Bhutan maintains its culture of Vajrayana Buddhism and remains a place of pilgrimage

Mural of Thangthong Gyalpo inside the
bridge-house at Tachog Lhakhang

 

Thangtong Gyalpo is known as the ‘Tibetan Leonardo Da Vinci’. He is known as the creator of Tibetan opera and he used the money made from opera performances to finance bridge-building.

There is a sense of living history and living practice in Bhutan. Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin comments: ‘It was inspiring to be able to spend time in this wonderful environment.’

Bhutan is famous for having a $250/day ‘Tourist Tax’ aimed at enabling Bhutan to have an income from tourism whilst reducing the negative impact that tourism can have.

In fact the cost isn’t a Tax. it is simply a fixed payment which then pays for the entirety of your stay in Bhutan. This covers the cost of the hotel, food, guides, transport and visits to places of interest. Once you arrive in Bhutan there is little need to pay for anything at all and you may feel like royalty. In this way, Bhutan remains Bhutanese rather than trying to create a tourist attraction.

Aro gTér Lineage practitioners visit Bhutan because it maintains its culture of Vajrayana Buddhism and remains a place of pilgrimage for Vajrayana Buddhists.

Pilgrimage - Ngakma Nor'dzin & Ngakpa 'ö-Dzin

Boudhanath Chörten

In this video from February 2010 Ngakma Nor’dzin and Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin discuss the benefits of pilgrimage.

Transcript

Ngakma Nor’dzin: One of the reasons that we go to Nepal on pilgrimage is to meet Ngak’chang Rinpoche’s teacher, who is called Kyabje Künzang Dorje Rinpoche – and his wife Jomo Samphel. Künzang Dorje Rinpoche is now quite elderly—I believe he’s in his eighties—and getting quite frail. For a long period of time, Ngak’chang Rinpoche wasn’t able to be in touch with him, but in recent years they re-established their relationship and it’s just wonderful to see them together and experience the affection that exists between them – the great regard they have for each other. So that’s one of the primary reasons that we go Bodha in Kathmandu, in particular, on pilgrimage.

Ngakpa ’ö-Dzin: It’s also helpful to go anywhere where practice is part of life. For an apprentice, and for somebody who is about to be ordained or considering ordination, or for somebody who already is ordained, it is valuable to be part of the environment where you find that people are practising – ordinary people walking along the street. They have their tengar in their hand or they’re practising khora around the Chörten, and turning the prayer wheels there. It shows that practice part of everyday life. This is different to what we normally experience – and yet for a practitioner of Vajrayana actually part of what we enact within our lives, albeit not in such an overt way. There’s a display of practice and it’s helpful for practitioners in the West to see that in action.