Chartered flight – Tandin’s first flight. Tandin is the only female in the troup of 12 who are helping with driving, luggage, etc. We had been using the king’s fleet of very nice SUV’s for just the return from Tiger’s Nest and then to the airport because our guys had driven 10 hours yesterday to get to GMC to meet us. We took as much 45 minute chartered flight and it was the first time that Tandin had flown. I had talked to her the day before and she was asking about flying. She was nervous and excited. Her mom was even more excited for her, since she too had never flown.
I asked Tandin about the guardian deities that Dorji had said everyone has. I had wondered how they get them. Chosen? Given? She said the she was from Temphu and when she was born, she was taken to the Changangkha Lhakhang Temple, located on a ridge overlooking Thimphu. It is famously revered as the “Monastery of Children”. Local parents traditionally bring newborn babies born in the Thimphu valley here to receive their auspicious first names and spiritual protection and blessings. The protective deity enshrined at Changangkha Lhakhang is Tamdrin (also spelled and pronounced locally as Tandin), which is the wrathful manifestation of Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara), the Bodhisattva of Compassion. When parents bring a baby girl or boy to the temple, the resident astrologer or lama selects a name. In Bhutanese tradition, children are often named after the specific protective deity of the temple where they are blessed. Because many Bhutanese names are unisex, both girls and boys blessed at this temple are frequently given the name Tandin to grant them the lifelong protection of the deity.
I asked Tandin if she had gone to her temple and deity to ask for safe passage on her first flight and she said absolutely!
We then visited the GMC – the Gelephu Mindfulness City. This is a HUGE project designed by the king with many advisors, both in country and out. It’s being created on the eastern plains of Tibet within reach of India. Oh my lord, it’s an enormous dream and undertaking, estimated at 10 billion and guessing it will be more. So much pre planning has happened, taking the 7+ elements that make up the GNH measurements into account (green, spirituality, aviation, technology, so many). I really hope it works. The king is hoping it takes his country from a third world to a middle world and a noticed-by-the-world place, providing work and inspiration for the young people who are leaving in droves for Australia (primarily). In fact, the king went to Australia and asked for Bhutanese expats to come hear him talk. They filled the 20,000 person stadium. He asked them to come home and work with him on this project.
We went into the town, Gelephu, and saw the headquarters for the GMC. They’re planning on redoing all the commercial buildings to look like this one, using local products, including CLT – the same kind of timber we used on our house. They’ve learned the technology from Austria and are harvesting wood here in a fully sustainable way to make the product. Residential houses will continue to be painted as they currently are because the painting gives protection and signs of devotion to different deities.
We had lunch, then started driving. And driving and driving. A totally hairy road and at two points passing major mud slides, one of which was completely enormous. I don’t even know how long we drove. 6 hours? Out car was pretty quiet and I had time to write and read. I was so grateful that I could do this even when the ride was so rough.
We stopped at the top of the pass between two districts with a stupa built for protection for the travelers. We noticed that some of the dogs had notches in their right ears and it turns out that the current king initiated a spaying/neutering program, something that hadn’t happened last time we were here. It is the same from last time in that the dogs all look fed, are never aggressive and seemed very relaxed. They are never hurt, so Buddhist.
We also saw two kinds of monkeys along the road, couldn’t get a photo of the first type, the second were golden lemurs.
Couple of fun sayings from Wangda who was in our car: Stopping for a bathroom break, “We’re here for the green closet” Just find a place along the hillside. “Fully body car massage” for the incredibly rough drive of almost 6 hours to get to the monastery .
Dorji, who’s the teacher, told us that he was watched over for the whole trip in his van. He said at one point the they followed a deer for 2 full kilometers. They then had a flat tire, but no spare and he was able to rig a repair. We all made it!
We drove in after being in the dark for at least 30 minutes which was disconcerting given the conditions of the roads. And then we saw lights – amazing. We went down a very steep road and there was Dorje Phagmo Zhemgang Monastery. Seriously. In the middle of far away nowhere.
Evidently, Dorji Phagmo herself, along with the head of her foundation, along with everyone else there had been working absolutely frantically to get things ready for this big group – the first time they’d had guests like this and a huge bonus to the community.
The rooms were rough to put it mildly. One guy saw a spider basically half the size of his hand, another saw big cockroaches in the toilet. So sketch and completely wonderful. Everyone was cheerful and took things in stride. I told Rick to please please put the lid down on the toilet so that nothing might be abiding there at night. And I hadn’t even known about the giant spider and cockroaches!
We had a startlingly good dinner (compared to all the other meals, turns out Abroad had brought in a chef and they made enough not just for us, but for all at the monastery. After dinner, we did a long ceremony for welcome prayer of aspiration for someone who had died. Everyone had put in a photo of someone who had died that they were close to. Rick put in photos of Mimi and Blue. The one of Blue was unbelievably perfect for him – not a normal dog. It was a wonderful ceremony, with chanting and some instruments and it went on for a long time. I was in heaven because I had brought a very light small meditation bench. So I was able to sit comfortably for over an hour and just be in the chanting and music.
We had a number of different talks with Dr. Dorji, the first about moelam – the name of the ceremony. Moelam means a kind of combination of gratitude for what has unfolded and looking at the gifts and how you want to move forward into your life in recognition of those gifts. Below is the stupa at the monastery.
Reb's Walks! 