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The real history period of
Bhutan, however, starts with the introduction of
Buddhism in the seventh century AD. Since then,
Buddhism has always played important role both in
the history of Bhutan and in the way of life of its
people. Religious and secular powers were not
clearly separated until the seventh century, when
Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal established a new dual
system of government. Even today, it is evident that
the supreme head of the religious institutions known
as the Je Khenpo holds a prominent place in the
social and cultural life of the Bhutanese people.
Although the two most sacred and historical Buddhist
temples, Kyichu and Jambay, were built in the
seventh century AD, it was not until the visit of
the great Indian saint Guru Padmasambhava in AD.746
that Buddhism took firm root in Bhutan.
Padmasambhava converted a king (Sendha) reigning in
the Bumthang valley to Buddhism, after which the
faith gradually spread to other parts of Bhutan.
Legend has it that, at the end of the eight-century,
King Sendha built an iron Castle in Bumthang
containing all the treasures of the World. His
territory was invaded by king Nabudra or Nauche (Big
Nose), who ruled the duar plans to the south. Prior
to the battle outside the iron castle, King Sendha
performed a grand ceremony in which he invoked the
local guardian deities for their help. But it was
all in vain: the Bumthang forces were defeated, and
king Sendha’s son Taglamebar slain. The distressed
king lost faith in the deities and ordered all
temples in his kingdom to be desecrated and
destroyed. A Bhutanese chronicle narrates what
ensued: “The deities, deeply offended at the
sacrilegious vandalism of the mortal king, grew
irate, and misfortune befell the entire kingdom.
King Sendha was stuck down with a fatal illness. The
deities had sapped his vital strength and his life
seemed to be evaporating. People close to the King
felt lost and forsaken”.
Officers of the royal court held discussions to seek
solution, and the leading astrologers of the region
suggest remedies that fail to take effect. At that
time Guru Padmasambhava (known as Guru Rimpoche, or
Most precious Teacher), one of the greatest Buddhist
masters of Urgyan Country known for his miraculous
powers, happened to be meditating in a cave called
Yangleshoe in Nepal. Messengers carrying gifts and
cups filled with gold dust visited the great guru,
beseeching his help to destroy the evil deities and
rescue their monarch.
Accepting the invitation, Guru Padmasambhava
traveled via Nubjikorphu in the Kheng region to
Bumthang, where he organized a festival of ritual
dances and, with his magic powers, assumed eight
manifestations in eight forms of dance in order to
subdue the evil spirits. The encounter culminated
with the guru, now transformed into the primeval
bird Garuda, retrieving King Sendha’s vital strength
from the chief of the local deities, who had
appeared at the spectacle as a lion and is now known
as Shelging Karpo, chief protective deity of Kurje
temple in Bumthang.
Following these miraculous events, King Sendha and
his subjects were converted to the Buddhist faith
and undertook to propagate the new religion and
reestablish all the holy places.
One salient feature of Guru Padmasambhava’s
religious policy was his incorporation of the Bon
deities into the Buddhist pantheon, having, as the
legend relates, bound them through oaths not only to
serve the Buddhist faith, but also in the process,
to become its protectors. The psychological
implications of this development should not be
underestimated, for it lent a sense of continuity to
the beliefs of the new adherents and satisfied the
needs of their stage of consciousness.
With the emergence of the anti-Buddhist king
Langdarma in the northern kingdom of Tibet, a wave
of religious persecution and political turmoil swept
through that country. The ninth and tenth centuries
witnessed an exodus of monks to Kham in eastern
Tibet and Bhutan, the latter quickly being
recognized as a Balyul, or Sacred Hidden Land of
Spiritual Treasures, that had received the blessings
of Guru Rinpoche. Among the innumerable monks and
Tibetan religious practitioners who thus took refuge
in Bhutan, many rose to eminence through their
mystic practices and contributed significantly to
the several schools of later Buddhism in the
Himalayan Region, among them the Kadampa, the
Kagyudpa, the Sakyapa, and the Gelungpa- that sprang
up with the revival or the religion in Tibet in
eleventh century. A highlight of the religious
history of this period was the appearance of Tertons
or Treasure-Discoverers, in Paro and Bumthang, who
revealed, at pre-destined, opportune moments, texts
and sacred objects hidden for posterity by Guru
Padmasambhava and other saints.
In the first half of the thirteenth century, a
spiritual master by the name of Phajo Drukgom Zhigpo
(1208-1276) arrived in Bhutan. He is regarded as a
very important figure in Bhutan because he was the
forerunner of the Drukpa Kargyu tradition, which
ultimately gained preeminence in the country. As
soon as he arrived, Phajo Drukgom Zigpo came into
conflict with the Lhapas, who were already firmly
established in western Bhutan. However, Phajo
Drukgom Zhigpo finally won his struggle with the
Lhapas and married a woman from the Thimphu valley.
Their four sons further spread the Drukpa Kargyu
traditions in the country. Nevertheless, the Lhapa
School continued until the seventeenth century, when
it was totally crushed by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal. |
