If you had only one place to visit in Bhutan, this would be the one.

A shrine on the way

About 20 minutes of uphill track after the first pit stop, we came across this shrine. The path, as you can see, took a sharp turn and I was beginning to wonder where it was going. There is a natural water stream at this point and the water tastes something very different. I drank the water, bowed before the deity here and started walking on the blind turn…

Taktsang Lakhang

….woohhww.. there it was! The Tigers Lair, right in front, slightly below where I was! It appears suddenly before you and I stood there, stupefied, admiring its beauty.

From this point, the actual approach to the monastery is a treacherous walk that could take 20-45 minutes depending on how scared you are of heights. The narrow path kisses the mountain’s rock face as it turns sharp left, dipping slightly from the point where I am standing, to sharp right, finally climbing towards the monastery. All through the path, you can see the monastery – its right there in front of you, you feel like touching it, but you can’t! Not before you complete what a local called, “the final task”.

Tiger’s nest monastery, isn’t it beautiful?

One needs a special ‘Monastery’ permit from the Ministry of Culture to visit this temple. You’ll have to deposit absolutely everything at the front gate. We reached the monastery 45 minutes before it closed and the monks had locked several rooms already, but he was kind enough to open the doors for us. The Guru Lhakhang has a central image which is one of the manifestations of Guru Rinpoche, the guru who brought Buddhism to Tibet and Bhutan. A level below is the Dubkhang cave, where the guru Rinpoche meditated. Several murals decorate the walls.

Views from the monastery, as you would expect, are spectacular. The air is filled with soft chanting of mantras and the mild smell of incense. It is very likely that you’ll stand there looking at the valley, doing nothing for a bit, and the next thing you know is the monk tapping on your shoulder saying that its been 10 minutes.

I like the musical aspect of chanting mantras in Hindu / Buddhist traditions. Usually a male guru’s voice acts as the drone, with his voice fixed at lower octave, while his disciples sing an octave higher, creating a very fulfilling feeling.

Taksang Lakhang

I really wanted to stay here forever, or for a long time atleast. Unfortunately it was close to sunset, and since we were on our own, it was imperative to return before dark. The ascent can get very confusing at night.

They say that one must visit the Taktsang Lhakhang atleast once in their lives. It’s the holiest of the holy places in Bhutan. I’m glad, fortunate, lucky, blessed, etc. for having visited this temple.

Praying before the mighty Gurus

That ended my travel of Bhutan, what a fantastic way to end this magical tour! I exit the country in my next, concluding post. (I know I have to start writing about Russia soon!)

Related posts

• Wangdue dzong (21)
• The Divine Madman (27)
• Spinning some prayer wheels (23)
• Religion in Bhutan and some temples around Paro (6)
• Punakha Dzong (27)

¶ Blogged by Priyank Thatte | Tags: Bhutan, Buddhist

Surrender yourself to the power of the mighty Guru.

The hike to the monastery begins. The board says: “Walk to the Guru’s glory! Take back memories of a kingdom, for here in this kingdom rules an unparalleled benevolent King “

Machu Picchu, Taj Mahal, Red Square and Dome of the Rock. These are the top icons that define Peru, India, Russia and Israel respectively. Taktsang Lhakhang or the Tiger’s Nest Monastery would be such icon of Bhutan. This monastery was among the last places I saw im my trip to Bhutan, and rightly so. By now I had (and you have) seen the Bhutan story build bit by bit and it was about time to climax.

Prayer wheel at the first pit stop. Enlarge the picture to see the temple on the cliff behind.

Perched miraculously on the side of a sheer cliff 900m above the base of Paro valley, the only sounds you can hear at the Taktshang Lhakhang are the murmurs of the wind and water and the chanting of mantras. The name ‘Taktshang’ means ‘Tiger’s nest’ and it is believed that Guru Rinpoche, the Guru from India who preached Buddhism to Tibet and Bhutan, flew to this site on the back of a tigress to subdue the local demon and meditate in the cave. Takshang Lhakhang is a holy place and Buddhist pilgrims from all over Bhutan visit here.

Prayer wheel viewed from the first pit stop

The only way to reach up to the Tiger’s Nest is to walk, or fly on the back of a magic tiger. I picked the former since I don’t know how to ride a flying tiger and I might have missed taking pictures. Ask any taxi driver in Paro to drop you off at the junction from where the road to Taktsang Lakhang begins (8km, Rs. 15). The actual hike starts about 3 kilometers from the point you were dropped off (elevation: 2,600m).

Admist rows of prayer flags

The hike is 2 hour long and offers spectacular views. In the first part, the trail climbs through blue pines, then switchbacks steeply up the ridge and suddenly the valley opens up. After climbing further for an hour, the small white chhorten with prayer flags comes into view. There is a convenient tea house located near the chorten where we took our first pit stop (elevation: 2940m). The tea house is expensive (its the ‘tourist’ thing): a bottle of water is priced five times here (Rs. 50) so choose between carrying lots of water or spending money here. You can see Takshang Lhakhang right across the cafeteria and we enjoyed the impressive view while having brunch and chatting with other visitors.

Admist rows of prayer flags

Many visitors opt to hike only upto this point and have a darshan of the temple from here. Darshan is a Sanskrit word that cannot be translated, but it means something like ’sight of the holy or the divine.’

Taktsang Lhakhang.. seen right in front in the middle of the cliff.

That’s where I’ll be in the next post.

Related posts

• Wangdue dzong (21)
• The Divine Madman (27)
• Taktsang Lhakhang: The Tiger’s Nest Monastery (23)
• Spinning some prayer wheels (23)
• Religion in Bhutan and some temples around Paro (6)

¶ Blogged by Priyank Thatte | Tags: Bhutan, Buddhist

There is lots to see in the upper Paro valley and little Lhakhangs² and Gompas³ dot the hills along the entire valley. Look anywhere you want and you’ll see a tiny temple somewhere on the mountain. We visited a couple of such temples.

There are temples on hills all around Paro

Several of these temples house monks who stay inside praying and meditating for months and years, only coming down to the town for supplies once a while. When I told my Nepali hotel manager that we were going to explore these mountains, he explicitly asked us not to knock on the door and disturb the monks unless it was absolutely necessary. Eventually we were too tired to hike that far, and I was kinda bored seeing so many Buddhist temples! (Few weeks before Bhutan I was in Russia and after some days I refused to see any more orthodox churches.)

Kyichu Lhakhang, one of the oldest monasteries in Bhutan

Kyichu Lhakhang

Kyichu Lakhang is a short drive (Rs 10 – $0.25 by shared taxi) from Paro town and is supposedly Bhutan’s oldest and most beautiful temples. It was believed to be built in 659 CE by a Tibetan religious leader to ‘pin down the left foot of an giant ogress (female man-eating giant) who was thwarting the establishment of Buddhism into Tibet’. The religious leader embarked upon an ambitious project to build 108 temples in a single day and Kyichu Lakhang is one of them. Few others remain today. Very interesting!

Flag poles and courtyard of Kyichu Lhakhang

Finding Kyichu Lhakhang is not easy since nobody seems to know about it (very strange) and I found it only in my Lonely Planet guidebook. Its a short walk off the main road from Paro heading north-west.

The driver of my shared taxi asked me if I was a “foreigner” and I told him that I was indeed from India. But India is not considered as a ‘foreign country’ in Bhutan. So I told him that I lived in Canada. He asked me if I had any foreign currency. I gave him a couple of coins and also told him about our beloved maple leaf symbol on the coins. I think he was extremely delighted since encounter with ‘foreigners’ is very rare in Bhutan. (They usually travel in escorted groups.)

Entrance to main temple at Kyichu Lhakhang

At the end of the road heading north-west of Paro lie the Drukgyel Dzong ruins. It was built in 1649 at a location strategic to the trade route to Tibet. Unfortunately we did not visit this place since I kept postponing visit to this place until the last day and on the last day it rained. Lets see which one among you (reader) visits the place! hehehe!

Dumtse Lhakhang

This temple is shaped like a chorten⁴ but is actually a lhakhang² built in 1433 by the iron-bridge builder Thangtong Gyalpo. It has 3 floors representing hell, earth and heaven. One needs a special permit to visit this Lhakhang but we could not go inside since the doors were closed.

Dumtse Lhakhang behind a hay stack

Religions in Bhutan

Buddhism is deeply rooted in the landscape and culture of Bhutan – there are prayer flags, shrines and images of Buddha and other gods carved into rocks wherever possible. To understand Bhutan, I think it is very important to know the basics of Buddhism and the values it stands for. Your visit to a monastery will be more fruitful that way.

Bhutan treats all religions equally and offers religious freedom to all. Hinduism (~25%) is the second largest religion and is practised mostly by descendants of Nepali migrants. Proselytization is not permitted in Bhutan yet there is a small number of Christian converts. Across the border in India, there is an active conversion campaign by Christian missionaries and a simple google search will reveal a number of websites dedicated to ’saving Buddhist and Hindu souls’ in the region. The India-Bhutan border is open.

Buddhism was introduced in Bhutan in the seventh’s century. Bon was the belief system in Bhutan and Tibet prior to that and was absorbed into Buddhism, in a peculiar characteristic of the Eastern religions. Guru Rinpoche or Padmasambhava, and Indian saint, was invited to Bhutan and after subduing several demons and converting the king, he proceeded to Tibet. Guru Rinpoche is considered to be the patron saint and is very respected in the country.

Bhutanese Buddhsim (Mahayana Buddhism) is different from Tibetan Buddhism but the exact differences are still unclear to me. The Bhutanese do not consider The Dalai Lama as their spiritual and religious leader, they have their own The Je Khenpo (and I was blessed by his holiness!). These differences were indeed the reasons for several invasions from Tibet.

Footnotes: (I think I will make a post about this)
1 Dzong: Fort Monastery
2 Lhakhang: A temple
3 Gompa/Goemba: A place of learning, lineage and meditation.
4 Chorten/Stupa: A small stone monument often containing relics. A stupa is usually hemispherical.

Related posts

• Wangdue dzong (21)
• The Divine Madman (27)
• Taktsang Lhakhang: The Tiger’s Nest Monastery (23)
• Spinning some prayer wheels (23)
• Punakha Dzong (27)

¶ Blogged by Priyank Thatte | Tags: Bhutan, Buddhist

Paro Chhu (river) and Dzong. The little building on top right is the National Museum.

Paro Dzong also called Rinchen Pung (Rinpung) Dzong and it means ‘a fortress on a heap of jewels’. The monastery looks very impressive and its massive buttressed walls tower over the town and the valley.

Paro Dzong and the wooden Nyamai Zam bridge

We take things around us for granted! The Paro river flows silently along the Dzong and offers a scenic view of the monastery. The traditional wooden bridge built over the river is called Nyamai Zam. The bridge is used as an access to the east side of the river and local residents use it daily to cross to the other side. I met a guy while taking pictures of the bridge. He said (paraphrased) “everyone who visits the temple spends time on the bridge taking photographs, but this is so regular to me that I don’t even see it!” Indeed, in my 25 years in Mumbai, I visited the Gateway of India twice and in my 2.5 years in Toronto I visited the CN tower umm.. zero times!

Paro Dzong and valley from a a hilltop

History: Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, the unifier of Bhutan as a nation state ordered the construction of this dzong in 1644 CE. He is the same person who initiated construction of the Wangdue dzong too. The fort was used as a defense station and protected the town during several aggressions from Tibet.

Paro Dzong and valley from a a hilltop at night

Paro was our hub for next few days and we took trips to Cheli La and Tiger’s nest Monastery. So I visited the dzong on the first day, second day, third day… you get the idea. That explains all these pictures.

Paro Dzong, very majestic

Related posts

• Wangdue dzong (21)
• The Divine Madman (27)
• Taktsang Lhakhang: The Tiger’s Nest Monastery (23)
• Spinning some prayer wheels (23)
• Religion in Bhutan and some temples around Paro (6)

¶ Blogged by Priyank Thatte | Tags: Bhutan, Buddhist

The spectacular Wangdue monastery

Soon after taking a taxi from Metshina and cruising along the river Punak Tsang, the dramatic Wangdue Phodrang Monastery came into view, draped along the end of a ridge above the river. A police and immigration check-post scanned our Special Areas Permit and let us cross the river and ascend to the little town of Wangdue (pronounced as Wangdi – वांग्डी). Just like Punakha-Khuruthang, they are building a ‘new Wangdue’ town, complete with impersonal grid like structure on an arid plateau next to the river. In our taxi was a little boy suffering from acute food poisoning and the taxi dropped him to a government hospital in the new town.

Perched on the hilltop commanding a view of the valley, the scenic Wangdue monastery

The monastery was founded in 1638 and sits atop a high ridge between the Punak Tsang Chhu and the Dang Chhu (chhu=river). The site offers a commanding view of the flat region below. Wangdi was the secondary capital of Bhutan centuries ago. The dzong’s position gave it a control of the routes between western and eastern Bhutan.

The monastery courtyard

The dzong has a complex shape and follows 3 separate narrow structures that follow the contours of the hill. It looks very interesting and intriguing especially because lot of the monastery is still unrestored after a fire and earthquake.

A very tall prayer pole (darchen) and a flag staff at the entrance tower.

There is only one entrance marked by the tall darchen (prayer pole) as seen in the picture and a large prayer wheel. Cacti were planted on the hill slopes to discourage invaders from climbing the slopes. There are two docheys (courtyards) and one utse (tower). Walking along the walls and peering through arrow slits into the valley is definitely recommended.

The administrative courtyard. A teacher gave us chewing gum and said that he was sorry to hear about Mumbai attacks

Factual information: Wangdue Phodrang dzong is located about 21 km from Punakha or 75 km from Thimphu. There are buses from Thimphu at 8:00 and 14:00, but shared taxis run all day. I took the Thimphu-Punakha-Wangdue-Thimphu route and it was very good. There is no particular reason to stay here overnight unless you are visiting the autumn Tsechu festival. There are couple of local eating places around the bus stand serving thupka, momo and also north Indian fare like aaloo paratha and daal.

The main temple and assembly hall. See the students inside

The main temple features depictions of past, present and future Buddhas. There were several students studying there and their chanting reverberating in the large assembly hall felt very exotic.

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• The Divine Madman (27)
• Taktsang Lhakhang: The Tiger’s Nest Monastery (23)
• Spinning some prayer wheels (23)
• Religion in Bhutan and some temples around Paro (6)
• Punakha Dzong (27)

¶ Blogged by Priyank Thatte | Tags: Bhutan, Buddhist

I manage to get blessings from Je Khenpo, the highest religious leader of Bhutan

Villagers queuing up waiting for the arrival of their religious leader

So my buddy and I boarded a bus from Khuruthang, Punakha at 8 am and reached an intermediate village Metshina in 30 minutes. The little village is settled around a T-junction with the roads going to Thimphu, Punakha and Wangdue. We got off the bus at this village because it was going to Thimphu and we wanted to go to Wangdue. As we approached the village, we saw people standing in queues along the road. Long queues – maybe a half a kilometer or so.

The previous night, someone at Punakha monastery told us about the visit of high priest, so we guessed this is where he was going to stop. Indeed, the restaurant owner served us breakfast and said that they wont serve anything for next 30 minutes or until they saw His Holiness.

I interrupted my breakfast when I heard some noises outside. People were excited, there was music and hustle on the street as the high monk’s religious entourage arrived. I stood there dumbfounded like a tourist with his camera. Someone nudged me gently and asked me to get in the line. So there was I, dressed in western clothes, among the Bhutanese dressed in their national costume on the way to see the highest religious leader.

I saw the Je Khenpa little distance away, and somehow I had goosebumps out of curiosity and excitement.

Breakfast – yeah I hadn’t slept much last night remember?

The Je Khempo, formerly called the Dharma Raj by orientalists, is the title given to the senior religious hierarch of Bhutan. His primary duty is to lead the Central Monk Body, the main monastic body of the country, and to arbitrate on matters of doctrine. The Je Khenpo is also responsible for many important liturgical and religious duties across the country. The position remains a powerful one and the Je Khenpo is typically viewed as the closest and most powerful advisor to the King of Bhutan.

The position of Je Khenpo is granted on merit, and typically is given to the most respected monk in the body. Thus, unlike reincarnation lineages such as the Dalai Lama, Shabdrung, or Panchen Lama, the position of Je Khenpo is never held by a child but always by a seasoned monk. The 70th and present Je Khenpo is Trulku Jigme Chhoeda. (Adapted from Wikipedia)

Purification

The red thread: Some monks were distributing holy threads to the villagers who were standing in the queue. I got a red thread and I asked someone to tie it around my neck just the way everyone else was doing it. It was kinda interesting and the knot was left on the front of your neck (usually we tie a knot behind our neck) so the two ends of the thread hung over your chest. I liked it so much that I still wear the thread! (its been over 5 months now!). I have now sown a golden ‘Aum’ in it, so its kinda cool. If you have seen me recently, you’ll recognize this thread, hehe!

Soon it was my turn to greet the head monk. I bowed with folded hands, he touched my head with an holy object, chanted something and out I emerged.

I’m purified of all my sins and bad karma now. I can refill the pot again…

His Holiness Je Khenpo blessing devotees. I just finished my turn!

So that was an exciting unexpected hour at Metsina, a place where we did not plan to stop. Later, a shared taxi took us to Wangdi, the most scenically located monastery I saw. But that will be another post!

Related posts

• Wangdue dzong (21)
• The Divine Madman (27)
• Taktsang Lhakhang: The Tiger’s Nest Monastery (23)
• Spinning some prayer wheels (23)
• Religion in Bhutan and some temples around Paro (6)

¶ Blogged by Priyank Thatte | Tags: Bhutan, Buddhist