My father, who happens to be one of the first Bhutanese to get a driving licence, started off as a royal chauffeur to His Majesty the Third King of Bhutan, and Their HRHs, in 1968. He was mostly assigned to HRH Princess Sonam Choden and HRH Princess Dechen Wangmo but also drove regularly for HRH the Crown Prince (later the Fourth Druk Gyalpo).

Those days the Third King was pouring his heart and soul and the country’s limited resources into school education. And day in and day out, per my father, His Majesty was fully engrossed with the modernisation process that Bhutan had just launched under His personal stewardship in 1961.

On one of the drives to Punakha, the King asked if my father had children. My father replied that he had two (my younger sister and my brother were not born then).

“When they turn 5, I want you to enrol them into modern school,” HM told my father.

My father remembers the King as being excited, passionate about education. HM would elaborate how modern education will change the lives of the Bhutanese. My father admits he didn’t understand what was beyond, or better, than the traditional learning in monasteries and monkhood.

Nonetheless, in 1972, when I was about to turn five, my father appeared in our village to take me away. And with his measly salary of few hundred ngultrums (by then he was transferred to the erstwhile BGTS in Phuntsholing) my father educated almost every member of the next generation, including all the nieces and nephews (my cousins).

50 years on, he still gets super excited when anyone in the family wins a scholarship or aces in academics. When I completed my PhD, he visited every temple in the valley and thanked every divinity he saw.

Now he is on the seventh heaven. Two of his grandsons (my nephews) got Chevening Fellowship to the UK this year, and although the news is months old, he is still celebrating, and walking around with pride everyday.

And yet, sending children to school during his time was hard, as more hands were needed at the farm. He got a monthly salary of Nu. 150. Affluent families in those days bribed state functionaries to keep their children home. Besides, in my case, being from a religious line, I had just started my monastic training under my maternal grandfather, when my father showed up to fulfil the Royal Command.

If there’s one staunch believer in the power of education, it’s him. His commitment has resulted in our household in Tashigang producing more postgrads than the entire village combined – something that made him an envy among his peers. He still insists on education over material wealth, and wants to see a few more PhDs in the family.

Of course, now, one can understand where my own zeal for lifelong learning came from.

Located in Chapcha gewog, Dokhachu means “a boulder standing upright and facing the sky”, and refers to a large boulder that sits a hundred meters away from the main temple. A small chapel is attached to this sacred boulder. Another version of the origin of the name claims the word is derived from two words, “doh” (boulder) and “khachu” from Dakpai Khachoe Zingkham (celestial paradise), which the founder saw while meditating by the boulder.

Dokhachu was established by Lama Thinley Gyamtsho in the second half of the 17th century. The temple later hosted Terton Drukda Dorji a century later.

Both the lamas had as their yidham in Ekajati (Dzongkha: Ralchikma. རལ་གཅིག་མ). Yidhams are the paramount meditational deities who guide the practitioners in their final stages of their vajrayana practices.

Terton Drukdra Dorji

Terton Drukda Dorji, a dharmic treasure revealer, is believed to be the emanation of Lhalung Pelgyi Dorji and he travelled through Tibet, Bhutan and other Himalayan areas to fulfil this destiny. He lived in the early part of the 18th century.

In Bhutan, his dharma activities occurred mainly along the Wangchu valley from Lungchosekha to Tshelungna, and in Chukha valley.

His life and works, however, coincided with that of the reformist and the “anti-dharma” ruler of Bhutan, the Eighth Desi, Druk Rabgye (reign: 1707 – 1719), who gave orders to kill the Terton.

The terton was eventually assassinated, through suffocation, in Mertsem, a village below Gedu, by two men from Bjachhu village. (Because of this sin, it is believed that the descendants of these killers from Bjachhu are cursed with a bad voice/throat).

The mortal remains of Terton was brought towards Tshamdra for cremation at the request of Tshamdra Trulku, Ngawang Drub. However, when it reached Chapcha Dzong, it refused to move further. Terton Drukda Dorji was eventually cremated near Chapcha Dzong. A stupa stands on the spot he was cremated. A story goes that the devas and the dakinis descended from heaven in the form of a gust of wind, to grab his ashes. Only a handful was saved by the presiding lama for the human realm, which is now believed to be house in Tsamdrak Gonpa – a temple that is further north of Chapcha.

Terton Drukdra Dorji is best known for his prophecy in the 18th century on the birth of Fourth King of Bhutan, HM Jigme Singye Wangchuck (born in 1955). As of writing this post, his reincarnation has been recognised and has started his dharma activities.

Lama Thinley Jamtsho

Lama Thinley Jamtsho was one of the first students of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel (1594 – 1651) when the latter establised a Drukpa Kagyu monastery in Bhutan in 1620 at Chagri in Thimphu. Among many of Thinley Jamtsho’s achievement was establishing the presence of Drukpa Kagyu in Ladakh under the patronage of King Sengye Namgyel (1572 – 1642). It is not clear if he also served as the first Gangri Lam to Mt. Kailash. He built Dokhachu Gonpa in his latter years and after his return from Ladakh.

The powerful dharmapala, Ekajati

Although Dokhachu Gonpa is associated with two great historical figures, Terton Drukda Dorji and Lam Thinley Jamtsho, Dokhachu is chiefly known as the abode of yidham Ekajati, who is also known by another name here – Aum Kangchikma (one legged lady).

She is one of the three principal deities of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. She is represented in iconography as having one strand of hair, one eye, one fang, one leg, one arm, and one breast. Legend has it that one of her eyes was pierced by Guru Padmasambhava to enable her to see better with one eye, and help him suppress the evils and demons. Another belief is that she was on the verge of dissolving her body through intense meditation, before being stopped by her celestial teacher, Buddha Akshobaya (Sangye Mithrupa in Dzongkha: མི་བསྐྱོད་པ), so that she remains a bodhisattva and avoids entering into Nirvana.

Mamo Ekajati, as she is also known by, is one of the three main protectors of Nyingma school, collectively known as Ma Za Dam Sum. The other two being Za Rahula and Damchen Dorje Legpa.

Ekajati is a Sanskrit word to mean “one” (eka) hair (jati). She has many names and forms. As the Yidham of Terton Drukdra Dorji she is known as Aum Kangchima (One-legged Lady). This is how she is referred to here. As the protector of Peling tradition, she is worshipped as Aum Ngagsum (Lady Protectors of the Mantras). In another belief, she is the second eldest of the Six Ekajati sisters where Aum Jomo is the eldest and Aum Zinchen Wangmo is the youngest.

Nangtehn (sacred relics) of the temple

The most important piece of statue-relic (nang-tehn) of the temple – and the Yeshey Sempa – is the self-arising (ter in Dzongkha) statue of Ekajati, which was discovered by Terton Drukda Dorji. There is also another small statue of Ekajati that was sculpted out of a cypress block by him.

Equally amazing sacred relics are the other personal possessions of the Terton such as the the vajra and the bell, and the statues of Guru Tshoki Dorji and of Chakrasamvara. There is also the bell believed to belong to Lingrey Pema Dorji (1128-1188), the teacher of Tsangpa Gyare Yeshe Dorji (1161-1211) – the founder of Drukpa Kagyu.

And there is my favourite – a unique miniature statue of Ganesh (Dzongkha: ཚོགས་བདག tsog gi dag po) – a wealth deity. The bodhisattva Manjushri, many eons before, is said to have carved four of such statues and released them into the universe. One of them is supposed to have landed in Japan.

Other than the relics, another important piece is the “speaking” statue of Guru Padmasambhava, and the Three Buddha of Three Eras known as Due-Sum Sangye.

What to seek there as blessing

Being a female deity, Ekajati is quick to respond to any genuine plea for help – even with mundane requests. This makes her extremely popular among those seeking prosperity and offsprings. One myth goes that the people of Chapcha gewog are wealthy because of the blessings of Aum Ekajati. A close friend of mine became a mother at 41 after she visited Dokhachu Gonpa.

Ekajati is also believed to be equally short-tempered and impatient and any complacency or delay in offering propitiating rituals will be met with her wrath. But her blessing is money-back guaranteed.

“I have been here for four years now, and so far no one had their wish not fulfilled,” says the caretaker monk, Tashi, who led us through the two-storied temple. “Many prominent people from Thimphu, and almost every person born in this region reveres her as their protector and wish-fulfilling deity.”

The temple is popular for those seeking wealth, longevity and offsprings. Story has it that the Third King of Bhutan, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck (1928-1972) visited the temple and sought the blessing of Aum Ekajati, and a royal prince was born in 1955, who later became the Great Fourth Druk Gyalpo (reign 1972-2006). Subsequently, Her Majesty Queen Kesang Choden initiated the reconstruction in the 1970s.

Among the serious believers was former Drabi Lopon, Hung Hung (nickname), who guaranteed the birth of a royal prince to the Third King of Bhutan, and even dared to place a bet with the King. Story goes that he received direct assurances from the deity herself.

Important days to note

The temple conducts its most important annual rituals to the deities on the 13th, 14th and 15th Day of the 4th month of the Bhutanese calendar. The relics are also open for public viewing and receiving blessings from.

Getting there

Dokhachu Gonpa is located above Chapcha Dzong. It is is two and half hours drive from Thimphu, Paro, Haa or Phuntsholing. From Thimphu take the old highway at Damcho and at the highest point at Chapcha, turn left towards Chapcha School. The gonpa is 3 kilometers above the school.

Tshering Che Nga (Dzongkha: ཚེ་རིང་མཆེད་ལྔ་) means “five Tshering sisters” and refers to the most popular mountain spirits – the five Tsheringma sisters, who are revered as dharma protectors by the Kagyu and the Nyingma schools of Vajrayana Buddhism. They are also simply known as Tsheringma, which means “mother of longeivity”. There are many tall Himalayan peaks named after them, or are considered as their abodes.

Legend has it they once wandered around the Himalayas along Tibet-Nepal border, terrorising pilgrims and traders, before they were subdued by Guru Padmasambhava, and later by Milarepa, into becoming tutelary deities to watch over dharma seekers and devotees. Their main abode is considered to be the Mt. Gaurishankar at the India-Tibet border. In Bhutan both Tsherim Gang and Jumolhari are believed to be where they dwell.

Being worldly deities (འཇིག་རྟེན་པའི་ལྷ།), Tshering Chenga are invoked mainly for mundane problems and needs such good health, wealth, success, and even beauty instead of enlightenment or after-life journeys. And hence they are very popular across the Himalayan region because they are believed to be very responsive. They are propitiated in annual family rituals and community festivals. Many family homes also keep idols of Tsheringma on the altar with other divinities.

Paro is believed to host all the Tsheringma sisters, making it a prosperous valley. The sacred abodes of the sisters are Dzongdrakha (Tinghi Zhay Zangma – Deity of the East), Paro Gangtey Lhakhang (Talkar Dro Zangma – North), Drangoe Gonpa (Tashi Tsheringma – Centre), Tengchen Gonpa (Miyo Lang Zangma – South), and Ramna (Choepen Drin Zangma – West).

The cult of Tsheringma is not just Paro or in Bhutan but across many Himalayan cultures and communities. For example, Mount Everest, the Sherpas believe, is the abode of Miyo Langzangma – second eldest of the Tsheringma sisters. Thus, every Sherpa who climbs Mt. Everest prays to Miyo Lang Zangma, for safety and for protection.

While every Tsheringma sister is as good as the other in terms of bestowing protections and blessings, there are few subtle differences. If you want a long life, go to Drangoe Gonpa. If you want to ward off some health issues, Paro Gangtey is the place. If you want to ensure you don’t go hungry and want prosperity, head for Tengchen Gonpa. If you want offsprings and your clan to increase, Ramna is good. And lastly, if you are in dilemma over something – a new career, job, or business – in that you are unsure of what do, go to Dzongdrakha and roll the dice. This is just to simplify things for easy reference. What is as important, and as powerful, is your faith, devotion and mindset that should be attuned to ultimately use your health and wealth towards service to humanity and to dharma – and not to enrich yourself for hedonistic purposes.

Also while there’re no religious requirements, it is believed that if one visits all the Tsheringma sisters in Paro in one day, you receive the highest blessings and you will prosper.

Dzongdrakha

Dzongdrakha is in Lungyi gewog. From Wochu, take the highway to Haa. When you reach reach the plateau where Druk Seeds farm is located, you can see Dzongdrakha on the left mountain, pasted on a vertical cliff like Taktshang. The feeder road to Dzongdrakha starts at the end of the plateau.

In the 15th century, a Tibetan yogi, Drupthop Gyempo Dorji followed his master in search of a place called Zhungphug in Bhutan. When he reached the present day Wochu, a jackal appeared to show him the way to the rocky cliff.

Legend says that the Guru appeared in person and passed him a crystal sword, with which he struck the rockface. A crystal stupa and three egg-shaped relics of Sangye Yoesung (Buddha Kashyapa) were revealed. Two of the relics flew off. One was taken by the divinities, and one by the subterranean beings. 

The half-stupa of Dzongdrakha

Drubthop Gyempo Dorji was leaving with the relic of Buddha Kashyapa when the people of Bongdey forced him to stay. He, therefore, called the village Bangdey (dominant village), which later became Bongdey.

He returned to Dzongdrakha and constructed a temple and installed the remaining relic and named the place as Dzongdrakha Goemba. His reincarnations started the Dzongdra Choeje lineage, who are still alive today. 

The most prominent among his followers was the 17th century lama and the first Rinpung Lam Neten, Jangchu Zangpo. He renovated the main temple with Guru Padmasambhava as the centre piece.

He also built a chorten (stupa) to secure the relics that trembles during the auspicious days. The chorten is curiously only half-built as the top one-third is believed to be in the realm of gods and the base is in the subterrains of the nagas. Legend says one day it will either fly away or drown in there.

Dzongdrakha is also the starting and the end point of the famous Paro Tshechu. A 7-day festival was initiated in Dzongdrakha but was moved to Paro Rinpung to attract more devotees. However, one of the masks (used for the religious dance) became restless and wouldn’t stay still till a compromise was made. The first and last days were then brought back to Dzongdrakha while the remaining 5 days stayed in Paro Dzong.

The mask, a part of Raksha Lengu dance, is still visible in Tsheringma temple.

Tsheringma Temple

Dzongdrakha is the abode of Thinggi Shyal Zangma (མཐིང་གི་ཞལ་བཟང་མ་ ) where a separate temple is dedicated to her. One can wish for victory, charm and safe journeys. She holds a silver mirror, for divination, in her right and a banner of victory in her left hand. Her mount is a mare.

Lam Namgay of Dzongdrakha adds that Dzongdrakha is more than that. He says that ancient terma scriptures talk about Guru Dorji Drolo hiding the Tsheringma Ter (sacred relics) in Dzongdrakha. Furthermore, Dzongdrakha has a Ter statue of Tashi Tsheringma (བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཚེ་རིང་མ་), which they named as Dokar Jom and which was found in the fields below. This makes Dzongdrakha a very powerful abode of Tsheringma, to the extent that if one really cannot visit the other four sites, one can just visit here and make their wish. 

Paro Gangtey Temple

Gangtey Temple is to the right at main gate of Hotel Gangtey Palace, facing Rinpung Dzong. From Taju take the feeder road towards Hotel Gangtey Palace.

The Gangtey Palace Temple is dedicated to the youngest of the Tshering Chhe Nga (The Five Sisters of Long Life), Talkar Dro Zangma. The temple faces the Paro Rinpung Dzong and it is believed that the paddy fields of Chang, which stands between these two important spiritual places, will always have a bounty harvest.

Talkar Dro Zangma (གཏལ་དཀར་འགྲོ་བཟང་མ་) is depicted holding durva grass (medicinal) in her right hand and a snake noose in her left hand to protect one from bad energy and sorcery. And so she helps fight off diseases, envy and sorcery. Her mount is a dragon.

Talkar Dro Zangma is the most beautiful of the five sisters, so says the caretaker, Pemba Tshering. She holds a bunch of the medicinal Durva grass on her right and a snake noose on her left. These signify that she has the power to cure diseases, if one earnestly have faith in her. Pemba says a mother bought a dying child who was given even by the doctors. A few months later, the child and the mother returned again. This time the child was unrecognizable, but cured and healthy. Pemba Tshering shares many other stories.

Talkar Dro Zangma with her snake noose also prevents malicious attacks both from humans as well as harmful nagas, losing one’s life force or fall sick. She counters natural disasters and epidemics, and so during the on-going pandemic more people have visited, as per Pemba.

The most interesting blessing is however the blessing of a child to childless couple. Pemba has many stories but there are two that are worth mentioning. First is a 46-year old woman who even at a such an advanced age didn’t give up the dream of motherhood. She became a mother. The second is a similar case but little more bitter sweet. The woman who wished for a child had a daughter but died few years later. The daughter who is now fully grown up considers Talkar Drozangma as her mother and visits here every month. Few more people do that too.

Drangoe Gonpa

Drangoe Gonpa is located above Olathang Hotel and Paro Hospital. When you reach Hotel gate, take the left feeder road without entering the hotel complex towards “Olathang School”. The Gonpa can be seen from Olathang School on the hill to the right.

Drangoe Gonpa was established by Barawa Lama Gyeltshen Pelzang in 1510. It was later turned over to Drukpa Kagyu with Jinpa Gyeltshen as the chief abbot. Tashi Tsheringma (བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཚེ་རིང་མ་), who is the eldest of the Tsheringma sisters, was the tutelary deity of the Barawa Kagyu, a subsect of the Upper Druk (Toe Druk) in Tibet. And Drangoe Gonpa was built in her honour. However, after the death of Barawa Lam, his disciples made the statue of the lama and the Kudung chorten as the centre piece of the temple. But for locals of the village by the same name, the place belongs to deity Tsheringma and in her they seek protection and prosperity.

The temple was offered to Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel who then appointed Namkha Gyeltshen as the first abbot from Zhung Dratshang.

Tashi means “goodness” or “auspiciousness”. She hold on her left hand the vase of immortality and thus her main power is the granting a long life to devotees. On her right hand is the sacred vajra to repell all threats to life. Her mount is a snow lioness. Thus when one visits Drangoe Gonpa, one can wish for long life and commit to spread the Dharma.

According to Lam Kado, the abbot of the temple, if one pursues the pilgrimage to all the temples of the Five Tsheringma, one must either begin or end in Drangoe Gonpa, because Tashi Tsheringma is the eldest sister. He added that children born in Paro Hospital consider Tashi Tsheringma as their birth deity. 

I would add that people hospitalised there could do well to seek the blessing for quick recovery to Tashi Tsheringma.

Tengchen Gonpa

Tengchen Gonpa is in Lango. From Paro town take the direction to Naktsel Resort. After a kilometer, take the feeder road marked “Tengchen Nunnery”.

Tengchen Gonpa is the abode of the second youngest of the Tshering Chhe Nga, Miyo Lang Zangma (མི་གཡོ་གླང་བཟང་མ་). She holds a bowl of rice on her left hand and a mongoose on her right that spits jewels. Her mount is a tiger. A devotion to Miyo Lang Zangma guarantees that you will never go hungry and will always bless you with a bountiful harvest and prosperity. The resident Lama, Thinley, says that Paro is the rice bowl of Bhutan because of the blessing of Miyo Lang Zangma.

The foundation for Tenchen Gonpa as the abode of Miyo Lang Zangma is attributed to Barawa Lama, Gyaltshen Pelzang, who had already established Drangoe Gonpa in the 14th century. It is believed that a small Densa (abode) was built by the Lama after which he invited the deity. Miyo Lang Zangma travelled from Tibet and when she reached Lango village, she spent a few days in a house helping the family to roast the wheat and grind the flour. The house still stands today. In fact the house has to host the religious procession statue of the annual deity ceremony on the eve of the Lomba – the local New Year of Paro.

Some four hundred years later, in the 19th century Sherub Gyaltshen, the 25th Je Khenpo of Bhutan, heard about the abode of Miyo Lang Zangma and wanted to verify the claim and possibly build a temple. He visited the place alone and was supposedly greeted by five beautiful girls. Je Sherub suspected that they were the deities and not ordinary humans, but pretended not to know and asked their names. One replied that they had only one name for all five, which was Mangala Rani (a Sanskrit term for deity). He then decided to build a temple and sent instructions to Rinpung Dzong to rally the people and resources. The gonpa was completed in 1849.

Miyo Lang Zangma vowed to protect people’s wealth and property – or help procure them. If you are financial luck is to be dim, maybe a visit to Tenchhen might help. 

Ramna House

Ramna is not a temple but a private house in Dop Shari. From the town go towards Paro Dzong. At the second bridge, do not cross it but go straight. It is the second house on the left after 300 meters from the bridge.

Ramna House is where Chöpen Drin Zangma (ཅོད་པན་མགྲིན་བཟང་མ་) took residence. She is depicted holding a wish-fulfilling jewel in her right and a jewel encrusted casket in her left hand. Her mount is a doe. And thus she is believed to help with fulfilling any wish – be it for having offsprings or wealth.

According to former gup Dago, Choepen Dri Zangma, is the youngest of the five sisters and this is where the pilgrimage ends. “In some Internet sources Choepen Drizangma is associated to Dzongdrakha, which then leads to confusions of where to start and where to end the pilgrimage, “ he adds. 

According to the family, there is no record as to when the deity landed in their house. They can trace to seven generations that have hosted the deity. What they know is that the five Tsheringma sisters first landed in Paro and met for one last time on a big boulder, near the house, before each of them parted ways. The big boulder is still visible today just before you reach the house. Choepen Dri Zangma heard that a woman in the house nearby needed help to deliver a baby and she offered to help. After that she made the house her abode.

Choepen Drinzangma is the all-purpose Tsheringma. If you have been having bad dreams, or omens, or if you are launching new projects, getting into marriage, having a baby or trying to have one, or have a new born child, she is the go-to Tsheringma – the wish-fulfilling one. 

Recommended itinerary

There are several versions as to where to start and where to end the pilgrimage. I conducted a detailed pilgrimage and some research to all the sites last year. My suggestion is, visit in this order: Drangoe Gonpa, Tengchen Gonpa, Ramna House, Paro Gangtey Lhakhang, and Dzongdrakha Lhakhang, so that we follow the traditional kar-ser-mar-jang pattern.

Or simply, just visit Dzongdrakha, which is believed to house the three aspects of devotion and reverance – Ter (relic), tehn (inner relic) and nye (sacred place).

Or if you are walking, follow the traditional itinerary, which starts from Dzongdrakha and ends in Ramna.

Paro is one of the most fertile valleys in Bhutan, and also the most productive with the best worked paddyfields in the country. People are very hardworking around here.

There is also another reason. Honour.

It is a disgrace to the family if the fields are left barren. However, with rising wages and declining rural population it is increasingly becoming difficult, if not impossible, to maintain this beauty.

If no policy interventions, such as providing state subsidies or intensive mecchanisation are initiated, it won’t be long before these flatlands turn into barren lands like in much of eastern Bhutan.

It will be just this generation who will hold on to that family honour or dignity – or whatever is left of it.

There is, of course, more than the family honour and pride, as to why we need to preserve this rice farming tradition in Bhutan.

It is cultural

Every plantation season and the harvest are accompanied by age-old rituals and traditions that make Paro, and other farming communities, the site of important cultural heritage and practices. Such cultural traditions shape individual identities as Bhutanese.

According to some culture studies scholars, throughout Asia, rice is still considered a sacred crop and “the ritual of harvesting rice has shaped Southeast Asian cultures and tradition for centuries.”

It is social

The activity of rice farming requires many hands. It thus brings people together. One theory as to why Asian countries and cultures are communal and family-centric is because of rice farming. Unity, communal harmony, collaborative mindsets will be lost if rice farming disappears and in its place will be individualism, ego and divisions.

Writing for the Scientific American, psychologist David Biello shares a study from China where they found that “the cooperation required to plant, tend and harvest rice grown paddy-style makes those born in southern China think more communally than those born in northern China, where the primary crop is easier-to-farm wheat.”

It is spiritual

Rice farming is not a random activity. You cannot pick a random date to start ploughing the fields. The community decides based on the advices of astrologers as to when the earth can be disturbed. Accordingly a lama kicks off the plantation season with a ceremony to mother earth, and only then the community can start tilling the mud.

Likewise the first harvest, which consist of a bowl of freshly ground rice, is offered to deities and divinities, as a mark of gratitude for their protection and blessings. The reverance for earth, the power of reciprocal blessings and the aspirations of the lamas and the farmers will eventually strengthen the spiritual equity for future generations.

Rice, therefore, is not just a Ministry of Agriculture issue, but a national one, if one can understand, and appreciate everything that revolves around it.

The high Himalayan mountains have been known to the locals around them as the abodes of the divine. For example, Mt. Jumolhari and Mt. Tshering Khang (the two left peaks in the picture) are considered the abodes of Jumo Tashi Tsheringma, the longevity and prosperity deity revered in Vajrayana Buddhism.

Mountain dwellers, all over the Himalayas, especially those living in high altitudes such as the Sherpas in Nepal and the Layaps in Bhutan make daily offerings to either appease them or seek her blessing. Likewise, other high peaks and even lower mountains are the spiritual sanctuaries of a pantheon of Vajrayana Buddhist gods and deities making the region highly sacred.

In recent years, many Tibetologists and anthropologists working in the Himalayas are questioning this concept based on the local terminology and the related translation. Some argue that something has been lost in translation since the “mountain deity” does not appear in any scriptures in Tibetan Buddhism. Instead there are many references to “divine mountains” such as lhari (ལྷ་རི་). 

The question is: are some of the mountains deities themselves?

To cite an example, the three sacred mountains in the main Haa valley, in western #Bhutan, locally known as Meri Puensum (Three Divine Siblings) are revered as the embodiments of the three bodhisattvas of Jampelyang (Manjushri), Chana Dorje (Vajrapani), and Chenrizig (Avalokiteshvara).

Divine mountains and the mountains of the divine are, therefore, two different concepts altogether and proper understanding of this concept is key to understanding on how traditional communities in Bhutan and the Himalayan region make sense of the places. In fact the conventional wisdom of the local respect for nature, and living in harmony with environment is drawn from this belief, which if contested or discounted would have profound impact on the environment itself.

Coming back to translation, for instance, “Tsen” is translated as “mountain deity”. The translation does not hold when it is translated back to Dzongkha, which is necessary for a translation to hold water.

Dongkala (also written as Dongkarla) Gonpa was established in the 16th century by Terton Tshering Dorji, who was a student of Drubwang Rinchen Choedor of Mendrup Gonpa.

Story has it that Drubwang Rinchen Choedor, who was the resident lama of Mendrup Gonpa, saw a fireball on the peak of Dongkala, which was unusual. He instructed Tshering Dorji to take a hike up and check out.

Terton Tshering Dorji found a ter (sacred relic), which was discovered by Terton Pema Lingpa from Mebar Tsho (Burning Lake) and which had flown in to Dongkala. This ter can be seen in the main altar room on the top floor, today.

In the same altar room of the temple are the urn, which the infamous thief wanted to steal, and the Kaypi Marmey (Eternal Butter Lamp), which has been burning since the foundation of the temple in the 16th century. A kudrung chorten (memorial stupa) of Terton Tshering Dorji is on the left side of the altar, and believed as wish-fulfilling stupa.

And then my favorite – the rescued statue of Guru Padmasambhava, which came from another temple in the area. Apparently, that temple was caught by an accidental fire and the statue cried for help to rescue it. The statue is believed to have been brought by a single person, despite its size.

Dongkarla is also the abode of the powerful mountain deity Dongko Tsen, Lotey, who according to one story prevented a thief from stealing a sacred urn from the temple. The thief got his hand stuck on the vase. Desperate to leave when dawn broke, the thief chopped his wrist and escaped leaving behind his severed hand. The mummified hand is still visible in the goenkang today and is a main attraction for the visitors.

While the Zhung Dratshang manages the gonpa, the goenkang (altar room of the guardian deity) still maintains the dharma protectors of the Peling tradition, such as Gonpo Maning Nagpo, and the daily propitiating rituals are conducted in their honour. The goenkang also has mural paintings of several local deities such as Genyen Jakpa Melen, and Dongko Tsen Lotey.

Dongkala is the most beautiful viewpoint in the Thimphu-Paro region. On a clear day, you can see as far as Mt Kanchenjunga to the west (Nepal-Sikkim border), and Mt. Jumolhari, Tsherim Khang, and the most beautiful Mt. Jichu Drakey to the north. To the east, one can see the Table Mountain and Mt. Gangkar Puensem, the highest unclimbed peak in the world. To the south, you can see  Takti Peak.

Mendrup Gonpa

A visit to Dongkala is, of course, incomplete if one does not visit Mendrup Gonpa, which is on the hill below. This is because the two temples were respectively founded by the Lama and his disciple, and thus the sacred Lama-Loma Damtsig is a powerful source of blessing and inspiration.

Mendrup literally means “Medicine Making” and is named after Drubwang Rinchen Choedor, who was an accomplished medicine maker. Even today, the stone grinder he used is believed to possess the power to cure skin diseases and muscular pain.

Mendrup Gonpa was founded by Drubwang Rinchen Choedor, who was a prominent disciple of Terton Pema Lingpa. In fact he was assigned to the western regions of Bhutan by Terton to hold the Peling tradition.

It is believed that Drubwang Rinchen had hundreds of students, some of whom were the likes of Terton Tshering Dorji, who established Dongkarla; terton Ngawang Drakpa, who established the Neyphu Gonpa; and Lam Sangay who built Jabdho Gonpa.

Mendrup Gonpa is still under the patronage of Gangtey Trulku Rimpoche, the mind reincarnation of terton Pema Lingpa, while Neyphu Gonpa is under the spiritual leadership of the line of reincarnation of Ngawang Drakpa, referred to as Neyphu Trulku.

The centerpiece of Mendrup Gonpa are the stone grinder, and the footprint of the Drubwang.

Getting there

At Shaba Bridge, on the Paro-Thimphu highway, take the dirt road to the left and drive upstream. And follow the sign to Yuthok Gonpa first, and then continue uphill and drive past Dra Karp.

The first temple to the right is Mendrup Gonpa. From there you will see Phurdo Gonpa on the left and Dongkarla on the right peak

#dongkala #paro #bhutan #pemalingpa #terton #peling #mendrup

I see lots of our people, especially youth, these days who are inspired by this college-dropping story of Bill Gates, Mark Zukerberg or Elon Musk, who nonetheless have made it big. This implies education is not important.

Well, what one must also know is that these people were born with silver spoon in their mouth. They did not grow up being fed on WFP supplies or walking barefoot. Or go hungry even for a minute. They didn’t start off with no money. Otherwise they would also stayed there. Broke.

Bill’s mom was apparently a board member of IBM computers, who probably played a role in buying Bill’s software called MsDOS to drive the PCs. Mark’s parents were wealthy millionaire-doctors who could afford to send him to kindergarten where school fees were 30K per year. Elon Musk family owned an emerald mine in Zambia. To be able to enroll in Ivy league colleges, you have to be from a well-to-do family. To be able to drop off, you got to be really rich.

Hence, to be impressed by these people is fine, but for inspiration, look closer to those around you – unless you want to languish in a corner of a bar and whine all your life. Otherwise you have to have the right connections or solid financial backing like them – or both.

For most of us, the proleteriat from the fringes of the society, what matters is your education, and your zeal for lifelong learning, new skills, and hard work. A good education with a sound all-around knowledge is your only passport in life for you to move up the social and economic ladder. At least, it was in my case.

Fill your life and your social media feeds with people whom you can emulate and from whom you can learn one thing every day – and not with celebrities you dream of, or with billionaires whose life you will never have.

In one of my favourite films from my childhoo days, The Good, Bad, and the Ugly, Biondi (played by Clint Eastwood) tells the Ugly.

“You see, in this world there’s two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig.”

Yes, put your heads down and keep digging. We don’t have the gun.

June 24, 2022 – The Summer Solstice has just passed by.

According to Buddhist legends, it is believed that the Sun returns from the North, and journeys to the South, after paying a visit to the Guardian King of the North, Namsey Zambala (Kubera) – the deity of wealth and prosperity in Buddhism.

The Summer Solstice is, therefore, a time for celebration and propitiation for wealth, good harvest, long life and prosperity. Usually a ritual to the wealth deity Zambala is conducted. The central monastic body still does these ceremonies. Devotees also recite Kuenzang Moelam (ཀུན་ཏུ་བཟང་པོའི་སྨོན་ལམ་ kuntuzangpö mönlam) for general wellbeing.

On the other hand, the Winter Solstice is a time when the Sun returns from the South, where the Guardian King is Shin-jey (Yama Raj), whose is also the Lord of Death. Around the Winter Solstice, Bhutanese perform “obstacles and death-preventing rituals” such as Jabzi and Mikha Kharam, and propitiating rituals to Tshepamay (Longeivity Buddha) and to Worldly deities such as Tsheringma. All included in what is term as Lho-choe or chhoga.

Supreme to all rituals is, however, Drolma Yuldog, which literally means “Obstacles removing Tara ritual”. Since Tara represents both a wealth-giving deity as well as obstacle-removing and enlightenment-granting divinity, there is nothing better than conducting Drolma Yuldog. Even Guru Padmasambhava is believed to have conducted Drolma Yuldog for King Thrisong Detsen, to pave way for the success of Samye monastery construction in Tibet.

The founder of Mahayana, Nagarjuna (Gyempo Ludrup in Bhutanese), is believed to have written the Drolma Yuldhog ceremony to help him win the Great Debate against the Theravada elders.

The Buddhist master, Atisha Dipankar, who revived Buddhism in Tibet in the 11th century, is supposed to have invoked Mother Tara when he found himself in a sea storm on his way to Indonesia.

Drolma Yuldog is basically the invocation of all 21 Taras, in which different Tara serve different roles and purpose. My favourite Taras are Tsugtor Namgyelma and Drolma Kurkulle. The ritual is parricularly recommended for people born with birth mewa 7 and for women.

May the Super Mother Tara bless all.

Tara #drolma #ritual #vajrayana

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I took a break from the social media to get some few things done. I dropped my daughter to college, and while in Thailand I did a silent retreat, I caught up with some old friends, did some great writings (two books next year), had a health check-up (details below), and got my teeth fixed. To paraphrase my favorite uncle, late Ugyen Wangdi, I have reached an age where I have to look for spare parts 😂

OK. Back to health check-up. I knew that the series of lockdowns would have ruined my health in some way. After all, all I was doing was eat, sit, watch TV, work the laptops and sleep.

In fact my cholesterol, trygleceride, uric acid, and bilirubin had all crossed the upper limit. This is happening for the first time. I have also become overweight by 10 kilos. There were no symptoms whatsoever. It was just my gut-feeling that the lockdowns would have affected my health in some way.

So, to all my friends, get your blood CBC test and check your weight before they cause you further damages. This advice is especially for those who have entered the spare-parts age.
😁😁😁

And how is Bangkok? It was empty, devoid of tourists, and half the malls and shops, which I had been going for the past 25 years, have all disappeared. Unlike here, there is no kidu system. You are on your own. The shops I entered treated me like royal guest. And when I paid for things I bought, it was as if I was gifting them free money.

The Thai government has now relaxed all travel restrictions but arrival is only 7% as compared to the same period in 2019.

So, with all the talks of reopening to tourism here in Bhutan, I don`t think there would be a windfall. It would take at least another 2 to 3 years for the travel industry to become normal.

If the pandemic was bad looks like an impending global recession will be worse for the travel industry.

Two friends of mine sent me a few Facebook posts and asked me what I thought (because I am out of the social media). So let me share here, what I shared with them in case some readers find it useful.

Post 1 – A person was supposedly spreading Covid around. (I am not sure if he or she was doing this knowingly or unknowingly). What was definite was that this person was breaking the lockdown rules and was going around – and was allegedly evading calls from Health officials because his/her test returned positive.

Post 2 – FB users are arguing against the government decision to continue with the lockdown, and instead are proposing that Bhutan should start living with the virus. 

Well, let me explain these two cases as an academic/researcher. What does social science say about this behaviour and feelings? I will refrain from making any legal or moral judgment. Other professionals may do that if they wish.

The common thread that binds the two case scenarios is called the perception of risk – as in how people respond when confronted with external threats and risks. While it may sound like a common-sense to think that this virus is dangerous and we need to stay away from it, one psycho-social theory on this topic has a different take. How each one of us, as individuals, perceive a risk varies from person to person. It is considered as a subjective feeling and not an objective and universal realisation. It is even different from nation to nation and from profession to profession. It is also different between men and women, or between a daily-wage worker and an industrialist, or between a teenager and an adult. 

How individuals perceive a risk varies from person to person.

Strange, right? But it’s true. That’s why some people smoke although every research shows it will cause cancer. Then there are high-risks sports like rock climbing, bungee jumping, motor racing, skydiving where you are hundreds of times more likely to be killed than, say, if you play football. Same explanation goes for risky sexual behaviours and the increase in HIV/AIDS cases. We all perceive risks in different manners and indulge in risky behaviours because we are all different – psychologically and physiologically to start with – and followed by our socio-cultural circumstances and upbringing. One could also speculate something like: Even if Ebola hits us, there will be people, still, wandering around, or questioning the lockdowns and travel restrictions.

Psychologists have identified several factors that determine our perceptions of risk. I will explain a few here, and in brief: 

• Familiarity – When the first covid patient was announced, Thimphu became a ghost town. Now we have 100+ case load appearing every day and “Red buildings” everywhere, but we want the PM to call off the lockdown. It is because we feel “familiar” with this whole issue. Besides, the never-changing public health messaging of “wash your hand” and “wear mask” reinforces this familiarity bias.
• Personal agency to control the situation – We are told that if we are vaccinated, and if we mask up, stay away from crowds, and wash your hands regularly, we are safe. When we have some level of confidence that we can control some things, some of us will jump. The public messaging has not moved beyond these 4 do’s – making some people more confident.
• Physiological response – Two physiological responses are relevant here. First, our body’s production level of adrenaline and dopamine determines if we are natural-born risk takers. That’s why some people are sky jumpers and early adopters while others are no risk-takers at all. Second, fear activates the reptilian lobe of our brain. But this does not last long. Within minutes, actually, the neocortex and limbic areas begin to reactivate and people start reasoning and rationalising thereafter. And unless there is a new stimulus with new information and knowledge we will begin to form our own cognitive biases that best serve our personal interests.
• Cost-benefits analysis – After the initial fears fade away, the rational brain starts to do the cost-benefit analysis. Am I forgoing too many opportunities by staying put? Won’t we all die one day anyway? What is real risk? Is it worth taking? This explains why tobacco smugglers got into action, because there was a huge mark-up.
• Fair Vs unfair debate. It is a natural tendency for people to always compare – and play the victim card. “It is not fair because they have monthly salary deposited while there is nothing for me”. “It is not fair that bordering towns remain in lockdown more than Thimphu or Paro”. “Why are some shops open, and mine is told to be closed?” And worse (I have heard one man say this), “This is a rich man disease and we are all locked up to protect the elites. It is not fair. I have nothing to lose if I die.”
• The fear factor– How much do we have to fear? And here again, people will seek information from sources that fit their preconceived notion. Such as, the fatality rate of Omicron is 0.0025%, or 1 in 40,000, which is lesser than that of the common flu – and lot less than other diseases that we have been living with. Or, I know someone who got it and without coughing even once he was declared recovered. Your frontal neocortex will also starts philosophising after being in a hard lockdown for months. What is the use of living like this? What is the meaning of life? Third year into the pandemic, fear is the last thing that one wants to hear – or think about. So save your resources instead of pouring into the fear tactics.
• Life is precious but not everybody – Unfortunately different people value the preciousness of life differently. I am not talking about enlightened monks or my grandmother. In between the two lockdowns, and across the street I saw a worker cutting the tiles without mask. I told him that he might suffer from silicosis in the long run, besides catching covid. His reply was, “My life is worthless, la. I have nothing. I am not even married, Ha Ha Ha”.

So, to shout at someone, “Don’t you know that you will die?” or to remind that it is our collective gyenkhu (responsibility) or to say, “We have to protect the vulnerable” will have very little traction and buy-in, especially when the situation like this pandemic lingers on for so long. The collective becomes secondary when the bank balance is dropping like a rock – or when life itself begins to appear meaningless. Mind you, we are in the third year of the pandemic, and the end is nowhere in sight.

The physiological response to any threatening situation is termed as fight-or-flight mode, which is to either resist forcefully or to run for cover. From the Facebook posts that I have read, it appears that people have decided to resist it. Why and how we reached to this calls for another debate altogether. Again, these are purely brief academic assessments. It is for others to also chip in within their domains of expertise or responsibility, and ultimately for our leaders to make the tough call – based on everything that they can gather from everyone else.

However, understanding that each one of us perceive the risk in different manners – and that we are all different – psychologically and physiologically and not just socially or economically, is a good starting point to come up with better decisions, or to improve the public messaging through something called a strategic risk communication.

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