Cannabis, Pranksters and Tantric Buddhism

Himalayan Buddhism in Bhutan seems to have a pretty relaxed approach to life. At least it seems that way to me.  Everybody seems to be pretty "chill". Plus, the Bhutanese tend to be gentle souls (although they love playing a hyper form of darts and archery) , the are kind, smile and laugh alot, enjoy teasing and  joke with each other and seem to be scrupulously honest.  

What I find especially charming are the contradictions and how they manage them   For example, pot is illegal in the country yet cannabis grows alomg the roadside and I dont think it is used for rope. I asked our guide about it and in his inscruitable way said "yes, some people use it". 

Dogs are another interesting part of life here.  They are everywhere, houses, roads, monastaries, backs of trucks, along the river banks  and they frequently travel in family packs or solo.  There doesn't seem to be any efforts to curb their growth , as in sterliization, and they certainly wont kill them because it is against their religion. Oh, and because many Bhutanese throw their organic waste out, especially in the country, the dogs have plenty to eat.  So they complain, chase them, sort of kick at them, by times round them up and move them to another area but dogs being dogs I bet they return to their home territory.  The good thing is that most of the dogs are also pretty "chill". fYI. Today I did see some monks capture a dog and take it to the "magican" to be neutered and get a shot for rabies and mange.

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Over the past three weeks I have learned that Pranksters are an important part of Bhutanese culture and certainly part of their religious mythology,  most notably Lama Drukpa Kunley, more commonly known as The Devine Madman. He was a real person and teacher who traveled throughout Bhutan and Tibet doing outrageous acts , including bawdy humour, wine, women and song to illustrate his teachings (at least that is the story). We are told  that his special talent was to break through the formality of the religion which kept folks from understanding the true meaning of the Buddah.  As a result he  seems to have decided that obscene behaviour, sexual exploits, subduing demons (this is where the mythology comes into the story) and ...well one can only imagine....would help believers understand that clinging to the self was an obstacle to enlightenment.  Flying  peniuses are the symbol for him and are painted on houses, carved in wood , sit on counters in restaurants, are found hanging from houses and are made out of butter and used in religious festivals. 

Believe me it is a trip to be driving around the country and see a big hairy penius painted on the wall of a house. It certainly challenges the western aesthetic.  Moreover, women pray to the Devine Madman for fertility and take their newborns to the temple in Punaka built in his honour, Chimi Lhakhang,  to select a name for their newborn child. 

Because one is forbidden to take photos in a temple I dont have a photo of him (most of the figures in the temples are in the seated position, are huge, gold painted or at least gold coloured) but here is one of the Devine Madman, the person, not the diety, I found on the web.

There  are still adepts and followers of The Devine Madman's special kind of Tantric Buddhism in these parts.  In fact, we did see a Prankster Monk of sorts here at what is called The Burning Lake which is not actually a lake but a pool in a rushing river.  

This guy was a total prankster. Questionable if he is seriously a monk but he sure was entertaining. Visiting TIbetan Monks were just as entertained as we were. I just noticed that this prankster is wearing the same kind of earings as Lama Kunley, wonder if there is any significance....

As for why it is called Burning Lake, there is a complicated story about Pema Lingpa (the founder of one of the two branches of Tantric Buddhism in Bhutan) of how he jumped into the lake with a burning lamp to prove to disbelievers he was not a trickster.  Anyway, the site is now on the tourist trail as well as religious. Prayer flags, litter the site.

What is perhaps most interesting is the way Buddhism is integrated into the daily life here in Bhutan. Chortens (stupas) dot the landscape, as do prayer flags, shrines of one sort or another, government policy, monastaries, all promote Buddhist teachings. And, while the Bhutanese are gentle there are always  reminders of the violent wrathful side of life.  Demons are everywhere.  I figure they are reminders of the 5 hinderences to enlightenment - greed, envy, anger, desire and ignorance.  

And this a one of the wrathful demons. We saw him dance at the festival in Ura. 

Today is our  last full day in Bhutan. We saved the hike to The Tiger's Nest Monastary for the last day.  The hike was essentially a 2and 1/2 hour hour verticle hike up to the monastery with a rest stop anout half way up.  

The monastery is perced  on a cliff 900 verticle metres up from the Paro Valley.  It is stunning to look at and, more importantly, is one of the most revered sites in Bhutan and most Bhutanese make a pigrimage here at least once in their lives.  Milarepa was said to have meditated here and other holy men have meditated here, revealed treasures and teaching so it is a big deal for local people to make this treck as well as tourists.  

Imust confess that In general Tantric Buddhism is difficult to understand, at least for me.  I've given up trying to understand it because it is just too complicated. Unlike Zen Buddhism where one meditates to find compassion and inner peace (and possible enlightenment for the few) in Tantric Buddhism there are all these celestial beings, saints of one sort or another, deities and demons and there are apocraphyl  stories for each one. For example,  one of my favourities is that Guru Rimpoche, the monk who is known for bringing Buddhism to Bhutan, flew up to the Tigers Nest monastary on the back of a tigeress which was a manifestation of his consort to help subdue the local demoness. I looked around for a tiger to fly me up but no such luck.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the story goes that the monastery was held to the rock by the hair from the demoness, that is until they had a fire and the monastery almost burned to the ground. The current monastery (rebuilt in 2008) obviously has structural studs but the butter lamps,7 bowls of water, the statuary, the caretaking monks could be from the 16th centuary when it was originally built.  

So, this ends the Bhutan Journals.  This trip has been a challenge, delightful, full of unexpected surprises, boundary stretching and visually stunning.  Lots of botany, birds, Buddhism and butter here in the Alternate Universe.