Category: Bhutan

Bhutan is an exotic and strange destination. But of all of its unique characteristics, none seems more peculiar to us than the history and legends of the great religious teacher and holyman, Lama Drukpa Kunley, known throughout Bhutan as “The Divine Madman.”

Drukpa Kunley was born in Tibet in the year of the wood-pig in the eighth cycle—or, as we would call it, 1455.

As a child he was extremely precocious and had full memory of his previous incarnations. After his father was killed in a family feud, he became disillusioned with the world and dedicated himself to a religious life, eventually becoming a monk. In his early twenties, he gave up his robes and became a mendicant, wandering throughout the country and gaining mastery of the spiritual arts and magic.

As he traveled through Tibet and into Bhutan, he purposely spurned accepted ways of behavior as a method of calling attention to the hypocrisy, selfishness and greed of the world and thus lead people to adopt honest and spiritual lives. His unorthodox methods of religious teaching seem most peculiar from our frame of reference because they were based on a very ribald and debauched life style. The great lama spent much of his time singing and drinking with young ladies and deflowering virgins.

Reading the legends of Lama Drukpa Kunley is like reading Rabelais—both relying on the idea of divine excess. When he is not drinking chung (a sort of Tibetan beer) or making love to a maiden he is using his “Flaming Thunderbolt of Wisdom” to strike down evil demons. He is totally irreverent and ridicules the establishment, especially corrupt and self seeking priests. He performs magical feats—what the Judeo-Christian culture calls “miracles”—blessing or damning families, based on their moral treatment of others, turning tiny quantities of tea into amounts sufficient to quench the thirst of thousands, exorcising evil spirits, reforming demons, and instantaneously transporting himself to far off locations. In some of the stories he slaughters animals for their meat then, from their bones, restores them to life and sends them on their way.

He is adored by the Bhutanese who, despite being a very conservative society who never show affection in public, protect their homes from evil spirits and promote fertility by painting cartoon images of flying phalluses on the outside walls of their houses.

Near the town of Punakha, Drukpa Kunley founded a monastery dedicated to fertility. Each year hundreds of people come from all over Bhutan to pray for children. In the temple they are blessed by a monk holding a symbolic phallus.

Tucked away in the green valleys of the Himalayas, Bhutan is indeed an exotic country, so different from ours, yet the Bhutanese people make us feel welcome and invite us to try and understand their ancient and tranquil ways. The more we see of their country the more we want to return.

Soaring through the sky, on possibly the world’s most spectacular flight, the snow-covered peaks of the Himalayas come into view. On our left is Everest, the “top of the world,” accompanied by a vast panorama of the Earth’s highest mountains. We are headed for Paro, the only international airport in the Kingdom of Bhutan, aboard Druk Air, the Royal Bhutanese Airline. The word Druk means “Dragon,” and our flying dragon is the only airline allowed to enter the country.

As we approach Paro, our plane drops steeply down and enters a deep valley, weaving its way between the mountains in a breathtaking and slightly scary descent to a smooth landing at the little airport, originally built by the British military. And then we are there, walking across the concrete to the small terminal building and our first visit to the “Shangri-La” country of Bhutan.

Druk Air was established by Royal Proclamation in 1981 and began operations in 1983 when its first plane, an 18-seat German Dornier 228-220, landed at Paro carrying the Royal Flag of the Kingdom. The airline, whose fleet now consists of four aircraft, two British Aerospace 70 passenger BAe146-100’s and two new 124 passenger Airbus A319’s, is the smallest national carrier in the world.

All takeoffs and landings at Paro are by Visual Flight Rules (VFR). This means that the pilot must be able to see the runway and all of the surrounding hills. He cannot land or take off using instruments. No flights operate at night or in poor visibility. Flights can sometimes be delayed up to a day or two due to inclement weather. The airline operates from Paro to six cities: Bangkok and Calcutta, four times a week, Katmandu and New Delhi, twice a week, and Dhaka and Yangon, once a week. Flights from Bangkok make a stop to take on extra fuel in case they cannot land at Paro and have to return. Druk Air’s safety record is perfect—they have been flying for twenty-three years and never had an accident!

After going through immigration, (they have a photo on file of everyone scheduled to enter their country), and meeting our tour guide, we look back and see the airport staff closing the airport—after all, on most days there is only one flight in and one flight out of the country.

We invite you to join us on a California Native tour to Bhutan, this amazing little country at the roof of the world.

Seated astride a flying tiger, Guru Rimpoche entered Bhutan in the year 747 AD, to conquer demons and introduce Buddhism in this isolated area of the Himalayas. In this far off kingdom, mythology and history intermingle and ghosts, yetis, and demons are part of daily life.

The name Bhutan is probably derived from the Sanskrit word Bhotant meaning “the end of Tibet” or Bhu-uttan meaning “high land.” The Bhutanese, however, refer to their country as Druk Yal, “Land of the Thunder Dragon,” and the Bhutanese flag, with its rampaging dragon, proudly reflects that.

Bhutan is nestled in the Himalayas between China and India. On its southwestern border is the Indian state of Sikkim. To its north is Tibet. Almost the entire country is mountainous. The southernmost part begins in the humid jungles of India’s Assam Plain, but soon climbs high into the Himalayas.

There is only one airport in the country and that is in Paro, a deep valley at 7,300 feet elevation, surrounded by 16,000 foot mountains. Only one airline flies into Paro, Druk Air, the Royal Bhutanese Airline. The flight to Paro is one of the most spectacular in the world. Flying over the Himalayas, the plane descends steeply between snow capped peaks flying through the narrow valley to land at the tiny airport.

Bhutan’s capital is Thimphu (pronounced “Tim – Pu”), a thriving metropolis of around 40,000. The population of the entire country is only 750,000.

The country is a monarchy, ruled by His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, 31 years old, making him the world‘s youngest monarch.

Being a tiny country sandwiched between two of the largest countries in the world, Bhutan makes it a top priority to maintain its traditional culture. For all business, official, and religious occasions people dress in the traditional costume, men wearing the gho, a long attractive robe made out of wool or silk and tied about the waist, and women wearing the kira, an ankle length dress made from fine woven fabrics with traditional patterns. School children all wear their school uniform ghos and kiras. The schools, incidentally, are required to teach their students in English as well as the official language which is Dzongkha.

Houses and other buildings in Bhutan are built in the traditional style, as dictated by religion and law. The houses are generally two stories, constructed of wood and mud and elaborately decorated with carvings and paintings of Buddhist symbols. The roofs are made with wood shingles held in place by stones. On the top of every house is a colorful prayer flag.

The major towns are dominated by the dzong, a huge white fort which serves as a combination government headquarters and monastery. The system of dzongs began in the twelfth century and the newest dzong was constructed in 1998. There have been many fires in the dzongs over the years due to the hundreds of burning yak butter lamps.

According to the Buddhist religion, when a person dies he is reincarnated. When a great lama dies his reincarnation is identified and the child is taken and educated so that he may continue the good work of his previous incarnations. Lamas may marry, but only in every other lifetime.

On a recent trek in this beautiful country, I was accompanied by a Bhutanese guide, a Tibetan cook, two village lady “wranglers,” and four horses. As we headed up into the mountains, the clean air and pine forests reminded me of California’s Sierra Nevada. Unlike other Himalayan countries, Bhutan’s mountains have not been deforested. Soon, the sight of shaggy yaks grazing in the high meadows, the colorful prayer flags blowing in the wind at the top of each mountain pass, and the red-cloaked monks wandering the dirt paths, reminded me that I had come a long way from California—perhaps I had found the real “Shangri La.”