, but to answer the question, of whether rituals work, my reply is, it looks like it does. Of late, I have attended to around nine requests for spiritual help from outside the country. Only one did not make it through but the rest are doing fine.
To put it more aptly – medical science can take you very far these days, but it ends somewhere. There is a wall, and that’s where spirituality seems to take over. To put it simply, miracles appear where medicines end.
Of course, the two need not be linear. As my good friend, Nadya, says, the two can go alongside. Meaning while you get medical attention, you can also resort to religious ceremonies and shamanic rituals. After all, science has been with us for not more than 300 hundred years but the magic and miracles have been around for 5,000 – if not more.
As someone who has seen the power of the supernatural in many religious traditions, again, I am not advocating or promoting only the Buddhist rituals. Both Hinduism and Christianity have stories of miraculous power and recoveries. I myself recovered from a bad case of malaria when I was a child – after a mysterious Hindu priest appeared in front of our house in south Bhutan and tied a string around my arm. I started recovering moments later.
The point is science and technology have made us lose our innate power of healing, to start with, and have also made us skeptical of anything other than modern hospitals to attend to our health. The choice I believe is not to go simply for one or the other – but for both.
Science has made us lose our instincts, our sixth sense, and the power to feel the place and people – and by extension to absorb the energy of any kind, other than energy bars and synthetic painkillers. In short, we have become numb.
Of course rituals cannot cure all the cases but at least, the road of hope is longer than just relying on modern medicines.
And in that last stretch of hope one may find eventually the cure.
And not to forget
The traditional medicines (sowa rigpa) that is mainly based on medicinal herbs are, at times, a better choice than western allopathic medicines. Bhutan was known as Menjong (Land of Medicines) in ancient times – largely exporting rice and medicines to Tibet in exchange for salt, tea, and turquoise.
From my own experience, traditional medicines work better and have no side effects, for chronic ailments like gastritis, elevated bilirubin, bad cholesterol, and hypertension. Whenever I run some blood tests and these things show up, I drop by the Traditional Medicines Hospital in Thimphu to request some pills.
By reciting the Medicine Buddha it is believed that medicines one take increase in power of healing Palden Lhamo (an emanation of Mahakali) is believed to collect diseases in a black pouch and heal the world Tara Jigchoma is believed to help us recover from illnesses but also helps with our hypochondria (fear of falling sick)Masters like Dorje Phagmo confers kago on the sick to help them recover fully and quickly, or prevent people from falling ill.Neyphu Trulku Rimpoche is considered as an emanation of Medicine BuddhaMendrub Gonpa, Paro, as the name suggests, was the most famous seat for traditional medicines since the 16th century
“There are ferocious dogs guarding the place. So, I must call the Lama to tie them”, Wangchuk, a work colleague, told me when I shared with him that I was going to Tsetok Gonpa. Going up I did on the auspicious Tara Day, and Wangchuk not only had called the lama on my behalf, but he must have also spiced up my credentials. The lama welcomed me and provided me a guided tour with marvellous stories. I was also served tea and zaw (roasted rice) and offered lunch.
I started my visit by offering a butter lamp, and thanking the deities and divinities for everything in life.
Lodey Gyatsho – the founder
Tsetok gompa stands on the top of a mountain that is shaped like a vajra – an instrument used in Buddhist rituals. Tse means top in local languages, and hence Tsetok literally means “on top of the tse”. Gompa means “a meditation retreat hermitage”.
According to the resident Lama, Tashi Wangdi, Tsetok Gompa was established by lama Lodey Gyatsho – one of the six legendary students of Tshang Khenchen Pelden Gyatsho (1610-1684). All six are believed to have accomplished the highest level of tantric teachings. In fact, they were also referred to as drub-thob (The Accomplished One). Lodey Gyatsho was the youngest of the six Gyatshos. Many sources say they were all brothers.
Tshang Khenchen (literally meaning The Most Knowledgeable from Tshang) Pelden Gyatsho (1610 – 1684) was the biographer and a close friend of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel (1594-1652).
Lam Tashi Wangdi adds that after their monastic education under Tshang Khenchen, the Gyatsho brothers were told to go out and fulfil their destiny of establishing seats of buddhist learning. Subsequently, Peljor Gyatsho established Geling Gonpa (which is now in Chukha Dzongkhag – opposite Chapcha), Sangnag Gyatsho established Thadra Gonpa in Thimphu – above Lungtenphu, Tsundru Gyatsho and Thinley Gyatsho built Tsundru Gompa and Phurdrub Gompa respectively – in Paro Dawakha, and Drakpa Gyatsho established the Jaba Jangchub Choling Gonpa in Jabana – also in Paro, on the way to Haa.
While the other Gyatshos immediately set off and fulfilled their destiny, Lodey Gyatsho, being the youngest, decided to take care of their ageing parents. However, as time went by he was increasingly drawn back to dharma and also felt repelled by the mundane farming life. He then returned to spiritual realm by entering into a serious retreat at Paro Taktshang Yoselgang and practiced the sacred Dorje Phurba (Vajrakilaya).
After twelve years of retreats and practices, Lodey Gyatsho saw in his vision the great Guru Padmasambhava who appeared to him and pointed to him the mountain facing Taktsang, and telling him that the Vajra-shaped mountain is the upper part of Thousand-spoked Wheel of Western Direction (nubcho khorlo tsib-tong) and that his destiny laid there.
Some mornings later, Lodey heard a loud knock on the door. This was strange because there were no temples and monasteries as we see them now. There were very few hermits and huts, and Yoselgang was the furthest spot of them all – and not even visited by birds or animals. When the lama opened the door he found a Vajrakilaya statue placed in front of his hermitage.
He took care of the statue, but one day he found that the statue went missing. Subsequently, he noticed a flickering light from the Vajra-shaped mountain, which he saw in his vision. After some days, he decided to hike to the mountain to see what that light was.
On reaching the peak of the mountain he found his Vajrakilaya statue on a flat stone in the middle of a small lake. He retrieved the statue and was planning to return to Taktsang Yoselgang when the local spirit, Genyen Bolap, approached him and asked him to stay there and build a temple – and that he would provide all the support.
Tsetok Gonpa was, thus, built.
The actual date of its establishment is lost in time. However, according to my calculation it must be around the mid of the 17th Century – just around the time when Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel had consolidated his place in Bhutan – because soon after Tshang Khenchen (The teacher of the six Gyatshos) was met with fierce opposition to his work in Tibet. Consequently, he was invited by Zhabdrung to move to Bhutan, which he did, and settled in, and built, the Menchuphu Gompa in Paro Shaba.
The sacred statues (ku-ten in Bhutanese)
The temple has a statue of the Tshomen (mermaid) who was the guardian of the lake from where the Vajrakilaya statue was retrieved. The statue is on the ground floor and not for the faint-hearted since the Tshomen’s body looks like a giant snake. The lake is dried up because of the desecration works done by some delinquents.
The main temple is on the first floor and depicts the Buddhas of Three Eons (Duesum Sangye) – Buddha Kashyapa (Sangye Yoesung), Buddha Shakyamuni (Sangye Sachathupa), and Buddha Maitreya (Gyalwa Jampa) – plus smaller statues of Guru Rimpoche, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel and of the founder – Lodey Gyatsho.
The temple is adorned with medieaval swords and shields, and enquisite murals of pantheon of Vajrayana deities and divinities. The wooden flooring is over 200 years old and polished to perfection.
The sacred scriptures (sung-ten)
The temple has a rich collection of major scriptures and Buddhist canons such as Kanjur (words of Buddha) and Tenjur (commentaries), plus the sung-bum (speech teachings) of all the major masters of the past such as Tshang Khenchen, Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel, and others.
Lama Lodey Gyatsho was a renaissance man who not only perfected the Buddhist teachings and philosophy, he was also a master of all thirteen arts and crafts (zorigchusum) and also medicines (sowa rigpa) and astrology (tsi). In fact, the story goes that the blessed butter ointment (ngag-mar) made from his skull relic (kapala) is supposed to have cured a visiting tourist, who was suffering from an incurable chronic disease. This foreign visitor later donated a large sum of money and also rallied support to completely renovate the temple. His photo stands on the ritual stand (thri) of the caretaker-lama.
The sacred inner relics (nang-ten)
Set of Phurpa (ritual dagger). In the temple there is also a set of phurpas (ritual daggers) made out of wood, which used to be taken to the private houses during the rituals for the sick. Lodey Gyatsho meticolously carried out rituals and ceremonies for the seriously ill, and he made the phurpa set with the instruction that after his death, any lay monk can conduct the ritual with the phurpa set on the altar – and that the curative power and blessings would be the same as his. The phurpa set can be seen on the offering altar (sen-thri) of the main temple.
Vajrakilaya statue. The Vajrakilaya (Dorje Phurba in Bhutanese) statue is by far the most precious nang-ten of Tsetok Gonpa. The small statue – of five or six inches in height, is housed in a large amulet.
The Vajrakilaya practice represents the enlightened activities of all the Buddhas, and thus is powerful in removing obstacles in one’s journey towards realisation, destroying forces hostile to compassion, and purifying the spiritual pollution that is prevalent in these degenerative times.
As the lama blessed me, I recited my favourite mantra, which was the first prayer that my grandfather taught me.
སངས་རྒྱས་ཆོས་དང་ཚོགས་ཀྱི་མཆོག་རྣམས་ལ། །
sangye chö dang tsok kyi chok nam la (In the Buddha, the Dharma and the Supreme Assembly)
བྱང་ཆུབ་བར་དུ་བདག་ནི་སྐྱབས་སུ་མཆི། །
changchub bardu dak ni kyab su chi (I take refuge until I attain enlightenment)
བདག་གིས་སྦྱིན་སོགས་བགྱིས་པའི་བསོད་ནམས་ཀྱིས། །
dak gi jinsok gyipé sönam kyi (Through the merit of practising generosity and so on)
འགྲོ་ལ་ཕན་ཕྱིར་སངས་རྒྱས་འགྲུབ་པར་ཤོག །
dro la pen chir sangye drubpar shok (May I attain buddhahood for the benefit of beings)
Tara and Manjushri Ter statues. There are also two beautiful ter statues of Tara (Jetsun Drolma) and Manjushri (Jetsun Jamyang). Ter statues are believed to be either antiques pieces, or of divine origins. Some are believed to have self-arisen and not made by humans. The Manjushri statue does not have the flaming sword, which I proposed to make one from a Sakya craftsman I know in Nepal, and offer it to the temple. The lama was very pleased with my offer.
The Wooden Mould. The temple also has a beautiful wooden mould to make miniature statues of animals and local deities. Legend has it that the mould contains all the animals living in the six realms. On close observation, some of the animals and figures looked like extraterrestrial beings – as depicted in Hollywood sci-fi movies.
The Kapala. An important and priced relic is the kapala (Sanskrit for skull) of Lodey Gyatsho that has been turned into a ritual cup – as customary in Tibetan Buddhism. The skull has self-arisen images of the Sun, Moon, and the Pleiades (Karma Mindruk), which appeared miraculously.
The skull is believed to have miraculous properties. For example, butter rubbed inside can be later used as ointment for any skin, muscle, or bone ailments. The water poured in and blessed is then distributed to devotees, which is believed to spare one from rebirth in the Lower Realms. It also claims to cure internal diseases with the digestive system, urinary tracks, lungs and heart.
The bell and vajra of the lama. The temple also has several personal effects of Lodey Gyatsho, chiefly his bell (drib) and the vajra (dorje). The bell is supposed to produce a sound, which when heard will release you from the rebirths in all lower realms.
The Annual Blessing and Bumday
Coinciding with the death anniversary of Lama Lodey Gyatsho on the Fifteenth Day of the Ninth Month of the lunar calendar, a week long rituals and ceremonies are conducted, during which it is advisable to visit this gompa to get access to all the relics to pray, and also make sponsorships and offerings.
Getting there
From Lango town, drive towards Tenzinling Tent City, and keep right at every major junction till you reach Dungse Thinley Norbu Kudrung Chorten.
The access road to Tsetok Gompa is marked here, but during monsoon the road is either bad or damaged. It takes 1.5 – 2 hours till the temple from here. 30 minutes if the access road is through.
Look for this signboard at the gate of Dungse Thinley Norbu Kudrung ChortenThe temple from Jagathang villageThe karcha (sacred history) of the temple
Happy to share the news that my PhD dissertation (aka research thesis) has been judged as the Dissertation of Year at the National Communication Association conference in Washington, DC, on November 15, 2023.
I was informed of it last October and was invited to attend the Award Ceremony in the US. However, because of some prior work commitments, I had to request my PhD supervisor, Prof. Todd Sandel, to receive the award on my behalf. In a way, he is the most appropriate to share the recognition.
Thanking everyone, who journeyed with me, on this joyful moment. As I have acknowledged therein, there is no such thing as a self-made man. Every help, big or small, or even the tiniest compliment or a word of encouragement, goes on to add up for the greatest of achievements.
After I woke up to the pictures of the Award on my WhatsApp (I was at Dodeydra monastery, which is good tendrel), I took a moment to pray to Manjushri, the deity of knowledge and wisdom, and wished that this humble work of mine inspire younger generation of Bhutanese to go more into seeking knowledge, do path-breaking research works and build a better world for all.
I took this video on my recent flight on Bhutan Airlines. In it you see a young air stewardess on Bhutan Airlines calming a terrified passenger (baby), who was screaming out of pain.
Probably his ear drum was hurting as the plane descended to Kolkatta. Minutes later he stopped crying and she handed him back to his mother.
As someone who has travelled with two young children in the past, and was frowned upon, and even shouted at, on international airlines, it really warmed my heart to witness this on our very own Bhutanese airlines.
Travelling itself is a stress. Travelling with toddlers, even more. You have to worry they may fall sick, run into something, or they may bring down the place itself.
But nothing is worse than adults being annoyed and upset about children being children.
World over, especially in the so-called advanced societies, adults often forget that they were infants once and may have inconvenienced others. Infants can only cry. They can’t speak or reason out. It is natural. Why is it so hard?
The world would be a better place with some compassion and empathy.
I am glad to see our young Bhutanese youth exhibiting these values in the degenerative times.
“Choeken Gyalpo (Yama – the Lord of Death) is calling me for a meeting,”. Togden Jigme Chogyel, popularly known as Rangshikhar Rimpoche, tells me with a mischievous smile.
“It seems Guru Rimpoche has submitted a complaint that I have been living off people’s wealth and hard work for far too long,” he adds.
“I think Guru has a point,” I tell him.
We laugh. He blesses me.
I have always loved being in the presence of this holiest of men, who is our family lama for four generations. The first time I met him was 40 years ago, freshly out of school. In between his classic humours, in all these years, he has taught me many things. Once he explained to me the meaning of OM AH HUNG. It took a whole afternoon. And I forgot most of the things he said.
Another time he elaborated on the word, Lama, after which I use this word more than “rimpoche” (Precious One) to address Buddhist masters I respect.
He has also been very precise with divinations. In 1983 he told me to be careful in the month of February. That month I fell off a speeding truck, only to miraculously remain clinging with one hand, and stay alive. My paternal uncle wasn’t as lucky, or he didn’t take seriously to the words of this lama. He died.
This time, with his joke on the Meeting Call by Yamaraj, I guess he is subtly reminding me, and everybody, to earn what we consume, and not to live on someone’s hard work. It is a strong Bhutanese belief that seems to be waning.
His jokes are always a words of wisdom, if one can care to take them seriously.
This unassuming temple, located right in the middle of Paro Town in Tshongdue, rarely gets a visitor. The caretaker was surprised I had come in. And yet, this place played an important part in Bhutan’s history. It hosted Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel when he first landed in present-day Bhutan in 1616.
While Zhabdrung was forced out of his ancestral estate in Ralung in present-day Tibet, Buddhist practitioners believe it was pre-destined. This is evidenced by the fact that for centuries preceeding him, his ancestors and lamas from the same school established seats of Drukpa Kagyu in Bhutan – thus preparing for his eventual arrival. The key figures among them were Lam Ngawang Chogyal, Kunga Penjor, Phajo Drugom and the divine madman, Drukpa Kinley.
Druk Choeding was one such place, and it was established by Lam Ngawang Chogyel in 1525.
The centrepiece of the temple is Maitreya Buddha (the caretaker insisted it is Buddha Shakyamuni) and there is also a large image of Buddha Avalokitesvara. Smaller statues of Lam Ngawang Chogyel and Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel can also be seen on the altar.
On the right of the main altar is a smaller corner dedicated to dharma protector Aap Gennyen Jakpa Melen. He is believed to have appeared in human form, at times, and served Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel. His main abode is in Dechenphu in Thimphu. As Zhabdrung had just arrived in Bhutan it is possible that he followed him to Paro on the maiden visit.
Druk Choeding also plays a significant role in Bhutan’s history as the site of the first Tibetan invasion. In fact the Tibetan ruler Tsang Desi, who was responsible for Zhabdrung’s exit from there, sent an army to capture Zhabdrung. This temple was sieged but the local followers of Zhabdrung whisked him out to Drela Dzong before the Tibetans attacked.
The locals led by Zarchen Choejey and Hungrel Drung (the descendants are still alive today) raised a militia and managed to drive out the invading forces.
Today the place sits there, alone but intact. Right outside the gate people are scrambling for a parking slot, but everyone is heading towards the vegetable market.
The National Memorial Chorten is one of the most popular landmarks in Thimphu, where thousands of people visit every day. More visit during religious events presided by important lamas and rimpoches.
Many residents in Thimphu make it an evening routine to circumbulate it, an act which is believed to be a skillful means of practicing the Buddha Dharma without reading the scriptures. You just walk around it in clockwise direction. Interestingly, not many people have visited it inside, and very few people actually know or appreciate the full significance of this monument.
What it represents
The Memorial Chorten is the most sacred monument, built by the holiest of men of our time, patronised by a Queen Mother, and built in the memory of a dharma King.
Unlike other stupas, this one has temples built on all the three floors. The first floor is dedicated to powerful deity Dorje Phurpa (རྡོ་རྗེ་ཕུར་པ་, Vajrakilaya) and its retinue. The Vajrakilaya pratice is believed to embody the enlightened activities of all the Buddhas. The deity, Vajrakilaya, is considered as the wrathful form of Dorje Sempa (Vajrasattva) and is known for removing obstacles, and destroying the negative forces, obstructing the practice of compassion. Hence, one can make a wish here to clear one’s hurdles in life, as one embarks on the journey towards Bodhisattva, or one can seek to clear any obstacle standing in one’s way in a new venture.
This Vajrakilaya teaching was taught by Viyadhara Prabhahasti to Guru Padmasambhava, who practiced it in Yanglasho in Nepal, and concealed it thereafter. It was later revealed by Chogyur Lingpa (1829-1870).
The second floor has Ka-gye (Eight Great Sadhana Teachings), which was revealed by three tertons at different periods – Nyang Ral Nima Oser (1124-1192), Guru Chöwang (1212-1270), and Rigzin Godem (1337-1408).
The Kagye teaching is represented by the eight principal deities – Yamantaka (Dzongkha: Jampal Shinje), Hayagriva (Pema Sung), Vishudha (Yangdak Heruka), Mahottara (Chem Chok), Vajrakilaya (Dorje Phurba), Matarah (Mamo Botong), Lokestotrapuja-natha (Jigten Chotod) and Vajra Mantrabhiru (Mopa Dragnak). These eight deities represent the five wisdom deities of enlightened body (in Dzongkha, ku), speech (sung), mind (thuk), qualities (yönten) and activities (thrinley) of the Buddhas, plus the three worldly deities.
The third floor is dedicated to Lama Gongdu teachings, which literally translates as the Unified Intents of Gurus – a terma teaching revealed by Sangye Lingpa (1340-1396), and which is one of the most important texts in Dzogchen tradition.
All the above teachings, representations, symbolisms are from the esoteric termas that were believed to have been hidden by Guru Padmasambhava, and later revealed by tertons (treasure revealers) in the mediaeval and early twentieth century.
The construction
Aesthetically and architecturally it is the most perfect Jangchub Chorten (Stupa of Enlightenment) – one of the eight styles of stupa in Tibetan Buddhism.
The chorten was designed, and the construction supervised, by lama Dungse Thinley Norbu Rimpoche (1931-2011). The legendary yogi, lama Sonam Zangpo (1888-1982), is also believed to have been closely associated with the project.
The chorten was built under the royal patronage of the Second Queen of Bhutan, Ashi Phuntsho Choden (1911-2003), and was built in the memory of Third King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck (1928-1972) – hence the name National Memorial Chorten. It opened in June of 1974 – coinciding with the Coronation of the Fourth King.
The consecration ceremony was presided over by Dudjom Rimpoche, Jigdrel Yeshe Dorji (1904-1987), one of the greatest scholars of Vajrayana Buddhism of the twentieth century. He was also considered as a terton. Infact, his works form the basis of the Dudjom Ter-sar (New Terma of Dudjom) movement in Buddhism.
Despite not being ancient, it is still the most sacred stupa in Bhutan because of the powerful Vajrakilaya representations, and other powerful deities and teachings. Furthermore, according to different sources, many antiques and relics are buried in each floor as nangten. This makes it a wish-fulfilling and obstacle-clearing stupa to assist devotees with mundane issues.
Above all, the stupa receives thousands of prayers, and the presence of ordinary and extraordinary people, thereby accumulating millions of moelams of aspirations and blessings. Simply put, it is not just another monument.
Dorji Wangchuk 