I realize that we are, relatively speaking, still fairly young, with many adventures and experiences yet to come. But it is very hard to imagine another trip or adventure that will be better than our trip to Bhutan, or an experience that will be more powerful than hiking to Tiger's Monastery. I think we will be getting our passport pages framed. Bhutan was really just that incredible and amazing and stunning and, strictly speaking, awesome.
So, how do you write about that kind of experience? Slowly and patiently, I think, over a couple of posts. We'll start today with a bit of background on Bhutan, a country that we knew embarrassingly little about. But before that, and to set the stage, let's try this.
This photo, taken by our guide Sonam, is one of my favorites. It also explains quite nicely the greatness of all that we did and experienced in Bhutan. First, this is the morning after camping at Bumdra, a 4000 meter high day's trek into the Himalayan foothills. Um, yeah, so is there anything else to say about that? We hiked and camped in the Himalayas. Second, it's Andi. And me. Experiencing this all together. Third, we are hanging prayer flags that Sonam brought up the mountain for us. Sonam, the perfect guide and now friend, helping us to hang prayer flags, one of the most aesthetically and spiritually beautiful practices that humans have ever come up with; flags that are now praying with us and for us constantly and continually for compassion for the world, even when we forget to or don't have the strength to muster that kind of love. So that's it, right? Andi and I in the Himalayas, being invited in to share a life, a love, a culture, a tradition. An openness that opened us to a beauty that is hard to imagine even after experiencing it. And that was our experience of Bhutan.
So, back to the brief history.
There is archeological evidence of quite a long history of human settlement in the land that is now Bhutan. And although many speculate an impressive civilization thriving from 500BCE - 600CE, most of the historical record of early Bhutan was lost in a series of palace fires in the mid-1800's. What we do know of early Bhutan comes from the reports of outside, colonial interests and religious, especially Buddhist, hagiographies. Buddhism traveled from Tibet into Bhutan in mid-600CE and, as only Buddhism seems able to do, absorbed, adapted to and adopted the previously existing Bon traditions. Although there is a strong connection and many similarities, Bhutanese Buddhism retains a naturalism and animism and continues to practice a reverence for local deities that are not found in its sibling Tibetan Buddhism.
More important for Bhutan's sense of of self-identity was the arrival of Guru Rinpoche, also known as Padmasambhava. Born in Oddiyana in what is now Pakistan, many, including the Bhutanese, consider Guru Rinpoche to be the Second Buddha. The Precious Master traveled to Bhutan at the behest of a local Bhutanese ruler in 747 and upon his arrival subdued eight demons (in Bhutan, Buddhist saints rarely, if ever, destroy evil demons; rather, they subdue them, turning them under submission to work for good) and converted his host to Buddhism. After a brief sojourn in Tibet, Guru Rinpoche returned to Bhutan to meditate and spread Buddhism. All throughout his travels the Precious Master left marks of his presence - often hand or foot prints in the rocks near where he was meditating - as well as hiding a number of gifts that would be found when they were needed.
The Precious Master is the center of Bhutanese cultural identity in the same way that Shabdrung Rinpoche, also known as Ngawang Namgyal, is the center of Bhutanese national identity. Arriving from Tibet as a religious refugee, Shabdrung Rinpoche united a number of warring fiefdoms in 1616. Known from that moment on as The Unifier, Shabdrung Rinpoche went on to protect Bhutan's borders from Tibet, building a number of dzong throughout the nation, structures that are still in use as religious and administrative centers.
The current political situation can be traced back to 1907 when Bhutan, under the guidance of the British, established a hereditary monarchy with Ugyen Wnagchuck as king. Shortly after this Bhutan signed a treaty with Great Britain guaranteeing its internal sovereignty in exchange for allowing Britain to guide its foreign affairs. A similar treaty was singed with India in 1947, shortly after India's independence. In 2005 the fourth king of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in a rather surprising to most move, introduced a draft constitution proposing a number of democratic reforms. In order to make for a smoother transition, he then abdicated the throne in 2006. And in 2008, under the guidance of the fifth king, Kigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the new constitution was ratified and Bhutan was on the one way to becoming a constitutional monarchy, with a parliamentary democracy.
This rather late and deliberate introduction of democracy into Bhutan is quite representative of cultural and national development on the whole. Television and internet were not introduced into Bhutan until 1999! And it is only in the last few decades that tourism beyond its immediate borders has been encouraged or allowed. Often, this slow and deliberate development goes under the name of, or is guided by the measure of Gross National Happiness. In a very shallow and quickly dismissive sense, Gross National Happiness can seem rather hokey and non-modern. Take the time to get beyond one's own parochial instincts and this guiding measure becomes quite important, and maybe even necessary for any shared and sustainable future. Briefly, Gross National Happiness means that any development or political project in Bhutan must take into account three factors: economic, social, environmental. Economic development, in other words, is not enough. The state must be concerned with the common good in the broadest sense possible. For example, recognizing the dangers of rampant tourism, Bhutan has, while opening itself up, also instituted a $250/day tourist tariff with rather strict controls on tourists. It's largest economic producer, hydro-electric power exported to India, is also strongly regulated in terms of economic development, environmental impact, and social dislocation. Bhutan has also mandated that 2/3 of the country must remain forested. And from the brief anecdotal evidence that we have, it seems that this works. Although the economy is quite small, and most of the population still exists as subsistence farmers, Bhutan lacks the grinding poverty and environmental destruction that are so rampant in India, a country that has been quite energetic in its pursuit of neo-liberal development. (OK, yes, it is not fair to compare a country of 700,000 to India, but maybe that is actually a good place to begin.)
But this is not to say that everything in Bhutan is perfect. Unfortunately, Bhutan has also taken on that most quintessential practice of modern statehood: the creation of a stateless people. In Bhutan, this means Bhutanese of Nepali descent. In the 1990's this creation of the stateless was quite deliberate with strong evidence of severe human rights abuses in the southern part of the country eventuating in the forced relocation of thousands to refugee camps in Nepal. Today, this enforcement of a non-Nepali identity for Bhutan takes place through more cultural means, for example, by requiring that all Bhutanese citizens who visit a cultural or religious site wear traditional Bhutanese dress - gho for the men and kira for the women - dress that is only traditional for non-Nepali Bhutan. So for all its beauty, this remains a dangerous exception to the openess that we experienced.
So, back to the brief history.
There is archeological evidence of quite a long history of human settlement in the land that is now Bhutan. And although many speculate an impressive civilization thriving from 500BCE - 600CE, most of the historical record of early Bhutan was lost in a series of palace fires in the mid-1800's. What we do know of early Bhutan comes from the reports of outside, colonial interests and religious, especially Buddhist, hagiographies. Buddhism traveled from Tibet into Bhutan in mid-600CE and, as only Buddhism seems able to do, absorbed, adapted to and adopted the previously existing Bon traditions. Although there is a strong connection and many similarities, Bhutanese Buddhism retains a naturalism and animism and continues to practice a reverence for local deities that are not found in its sibling Tibetan Buddhism.
More important for Bhutan's sense of of self-identity was the arrival of Guru Rinpoche, also known as Padmasambhava. Born in Oddiyana in what is now Pakistan, many, including the Bhutanese, consider Guru Rinpoche to be the Second Buddha. The Precious Master traveled to Bhutan at the behest of a local Bhutanese ruler in 747 and upon his arrival subdued eight demons (in Bhutan, Buddhist saints rarely, if ever, destroy evil demons; rather, they subdue them, turning them under submission to work for good) and converted his host to Buddhism. After a brief sojourn in Tibet, Guru Rinpoche returned to Bhutan to meditate and spread Buddhism. All throughout his travels the Precious Master left marks of his presence - often hand or foot prints in the rocks near where he was meditating - as well as hiding a number of gifts that would be found when they were needed.
The Precious Master is the center of Bhutanese cultural identity in the same way that Shabdrung Rinpoche, also known as Ngawang Namgyal, is the center of Bhutanese national identity. Arriving from Tibet as a religious refugee, Shabdrung Rinpoche united a number of warring fiefdoms in 1616. Known from that moment on as The Unifier, Shabdrung Rinpoche went on to protect Bhutan's borders from Tibet, building a number of dzong throughout the nation, structures that are still in use as religious and administrative centers.
The current political situation can be traced back to 1907 when Bhutan, under the guidance of the British, established a hereditary monarchy with Ugyen Wnagchuck as king. Shortly after this Bhutan signed a treaty with Great Britain guaranteeing its internal sovereignty in exchange for allowing Britain to guide its foreign affairs. A similar treaty was singed with India in 1947, shortly after India's independence. In 2005 the fourth king of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, in a rather surprising to most move, introduced a draft constitution proposing a number of democratic reforms. In order to make for a smoother transition, he then abdicated the throne in 2006. And in 2008, under the guidance of the fifth king, Kigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the new constitution was ratified and Bhutan was on the one way to becoming a constitutional monarchy, with a parliamentary democracy.
This rather late and deliberate introduction of democracy into Bhutan is quite representative of cultural and national development on the whole. Television and internet were not introduced into Bhutan until 1999! And it is only in the last few decades that tourism beyond its immediate borders has been encouraged or allowed. Often, this slow and deliberate development goes under the name of, or is guided by the measure of Gross National Happiness. In a very shallow and quickly dismissive sense, Gross National Happiness can seem rather hokey and non-modern. Take the time to get beyond one's own parochial instincts and this guiding measure becomes quite important, and maybe even necessary for any shared and sustainable future. Briefly, Gross National Happiness means that any development or political project in Bhutan must take into account three factors: economic, social, environmental. Economic development, in other words, is not enough. The state must be concerned with the common good in the broadest sense possible. For example, recognizing the dangers of rampant tourism, Bhutan has, while opening itself up, also instituted a $250/day tourist tariff with rather strict controls on tourists. It's largest economic producer, hydro-electric power exported to India, is also strongly regulated in terms of economic development, environmental impact, and social dislocation. Bhutan has also mandated that 2/3 of the country must remain forested. And from the brief anecdotal evidence that we have, it seems that this works. Although the economy is quite small, and most of the population still exists as subsistence farmers, Bhutan lacks the grinding poverty and environmental destruction that are so rampant in India, a country that has been quite energetic in its pursuit of neo-liberal development. (OK, yes, it is not fair to compare a country of 700,000 to India, but maybe that is actually a good place to begin.)
But this is not to say that everything in Bhutan is perfect. Unfortunately, Bhutan has also taken on that most quintessential practice of modern statehood: the creation of a stateless people. In Bhutan, this means Bhutanese of Nepali descent. In the 1990's this creation of the stateless was quite deliberate with strong evidence of severe human rights abuses in the southern part of the country eventuating in the forced relocation of thousands to refugee camps in Nepal. Today, this enforcement of a non-Nepali identity for Bhutan takes place through more cultural means, for example, by requiring that all Bhutanese citizens who visit a cultural or religious site wear traditional Bhutanese dress - gho for the men and kira for the women - dress that is only traditional for non-Nepali Bhutan. So for all its beauty, this remains a dangerous exception to the openess that we experienced.
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