Chortens (Dzo. མཆོད་རྟེན་; literally meaning “Support to The Teaching”) come in all shapes and sizes. Contrary to popular belief, there are more than three architectural types of chorten.
Stupas were adapted in the Buddhist world from earlier traditions as monuments for simply safekeeping the mortal remains of Buddha. Over time they evolved both in terms of physical aspects as well as the content. What is common to all types of chorten in the Buddhist world is that there are five physical structures to represent the five natural elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space. Chortens in Buddhism are built as representation of the Buddha as seated in a lotus position.
In this post let me share what goes inside a Bhutanese stupa, so that one day you can also build one. These pictures are from the Rigsum Gonpo stupa that my siblings and I sponsored to rebuild in Athang Morakha in Wangdue, as per the advice of my lama, Khandro Dorje Phagmo Rimpoche.
I dedicated the holy Saga Dawa month (the fourth month in the Bhutanese calendar) rebuilding a Rigsum Gonpo stupa in Morakha village in Athang Gewog. The place is associated with two very important figures in Vajrayana Buddhism. First, it is believed to be the abode of Vajrapani (Chana Dorje), which is referred to as Changlochen. Second, it is associated with Mendharawa – one of the principal consorts of Guru Padmasambhava.
Rigsum Gonpo (Dzo. རིགས་གསུམ་མགོན་པོ) means Lords Protectors of Three Families (or Realms) and refers to Chana Dorje (Vajrapani), Chenrizig (Avalokiteshvara) and Jamyang (Manjushri). The three stupas are the representations of these three important deities in Vajrayana Buddhism.
Picture 1 – Every major construction starts with a salang tendrel (Permission Seeking Ceremony) where we ask the consent of the earth deity to build the stupa. We offer 12 sacho bumter (vase of treasure) – four each for the three chortens. This offering is considered as a gift to the earth deity for allowing us to occupy the ground.Picture 2 – The first structure over the ground is the Sa-zin (foundation). This stage is important to provide the correct direction of the stupa (called Chho in Dzongkha). It should not face any direction randomly – especially its shadow should fall in the direction of any private homes. A master astrologer or a realised lama should do this to ensure that it benefits all sentient beings and hurts no one. Picture 3 – The next is to build three stairs called them-kha. Here inside the walls we have the first set of zung (relics) going in – consisting of farming implements and an old urn at the bottom layer. After covering this layer with juniper leaves the men and women garment and jewelries are spread – including arms and ammunition.Picture 4 – Then comes the Thri (throne) where the second set of Zung is buried. Here, inside of it, we offer a full set of religious musical instruments, and as many yangbum (vase of prosperity).Picture 5 – Every inch of the hollow space is filled with tsatsa (mini stupas) and dried juniper leaves. If juniper leaves are not available dry sand is fine too. The thing to remember is not to leave any space.
Picture 6 – The Thri is sealed and this marks the completion of the first stage of the constriction.
Picture 7 – Over the Thri, we build what we call the Tshemed-Zhi (The Four Immeasurable). It is four-step pyramid and in it we plant the sokshing – the soul of the stupaPicture 8 – Sokshing means “tree of life” and it is what makes the stupa come to life and bestow the power. It is a wooden pole sliced out of a young juniper tree, around which hundreds of scrolls of mantras, clay statues and precious objects are bound. This is best done by a master artisans, although it may be cheaper to do on your own. I prefer to get it from one master I know. Picture 9 – Planting the sokshing is one of the three most sacred stages of the construction of the stupa and hence, a realised lama should preside over this. It is believed the act of “planting” causes disturbances in the Lower Realm, and even the Lord of Death, Yama, can get upset. On the other hand, the upper tip is believed to send power of prayers and mantras, like a radio antenna, to the Higher Realms and the divinities would take a break to witness this sacred moment. Picture 10 – At the base of the sokshing we offer Kaypi-Mar (eternal butter) in a copper urn, and four sets of choeb-ting (water offering cups) filled with gemstones and precious metals. You fill the remaining empty spaces with sacred scriptures like Kanjur (Words of Buddha) or Bum Poti (Perfection in 100,000 lines).Picture 11 – The Bumpa (vase) – the conical shape structure is filled with statues of the deities and divinities.Picture 12-13 – Above the bumpa is the chug-sum khrolo (Thirteen Discs of Enlightenment) which envelopes the upper part of the sokshing. The completed chug-sum khorlo is in the picture below.Picture 14 – The golden parasol which covers the Chug-sum Khorlo is placed on top and both are given a golden color. The three stupas of Rigsum Gonpo are also given their respective colors: yellow for Manjushri, white for Avalokiteshvara, and dark blue for Vajrapani.Picture 15 – Finally, the top-most structure is the golden pinnacle. Usually the Sun, Moon and the Star representing the space are carved and placed there, but increasingly people offer golden pinnacle, which is costlier and believed to accumulate more merits.Picture 17 – The main sponsor of the construction is honoured with gifts of rice, textile and a white khadar.May this sacred stupa bless all sentient beings and bring peace and prosperity to this community and country.
Morakha takes its name from a remark made by an attendant of Guru Padmasambhava. It was during the time when Guru Rimpoche and Mendarawa were in the area. Mendarawa was in the village, while Guru was meditating in the mountains between Phobjikha and Athang. When the Guru inquired about Mendarawa, the attendant is supposed to have replied, “She is (Mo-ra) in the village (Khar)”. Thereafter the place where Mendarawa dwelled was named Morakhar, and later simply Morakha.
Morakha Temple stands over the village of Lomsokha in the main Athang valley. The site is believed to be the spot where Mendarawa practised the Vajrapani saddhana – known as Chana Dorje drub in Bhutanese. A temple was later built on the spot by the followers of Mendarawa and Guru Rimpoche. The exact date is not known.
Coupled with the Athang Tsho (lake), which is at the other end of the valley, the region was a mandatory destination of all emanations of Terton Pema Lingpa, and the followers of the Peling tradition. The area, therefore, received hundreds of pilgrims each year – thus adding to the prominence and economy of Athang region since the mediaeval era. It was only in the post-modern era that the region saw the decline, as the natives were lured to the urban areas of Thimphu and Wangdue. During the same period, pilgrimages from Tibet stopped for reasons known to everyone.
Mendarawa, and Adha mathra and Adha Rachu:
In front of Morakha temple is the boulder that is believed to be the handloom of Khandro Mendarawa, the spiritual consort of Guru Padmasambhava. While the Guru spent his time in the mountains of Athang (also colloquially pronounced as Adha), Mendarawa spent her days practising the Vajrapani mantra, and by night weaving the traditional clothes. The stone relic can be seen even today. Some local sources claim that the origins of the popular Adha mathra and Adha rachu – a traditional handwoven textile and pattern have their origins here in the works of Khandro Mendarawa. And because of their association to Mendarawa, these patterns of traditional textiles have spiritual blessings and are auspicious for special occasions.
According to one source, Athang Morakha is only place visited by Mendarawa. All other important sites of Guru are associated to either Yeshey Tshogyel or Tashi Khyidron. This makes Athang a very special valley
Betel leaves:
Another very popular item associated with this place and to Mendarawa are the betel leaves, which are believed to have been planted by her. The only surviving plant, which is standing in front of the temple, is jealousy guarded, as many attempts to graft and reproduce have been unsuccessful. The betel leaves from this plant are used for making mendrub (medicinal pills) or rilbu (blessed pills). Another local claims that the betel leaves available in the wild in the jungles of Athang gewog are equally blessed by Mendarawa – and they are used for Zhugdrey ceremony in Gangtey Monastery during the annual Gangtey Tshechu and Drubchen.
Chana Dorje relic (ter) statue:
The most prized possession of Morakha Lhakhang is a finger-sized relic statue of Vajrapani (similar to the one in Bartsham temple in Trashigang). It is tucked away in a secured safe and can be seen only on special occasions.
Vajrapani is referred to, in abbreviated form, as Chador in Bhutanese, and every newborn that receives his or her name from this temple is called Chador. So, every other person in this gewog is called Chador, and almost every Chador you meet may be from Athang gewog.
According to the caretaker monk, the sacred Chador statue is believed to have been retrieved by Terton Pema Lingpa from Mebar Tsho (lake) in Bumthang. “One statue flew to Tsakaling in Mongar, another to Paro Dongkala, and the last one came to Morakha,” he adds.
When the original Morakha temple was destroyed by fire this relic statue is believed to have flown away and stayed safe on a nearby tree. It was later discovered by the resident monks and brought back to the temple.
Vajrapani is also a popular deity, who is revered as a part of the supreme Trinity of Protector Deities called the Rigsum Gonpo (རིགས་གསུམ་མགོན་པོ་) – literally translated as “Lords of Three Families” with the three families being Avalokiteshvara, Manjushri and Vajrapani.
The affiliation to Gangtey Gonpa:
The association of Morakha Lhakhang to Gangtey Gonpa started with the life and works of the Second Gangtey Trulku, Tenzin Lekpai Dondrub (1645-1727), who is considered as the most prolific of all the previous Gangtey Trulkus, and who operated mainly in this region. Although a realised being, he lived a simple life of an itinerant monk – who are locally referred to as gomchens.
His works and the patronage he received from the Athang area became the inspiration for the popular adage, “Lama Ganteyb. Jindha Adhap” (Lama from Gantey, patrons from Athang). Today the monastic center is affiliated to Gangtey Gonpa, and the current Gangtey Trulku Rimpoche initiated the reconstruction and the expansion of the temple into a proper monastic institute.
Who must visit?
While Chana Dorje practice is recommended for everyone to pave the path towards ultimate enlightenment, the blessing is a must for those born with birth-mewa 2 and 4. It is strongly recommended that people born with these mewas make a pilgrimage to this sacred place and/or to Bartsham Chador Lhakhang in Trashigang. This is because Chana Dorje is the deity of those born with birth mewa 2 and 4. Birth mewa 2 are those born in the 1944, 1953, 1962, 1971, 1980, 1989, 1998, 2007, and 2016. Birth mewa 4 are those born in 1942, 1951, 1960, 1969, 1978, 1987, 1996, 2005, 2014, 2023
Getting there:
The total drive time from Thimphu is just 3-4 hours making it a nice day trip. There is a farm road that takes off from Kamichu on Wangdue-Tsirang highway. It is pliable with small cars (maybe not during the wet season).
When you get down to the valley floor from the Lapsaka Pass, look for a signboard. Take the road to the left marked as Athang Morakha Changlochen Chador Lhakhang.
What to take:
Take rice, flours, lentils, cooking oil and food supplies for the monks there. There is a community of monks headed by the abbot – with no subsidy from the state.
Where to stay: There are decent guest rooms at Morakha Lhakhang in case people want to stay overnight, which I highly reccomend. Contact person: Lopen Sonam Drugyel 17480524.
The bridge to cross towards Athang from Wangdue – Tsirang highwayAfter dropping down to Athang valley floor, you will get to this cross road.
Bhutan’s earliest recorded history takes us to the Eighth Century when Guru Padmasambhava was invited to Bumthang to help the then-King Sindhu Raja recover from a serious illness by retrieving his life-power from a local deity Shelgeng Karpo. Guru, who was then in Yanglasho, having just completed his Vajrakilaya practices and attained his version of enlightenment would travel to Bumthang, fight the local deity and restore the health of the King. (At the site where this happened stands Kurjey temple).
In return for the favour the King would declare Buddhism to be propagated in his Kingdom.
The stone pillar of Nabji
Nabji Temple plays its role in the story as the place where Guru Rimpoche negotiated the truce between King Sindhu Raja and his rival, Nawache.
The two kings were apparently at war and in the ensuing battle the son of Sindhu Raja, Tagla Mebar, was killed – after which Sindhu Raja is believed to have either forgotten to offer his regular propitiating rituals to the local deity Shelgeng Karpo, or he deliberately did that. The deity got upset and threw some incurable disease at the King.
After the life-power of King Sindhu Raja was restored, both of them travelled to Nabji, and Padmasambhava, who also had a good relation with King Nawoche, called him over from the South. Guru negotiated a peace between the two, and the three of them placed their handprints on the stone pillar (in the picture) as their eternal promise. “Na” in Bhutanese means promise – or an oath.
Mebar Tashi Khyidron and the Temple
Later, Mebar Tashi Khyidron, who some sources associate her as the daughter of the King, and who was offered to Guru as his consort (later historians argue she was from Khoma in Lhuntse), built a temple on this location, where the pillar stood. The two thumbprints, in fact, are believed to be placed by her as the key Witness to the historic event.
Legend has it the dakinis led by Tashi Khyidron would build the temple in the daytime, and at night malignant forces would destroy it.
Story also goes that Tashi Khyidron, who was so exasperated with the demons continuously destroying the work, placed her hands on the wall and called out the Guru for help. Two fingers immersed into the stone of the wall. The marks can be seen today on the outer wall of the temple (ask the caretaker).
It is believed that Guru Rimpoche came to her aid by performing a sacred dance (tercham) on the nearby cliff, and when the demons and spirits were distracted by him, the dakinis quickly completed the temple.
The temple is also associated with the 14th century Terton Dorje Lingpa (1346-1405) who is believed to have consecrated the temple.
Visiting Nabji – Korphu
For me this was a return trip. I visited Nabji-Korphu some 20 years back – after walking for four days from Langthil village in Trongsa. We crossed the Mangdichu to the Monpa village of Jangbi and from there travelled to Phumzur (where Guru placed a Phurpa on the rock), Kubra (where Guru rested) and Ugyen Drak. We camped in the jungles with the Monpa guides who knew everything about the forests. At night around campfire they and told me about their origins.
I was passed to Korphu guides at Nabji, who took me up to Korphu, offered me the greatest of hospitality and then reached me till Nimshong.
Now from Wangdigang in Zhemgang it is a cool one hour drive with a small car to get to both Nabji and Korphu. To go to Ugyen Drak and beyond you still have to hike.
The valley, people and the sacred temple at Nabji are simply out-of-the-world. The statue of Guru is believed to be warm like a human body – even today (We cannot touch it though) and the stone pillar releases duetsi (sacred droplets of water) when persons of great spiritual attainment visit the temple.
Recommendation:
Just go! And tie-up the trip by visiting Buli Lake and the other temple built by Tashi Khyidron in Zhemgang, which are close to Trongsa-Gelephu Highway.
People make your journeys memorable. The valley has three villages with three linguistic groups – Nabji, Korphu and Nimshong. If you want to stay overnight, I recommend Korphu, which commands a better view of the valley, and made up of hospitable people who mostly came from Bumthang – and speaks Bumtap.
I closed my week-long New Year Pilgrimage with a visit to Athang Rukha – my adopted village for 18 years now. The village of Rukha is one of the few sacred abodes of Palden Lhamo – one of the three supreme protectors of Bhutan.
My association with Rukha.
For those of you who have not been following my work, I have been associated with that valley since 2007 when I went there for the very first time on a documentary mission. The remoteness of that place (it was two days of walking through the leech infested jungles) and the misery I came across shook me to the core that I decided then and there that whatever remained of my life would be dedicated to doing something for that village. The valley is now known for the Oleps – the last hunter-gatherers of Bhutan.
I subsequently volunteered for a foundation that went on to lift them out of abject poverty to a dignified life. When the project ended, the villagers and I had bonded so much that they wouldn’t let me leave. So, I stayed on and we built some temples together in a valley that didn’t even have a prayer flag when I first got there (they practised shamanism and nature-worship). I provided the funds using my own money (which ran out every now and then and the work stopped) and the people there did the hard work – extracting the timber, carrying the boulder, ramming the mud, etc.
Fast forward to 2024, the third temple – a tshokhang (community hall) dedicated to Guru Padmasambhava – my birth deity, is getting the finishing touches of religious art on the ceiling – three mandalas of Tshela Namsum (Buddha Amitayus, Unisha Vijjaya and Tara). These mandalas when completed would throw down more blessings when anyone does ceremonies to Sangye Tshepamay, Namgyelma or Jetsun Drolma.
Abode of Palden Lhamo.
The place is believed to be the abode of Palden Lhamo and visited by both Guru Padmasambhava – on his way to Bumthang in the Eighth Century, and by Terton Pemalingpa in the Sixteenth Century on his way from Bumthang looking for a place that would eventually become Gangtey Gonpa.
A temple built in the mediaeval era stood there until it was completely destroyed in the early 1930s after the original inhabitants abandoned the valley because of the smallpox epidemic. Between 2009 and 2014, the Oleps, the new settlers of Rukha and I built the temple over the mud ruins of the original temple. Left untouched, the ruins can be seen on the ground floor. The carpenter, Chorten Tshering, was told in his dream by a girl not to destroy the mud ruins.
In 2014 when the former Tsugla lopen Samten Dorji consecrated the first temple, many old people from the valley heard the sounds of the religious instruments for the first time in their life. Furthermore, many young people, and every elder member, took the oath from Tsugla Lopen to refrain from hunting and killing wild animals – a skill and way of life they inherited from their forefathers. Now, a twice-monthly Lhamo Tsho-ja is conducted with households taking turns.
Traditionally the Oleps practiced shamanism and animism, and this continues in some forms till this day. And here, I have been very respectful not to force anyone into one or the other spiritual practices. As Buddha said, I can only show the way.
In 2020, when the pandemic hit and we were all stuck, the Rukha Lama, Ugyen Tshering, and I initiated another temple to be used as Tshokhang, so as to turn the first temple into a Neykhang (place for protector deities) and dedicate it solely to Palden Lhamo. I also built an altar with 21 Taras for my daughter and grandson whose birth deity is Tara. In 2022, the tshokhang was consecrated by Gangtey Rimpoche, who also presided over a three-day Tshechu with mask dances – the first one to be instituted in lower Sha region.
The blessings of Palden Lhamo and Tara are evident. Rukha has been receiving bountiful harvest, in general, and the families who were solidly behind the temple project are having a fulfilling time with their children doing well with their life.
And the story continues..
From going hungry to building a better life for themselves and their children, to temples and hosting the first Tshechu in the region, the Oleps have come a long way in less than two decades. It has been close to an economic and social miracle – a case study in development management. The credit fully goes to the people who believed in themselves and were ready to work hard.
Along the way the State also provided the valley with a power-tiller road (2011) upgraded to a farm road (2018), electricity (2019), and mobile phone network (2023). From a two-day treacherous hike the road to Rukha has been reduced to an hour-long pleasant drive from the Wangdue – Tsirang highway.
I offered three butter lamps in a new large Karmi Khang that a family from Rukha had bought in the memory of their father, who passed away a few months back. It arrived on the same day I landed there. I prayed that the people of Rukha continue on their path and be a part of this small great nation, as it moves confidently into the future.
They say you cannot take anything with you when you die. This is not true. You will carry with you the good and bad karma and the merits and retributions you accumulated. And more importantly, you will also leave behind the memories of you in people whose lives you made some difference.
So, as you breathe in the Dragon Year 2024, I invite you all to take a moment to reflect on a few questions. How many thoughts and prayers (moelam zangpo in Bhutanese) have you sent to others? How many smiles have you brought in someone else? How many lives have you touched through your small or big works?
As a Mahayana Buddhist, these should be the questions of your life – and the greater meaning of a pilgrimage.
(Itinerary of my pilgrimage – Semtokha Dzong (Thimphu), Dobji Dzong (Paro), Lhakhang Karpo (Haa), Punakha Dzong (Punakha), Mebar Tokchoe (Zhemgang), Lamga and Rukha (Wangdue)
Dorji Wangchuk 