Bhutan—Religion

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Bhutan Summary

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Bhutan—Religion

Bhutan's identity is wrapped up in its religion. The country owes its indigenous name (Drukyul) to the Drukpa school of Tibetan Buddhism, which is the official religion of the state. The state founder, Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyel (1594–1651?), was a Buddhist monk of the Drukpa school, and today the king and head abbot of the Drukpa Kargyu sect are held in joint esteem at the peak of the national hierarchy. While the country's religion belongs firmly to the world of Tibetan Buddhism, and its texts are written in classical Tibetan (Chokey), Bhutan selected and developed its own strands of this overarching culture. Of the four main Tibetan sects, the Nyingma and Kargyu are present, with the Drukpa subsect of the Kargyus dominant.

Introduction of Buddhism to Bhutan

Bhutan's initial encounter with Buddhism occurred in the seventh century, when the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo (d. 649/50) built two of the earliest Tibetan Buddhist temples—Kichu in Paro and Jambay in Bumthang. His temple-building scheme was based on the geomantic (referring to magic based on geographic features) notion that the whole of Tibet was a female demon, which had to be pinned down by the construction of temples. Both temples continue to this day as active religious centers patronized by the royal family.

Bhutanese traditions commonly date the independent introduction of Tibetan Buddhism into Bhutan as a whole to the eighth century, and credit Padmasambhava, popularly called Guru Rimpoche ("Precious Teacher"), a largely mythical figure rumored to have lived from 800 BCE to c. 800 CE. The Nyingma tradition founded by him is characterized by a personal relationship between a guru and his disciples rather than by institutionalized monasticism. Legends of Guru Rimpoche's role as tamer of demons and bringer of culture are popular among other Himalayan Buddhist societies, where he is revered as the second Buddha.

Introduction of the Drukpa Subsect

The Drukpa subsect of the Kargyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism, introduced into Bhutan in the early thirteenth century by Phajo Drukgom Shigpo (1184–1251), came to be particularly identified with Bhutan. It emerged in the seventeenth century as Bhutan's religious-political core under its incarnate head Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyel (1594–1651?), who had sought refuge in Bhutan. The Drukpa theocracy gave the country its name, "Drukyul," and the inhabitants the name of "Drukpas." The predominance of the Drukpa tradition is shown in the invocation of the principal deities of the Drukpa pantheon, such as Palden Lhamo and Yeshey Gonpo, in annual monastic rituals in villages. However the Drukpa Kargyu tradition coexists amicably with the devotion to Guru Rimpoche. Although the state-supported monastic organization is mainly Drukpa Kargyu, some centers are dedicated to the Nyingma tradition. In Bhutan monks are commonly trained in Nyingma tradition to perform Drukpa rituals, and vice versa. Most household prayer-room altars have the statue of the Buddha in the middle flanked by those of Guru Rimpoche on the right and Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyel on the left.

Native Religious Practices

Positioned outside, but coexisting with, the Drukpa monastic tradition is the complex of local ritual specialists called nenjorms (female) or powas (male). This complex is centered on local deities and is oriented toward such material goals as healing and prosperity rather than the spiritual goals of Buddhism. It is an oral tradition, passed from pupil to teacher. A typical rite involves the chanting of verses to summon the practitioner's divinity. The divinity then takes possession of the nenjorm or powa. These rites are performed at household and village levels.

The landscape is full of religious sites—prayer flags flutter in the wind, prayer walls line the paths, temples appear on cliff faces, and water-turned prayer wheels and large and small chortens (structures representing the Buddha's enlightenment) are ubiquitous. Along with mountain hermitages and retreats (gonpas), there are legends of local saints, with rituals and observances associated with them.

Organization of the Official Church

The head of the Bhutanese official church is the head abbot, je khenpo. The national flag displays the yellow and orange colors representing monarchy and religion. The je khenpo is chosen for a three-year period, after which he retires into meditational retreat. Under him are four lopens, or teachers of the monastic body, which numbers about 1,200. The je khenpo has two monastic seats, Punakha in winter and the capital Thimphu in summer. The main monastic body moves annually with him. There are other government-supported monastic communities in the various dzongs, or fortified monasteries, and smaller communities of monks throughout the country with their own lamas and adherents supported by local patrons. Members of these communities outside the main monastic body number about 2,000.

Young Buddhist monks watch a dance performed in honor of the king's birthday in Thimphu, Bhutan. (ALISON WRIGHT/CORBIS)

Religious Practices Among the People

For the ordinary believer in Bhutan, religion begins with the domestic altar or home prayer room. The deities invoked by each household are ancestral. Ritual is overwhelmingly important, and monks are called from the nearest dzong to offer rice sculptures called tormas. The head practitioner sits in the prayer room to chant the ritual from texts, accompanied by subsidiary practitioners blowing flutes and beating drums facing the altar. Local practitioners, including lapsed monks and nonmonastic religious practitioners called gomchens, also provide these services in both towns and villages. In the east, gomchens lead ritual performances, scripture recitations, and village-level festivals.

Religious Personalities

Religious faith and identity hinge on the veneration of the powerful personalities who brought Buddhism to what was believed to be an untamed and demoninhabited area. Many of these were exiles from a foreign land, usually Tibet, who found both refuge and power in the "hidden land" of Bhutan.

Of these personalities Guru Rimpoche is the most important. He is believed to have come to Bhutan flying on a tiger and to have landed at the Tiger's Nest shrine in Paro valley. He also went to Bumthang, where he left his imprints on a rock, now the site of Kurje Temple. A popular legend recounts how he converted the Bumthang king by imparting his teachings through a Bhutanese consort. Each dzong celebrates an annual tsechu (festival) in his honor, where masked dancers represent the guru in his eight manifestations and his consorts.

Phajo Drukgom Shigpo is also venerated. Chronicles tell of his spreading the word according to prophecy, his battle with opposing sects, and his union with a local woman. The Bridge of Prophecy (Lungtenzampa) at the site where he first met her is still the principal bridge into the capital, Thimphu, in the area of his main foundations. His four sons became lineage leaders in various parts of Bhutan.

The most beloved saint and hero of Bhutan is Drukpa Kunley (1455–1529), the mad yogi. Also from Tibet, he found opportunities for his brand of crazy mysticism in Bhutan. His tantric sexual exploits are known to all, and places associated with him became pilgrimage sites. Pilgrims go to Chime Lhakhang at Lobesa to be tapped on the head with the saint's magic dorje (thunderbolt of wisdom), which guarantees fertility.

Bhutan is most proud of its native saint, Pema Lingpa (1450–1521). Belonging to the treasure-discoverer tradition of the Nyingma school, he found a series of texts and precious objects and revealed dances, still enacted in Bhutanese monasteries. The Burning Lake (Membartsho) where he discovered his most important treasure is a pilgrimage site, and his temple of Tamshing in Bumthang displays a suit of chain mail that he is said to have forged.

The Future

Religious practice has a continuing vitality in Bhutan today as it is wrapped up with feelings of both regional and national identity. People establish their local and family roots by honoring ancestral deities. The state and royal family support the religious work of monasteries, while the people participate fully in religious rites at festivals. Pilgrimages are a regular feature of life. Lay patrons still support monks, rituals, scripture recitations and the building of religious edifices. Initiations by revered gurus are well attended. In 2001, there were plans to set up a university for the study of Buddhism.