Choeten Kora, Trashi Yangtse

 The road to Trashi Yangste is not an easy one. Unlike most roads we saw in Eastern Bhutan, the one that branched-off north from Trashigang was particularly bad. 

As we drove on a mud-path cut into steep slopes and dense forests, past recent landslides and rock-falls,  I imagined our final destination to be some sort of one-horse town; one in which there would be a few houses along the roadside; a town where we would have to wake up somebody to cook dinner and find a bed for the night..

It was late evening by the time our Pajero stopped and the driver announced, "We've reached!".  What stood below us was not a tiny settlement but a lovely little town built alongside a river. There were broad roads, numerous buildings, shops, lodges, snooker parlours, and, the biggest surprise of all - a beautifully lit up Choeten sitting like a jewel at the head of the valley.

This was the Chorten Kora, a shrine modelled on the Boudhanath stupa in Kathmandu, and revered by  people across the eastern Himalayas, from Nepal to Arunachal Pradesh, and maybe beyond.

I visited this shrine early next morning. What struck me the most was the deep sense of order, symmetry and rhythm within the complex. 

Each side was divided into two parts with four sections each. Niches within each of these four sections had exactly six prayer wheels. So as you walked along each side of the Chorten you could swing with your fingers 48 prayer-wheels or 192 prayers with each circumambulation! 

As if to keep time for each step and each breath you took, there were also two large water-driven prayer wheels by the river-side, gently tinkling their bells.

What is the significance of these numbers? Why are prayer-wheels and stupas by the roadside always built in units of 1, 2, 6 or 8?

There is no doubt deep symbolism in each of these elements. 

Is there a book that explains all this?

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LINKS & REFERENCES

* A brief history of Choeten Kora - https://himalaya.socanth.cam.ac.uk/collections/journals/jbs/pdf/JBS_06_01.pdf

* Symbolism of the Stupa / Chorten - https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/history/buddhist-art/stupas.htm 

Buddhism in Bhutan

 

What is the difference between Tibetan and Bhutanese practice of Buddhism?

Most of the sights , sounds and smells of Bhutan are familiar to those who have travelled to Tibetan settlements across India. The meticulously hand-painted temples, fluttering prayer flags, the steaming hot momos and thukpa, monks in deep maroon, and the distinct smell of incense. One thing that is missing in Bhutan are the "Free Tibet!" stickers and t-shirts, and photos of HH the Dalai Lama. Why so?

It seems there are four main schools of Mahayana Buddhism practiced in the upper Himalayas and the Tibetan plateau -  Nyingma (8th century), Kagyu (11th century), Sakya (1073), and Gelug (1409).

Padmasambhāva (aka Guru Rinpoche - 'Precious Master', Circa 700 CE) and Śāntarakṣita (725–788), are considered the founders of Nyingma ('The Ancient Ones'), the oldest tradition. A couple of centuries later Tilopa (988–1069) and his students, notably Naropa and Marpa, laid the foundations of the Kagyu ('Whispered Transmission') tradition, which focuses on the practices of Mahamudra. The great 11th century mystic, Miralepa, belonged to the Kagyu school. 

The third school, Sakya ('Pale earth') derives its name from the landscape near Shigatse, where Sakya Monastery, the first monastery of this tradition was established. This time the founder was not a monk who travelled from India across the Himalayas but one who travelled the opposite way, from Tibet to Vikramshila university in present-day northern Bihar.

The first three sects are also referred as the 'Red Hat' schools because its monks wear red head gear.

The fourth and last major school, Gelug ('Virtuous'), emerged after the Mongol invasions of Tibet in the 1200s. Also known as the Yellow Hat sect, they aligned themselves with the Mongol Khans and became the dominant sect in Tibet and Mongolia by the 16th century. The present (14th) Dalai Lama belongs to this sect.

Most of the Buddhists in Bhutan belong to the second-oldest Vajrayana sect - Kagyu - one of the red-hat schools. This sect is perhaps more closely aligned with the traditions set by the earliest monks who introduced Buddhism to the areas beyond the Himalayas. 

Maybe this also explains why the Dalai Lama is not so popular in Bhutan.

Phobjika's Reeds and Cranes

 

Phobjika Valley is quite unlike the Himalayan Valleys I had seen so far. Located almost on the same latitude as Kathmandu and a lot lower than Kashmir, what struck me at first is the absence of intensive agriculture. This seemed like an indulgence in a mountainous country that imports a lot of its food.

The valley has bee left in its original form for a good reason. Except for patches of isolated potato fields a large part of it has been declared a Ramsar Site - one of the 2000 sites across the world that has been marked as wetland of international importance.  Here the marshland attracts numerous migratory birds, especially the black-necked crane.

Hundreds of black-necked cranes glide into the valley every autumn. Always in pairs, these large birds are often heard before they are actually seen - especially early in the morning when the whole valley is covered by a blanket of mist. In the pre-dawn silence the birds sound like a bunch of children practicing their pipes and trumpets.  

When these cranes fly over the snow-peaks, from the plateau of Tibet, it is said that they first circle the Gangtey Monastry thrice before settling down to roost in the sprawling Phobjika valley. The monastery itself looks like a bird in flight with its broad, layered roofs, intricately painted balcony's, windows, and perfectly symmetrical form.

Yet what lingers in my mind is not the form of the building or the broad sunlit courtyard in front of it, but the sounds that emerge from the rooms and corridors that ring the monastery. Sounds of the reed pipes being played by young boys dressed in maroon robes.

The reeds are tiny but the tunes from them seem to fill out the broad courtyards and echo far into the misty valleys below.

How does such a tiny reed make so loud a sound? I wanted to try out one of these reeds but this did not seem the right thing to do in post-Covid times, and they were also not for sale anywhere. Just as I was about to return a bit disappointed, one of the older monks at the reception handed me a piece lying on his table. "It is damaged", he said simply, " - no proper sound".

I am familiar with bamboo flutes  especially the bansuri but this one was totally different. It had six largish holes cut along its length, one end was closed by the reed knot, and the other was, of course open. Unlike the lateral flutes, this one was played straight but the trick was to figure out the right way to blow.

At first, the only sound i could get were by pulling in air from the open end but these were feeble, so unlike the solid notes that the boys were playing. After a while i realised that the almost invisible slit near the blocked was they key. With a very fine blade, a cut and a wedge had been created on the underside of the reed!

What I had initially thought to be the 'damage' that the monk referred to was the very thing that gave life to this wind instrument! As we drove out of the valley via Lawa La, Trongsa to Tang and Bunthang, I wondered if it is the sounds of these reeds that attracted the black-necked cranes into Phobjika Valley.

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REFERENCES & LINKS

* Ramsar Sites - https://rsis.ramsar.org/ 

* Gangtey Monastery - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gangteng_Monastery 

Credit Cards in Bhutan

In the age of digital payments it feels strange to carry around wads of currency notes. 

This is exactly what happened to me last week in Bhutan. For the entire duration of the trip that covered about 800km, from Paro to Thimpu, Punakha, Phobji Valley, Trongsa and onward to Bumthang and back, I was unable to use any of my credit or debit cards, let along e-payment apps like PayTM, GPay or Bhim-UPI. At all hotels and shops, my attention was drawn to the fine-print behind every card issued in India - "Not valid for payment in foreign exchange in Nepal and Bhutan".

The question is why would any Indian want to make a payment in foreign exchange? India and Bhutan share open borders, and Indian currency is freely accepted everywhere, but the use of anything other than cash is quite difficult.  While it is possible to withdraw cash from the Bank of Bhutan (BoB) ATMs in the capital city, Thimphu, a steep fee of N300 is charged for each transaction.

How did this strange situation come to pass? How much of tourist income is Bhutan losing due to these rules?

Explanations available online point to apprehensions at the central banks that these steps are in place to prevent Hawala transactions and money laundering across the open borders...yet, things do not seem to add up. 

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REFERENCES & LINKS

• Hawala transactions - https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2002/12/elqorchi.htm#:~:text=The%20hawala%20system%20refers%20to,transaction%20and%20the%20countries%20involved.
• RBI Rules - https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/FAQView.aspx?Id=66
• Hindi YT - https://youtu.be/zAdIYHdO7VU

An Almost Happy Country

Tshering Tobgay is an amazingly gifted communicator. As the Prime Minister of Bhutan, he comes through as a person with a fine sense of humor, one who has an endearingly hesitant, modest way of connecting with his audience.

Seeing this TED presentation brought back memories of my own trips to Bhutan in in the late 1990s as a part of the JICA team for evaluating the Paro Valley Agriculture Development Project. Of the crisp, clean air, chunky furniture at Tashi Delek hotel, cheerful government officials in white woolen shawls, and of the surreal feel of a country where the citizens were told what to wear, how to build & decorate houses, and what to see on television.

Tobgay's eloquence on Gross National Happiness also made me wonder about the 100,000 ethnic Nepali's who had been expelled from Bhutan in the 1990s. That is one in every seven Bhutanese. Perhaps it is easier to find happiness after a successful round of ethnic cleansing... or perhaps such a move only rankles those who have lived most of their lives in multi-everything countries.

I am also curious to learn more about "Bhutan for Life" which is being described as 'an innovative funding initiative' for ensuring conservation of natural resources, in perpetuity. WWF-Bhutan provides a sketchy outline of the scheme and Tobgay's had claimed in his presentation that the fund - "multi-party single-closing deal"  - based on Wall Street practices, would be ready by the 'end of the year'.

Where can I find details of the this fund? Who are the donors involved here? What is their pound of flesh?

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REFERENCES and LINKS

* Tshering Tobgay, PM of Bhutan - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tshering_Tobgay
* TED Talk transcript - https://www.ted.com/talks/tshering_tobgay_this_country_isn_t_just_carbon_neutral_it_s_carbon_negative/transcript?language=en
* Dowling, Tim (2015): Unhappy? Welcome to Bhutan - the nation of 90% Joy -- http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/nov/04/unhappy-bhutan-joy-happiness-gdp
* Forbes () - Bhutan for Life - http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mjh45egflj/bhutan-for-life-a-conse/
* WWF Bhutan - http://www.wwfbhutan.org.bt/bhutan_for_life/