Great beings have taken human birth on earth and benefited sentient beings through various sublime spiritual deeds. One of the deeds was blessing places to bring auspiciousness and bless the beings who visit them in the future. Regarding Buddhist history, around two thousand five hundred years ago, the Buddha became enlightened in Bodhgaya, India. Since then Bodhgaya has become the central capital for Buddhists because Buddhism originated and flourished from there. Twelve years after the Buddha attained parinirvana, the ‘second Buddha’, Guru Padmasambhava, took miraculous birth from a lotus in a lake in Oddiyana. He travelled in various parts of India and Himalayan countries for the sake of beings and the buddhadharma, and blessed those places. One of those countries is Bhutan, know to the Bhutanese as Druk, the land of the thunder dragon. It is a Buddhist country and Buddhism arrived there far before its inception as a united nation. After Guru Padmasambhava, many realized masters visited and blessed various parts of the land at different times.
Bhutan is located in the region of the Himalaya mountains, sandwiched between two great countries, Tibet to the north and India to the south. Even early on, Bhutan with its high mountain terrain covered with thick vegetation favoured it to remain hidden for centuries. Therefore, it is known to the Tibetans as monyul, the land of darkness. It was during the reign of Songtsen Gampo (604–650), the great king of Tibet, that the land was blessed by building two historical temples, Jampai Lhakhang in Bumthang and Kyerchu Lhakhang in Paro. It is said that they were among one hundred and eight temples that the king miraculously constructed in a day for the welfare of beings. These two were the first temples in the land that would become Bhutan and they are considered to be the first significant touch of the rays of Buddhism upon it.
In the eighth century, Guru Padmasambhava came to the central part of the land in response to an invitation by a local king, Sindharaja, for the king was ill and could only be cured by an extraordinary master. Padmasambhava not only cured the king but subdued the local deity who had affected the king, Shelging Karpo, and bound him under oath to protect the buddhadharma. It was during that time that Padmasambhava left a body impression in the cliff side cave where he had meditated for three days. The place is now known as Kurjey (Body Print) and is located in Bumthang. Then King Sindharaja and his people all became followers of Padmasambhava, who taught them the Dharma and blessed the place far and wide.
Guru Padmasambhava’s second visit to the land from Tibet was to Singye Dzong, in Lhuntsi. From there he dramatically arrived in the upper part of Paro in the wrathful form of Dorje Drolo, riding on a tigress. He meditated high up a cliff for three months in a cave of the local diety Singye Samdrub, who he subdued and bound under oath to preserve the Dharma. The place is popularly known as Taktsang (Tiger’s Nest). Today there stands a wonderfully built temple on that cliff where the cave was located. There are many pilgrimage sites around the place, such as Bumdra, Chimphu, Ugyen Tsemo and Pelphug, to name a few, which amazingly hold the sacredness of spirituality. Boe Langdra in Wangdi Phodrang and Aja Ney in Monger district are also auspiciously blessed sacred sites where Padmasambhava meditated. He hid many treasure teachings there and in various other parts of the land. In this way, he blessed the entire land of Bhutan as a tantric land.
Gradually, many tertons (treasure discoverers) from Tibet came to the land and revealed numerous treasures of tantric scriptures and precious objects at different times according to prophesies made by Guru Padmasambhava himself. Some tertons came to spread the teachings they discovered in Tibet, like Ratna Lingpa, who built temples in upper Lhuntsi in the eastern part of the land. Likewise, Sherab Mebar, Dorje Lingpa, and so on, had an utmost spiritual influence on the land. Another was Terton Pema Lingpa, who was born in Tang, Bumthang, and he is considered to be one of the greatest historical figures in the history of Bhutan. This terton discovered his first treasure through the miraculous performance of plunging into a river pool holding a lit burning lamp in his hand and then returning with the treasure and the lamp still burning. This took place in the presence of a large crowd. The name Mebartso (Lake of the Burning Lamp) came to exist through this account. He was then revered by many from far across the land.
Seeing the significance of its sacredness, many other Tibetan masters and scholars came to Bhutan to cause the Tibetan buddhadharma to flourish, some even urged by their own meditational deities to do so. A highly realized Nyingma master, the omniscient Longchen Rubjam, resided in Bumthang and founded the retreat centre of Tharpaling, which can still be seen on the northern hill of Chumay. He mentioned in his texts that he had many auspicious visions of the land. A monk from the Drukpa Kagyu school, who later became the realized wanderer Drukpa Kunley (popularly known as ‘the divine madman’), subdued many evil spirits and benefited many beings of the land through teaching and bestowing blessings. Before that, a thirteenth-century master, Phajo Drukgom Zhigpo, travelled in the land and helped the Kagyu tradition to flourish.
In the seventeenth century Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel, a renowned Drukpa Kagyu master and a reincarnation of the omniscient Pema Karpo, arrived in the land and gradually brought the whole country under his spiritual guidance. Zhabdrung built many dzongs (lit. “fortress”), the first of which was Semtokha Dzong situated in Thimphu. The dzongs were built for distinct purposes, such as residences of the monastic community, and for political administrative purposes as well. He introduced the first Buddhist institution in Chari, where he later attained parinirvana. He also introduced most of the existing customs and traditions of Bhutan in both the monastic and political spheres.
Apart from these dzongs and the aforementioned sacred sites, there are many other such significant sites in different corners of the country, located on many mountains, cliffs and valleys. For instance, in the Thimphu district alone there are more than twenty such sites founded by realized masters where there is at least one temple built. In fact, it is said that Guru Padmasambhava blessed every part of the land without leaving aside even the space of a horse’s hoof print. Today, the land is referred to by many as the ‘Shangrila of the modern world’.
By Sangye Choden
9th Year, NNNI
