Jigme Namgyal's kasho

The first lunar month is a holy month. It's called Chothrul Dawa or the Month of Miracles. Lord Buddha is believed to have performed different miracles in the first 15 days of the month to augment the spiritual merit of his disciples. In Bhutan, the holy month is observed by banning the sale of meat. Such government decisions to save life, I gather, is not new to Bhutan. The following decree of  Trongsa Ponlop from a book I just finished translating makes it abundantly clear. Gongsar Jigme Namgyal, the father of the first King of Bhutan, issued the decree in the Female Rabbit year of 1885, two years after he became Trongsa Ponlop.   

Shri Karma Vajra Guru Yey! To the people of the east of Southern Land – from this side of Pelela, north of Kheng Bhadey and Kher Kher on the southern foothills, south of Tshampa and Tawang [Arunachal Pradesh] on the Tibetan border; all the areas under the control of Chotse Ponlop. Dzongnyer Lezin, lamas and lopons, representatives, nyerpas, garp tozen [the lowest-ranking attendants], khochey ponchen [religious aristocrats], all chieftains, common people, religious figures, monks, soothsayers and astrologers, yoginis, hunters and fishermen, cowherds and shepherds, travellers and traders, wanderers, and children – bear this in mind.

According to all sutra and tantra texts containing the teachings of Lord Buddha, taking life carries the biggest sin among all non-virtuous deeds. Those who are inclined to take life will be reborn, soon after the moment of death, in the hell realms where they will be scorched in a burning iron chamber and their bodies cut into a hundred pieces by different weapons. Each day, they are killed between a hundred and a thousand times and revived for so many times. They undergo such suffering for several aeons.

If they are reborn as pretas [yi dwags], they suffer from hunger and thirst, and if born as animals, they suffer endlessly from servitude and being slaughtered. Even if they are reborn as humans, they will be afflicted with many diseases and will have a short life. They will die in the mother’s womb or right after birth. Should they escape death at this stage, they will be killed by weapons, lightning or hailstone, or meet their end falling off a cliff.

Refraining from taking life for even one day prevents one from being born in times of epidemics and war, averts sudden death, removes obstacles, and prevents diseases leading to a long, happy and peaceful life.

There are accounts of Gyalpo Jampai Tob, Lha Tshangpa [Lord Brahma], Lha Jajin [Lord Indra] and Songtsen Gampo averting degenerated times and reviving the golden era [bskal pa bzang po] through institution of laws based on ten godly virtuous deeds. Learned personalities and treasure discoverers have said with one voice that the people of Bhutan suffered from conflicts and diseases because of their unbridled proclivity for killing.

From now on, as long as the teachings of the Buddha flourish, whoever dwells in this land shall refrain from doing harm to any form of life, including humans and domestic animals, birds and wild animals, fish and other aquatic creatures thriving in the rivers and streams, insects and flies living on land, cliffs and trees. No human or non-human shall do them any harm. 

Manslaughter in particular carries the heaviest punishment. Involuntary manslaughter is punishable by phampi tungwa [a category of sin that brings worst consequences] and voluntary manslaughter is punishable by death sentence. Premeditated robbery along footpaths, killing over women and out of intoxication, killing not in the interest of dharma and sentient beings, serving poison, abortion by using musk and dye by prostitutes and nuns, foeticide – all of these shall be deemed to be an act of murder. Upon confirming the acts after investigation, individuals guilty of these acts, irrespective of wealth and reputation, shall be consigned to fire or river along with their victims. These acts shall not be pardoned.

Inflicting injury using assault weapons and purchase, sale and production of poison shall pay by having their hands chopped off. Courtiers who travel to the villages shall not be allowed to order the slaughter of chicken and pigs for their consumption or kill these animals by stoning and bludgeoning. They shall not be allowed to harass women and girls and take them as brides only to demand money later from villagers through deception and manipulation. No one shall be allowed to take any advantage of the villagers. Courtiers on official assignments shall strictly conduct themselves within the limits stipulated by the letter of assignment. Should there be courtiers misbehaving, village chieftains and elders should remind them to conduct themselves better. If they failed to take heed of the reminder, villagers can join force to deal with them physically. The authorities will not take offence. Even killing some intractable courtiers in the process shall be pardoned provided that the authorities are kept informed about it. However, if the villagers put a courtier to death without enough justification, the act shall be punishable.

Catching innocent fish is a big sin. It will result in one being reborn in the hell realm where one will be forced to swallow molten iron. No one shall catch even fingerlings from rivers and streams in the entire Zhongar region, including Kuri Shongmed and Menmo Sheri Murung areas. Whoever poisons water bodies for fish, whoever makes and owns fishing nets or snares, whoever blocks migration paths of fish and damages their breeding grounds shall have his hands cut off. Except when building bridges or embankments, digging water channels, and collecting fire wood by riverside, no one shall, after crossing a river, come back and play in the river or by the banks.

From the first day of the third month to the end of the tenth month, no one shall destroy hives of any kind of bee for honey and nests of all kinds of wasps for larvae. Those who do not heed this rule shall pay with their hands. No one shall commit the above crime on the pretext of collecting abandoned or fallen beehives and wasp nests.

Forest fire, not excepting one accidentally caused by agricultural activities like shifting cultivation, is prohibited. Not a tiny patch of forest shall be set on fire intentionally.

Besides those harming humans, domestic animals, and crops, no wild animal living on forest resources shall be hunted down using hounds or bow and arrows. One guilty of this offence shall lose his hands.

Apart from unavoidable and unintentional killing while working or walking, no one – not even children – shall kill insects, flies, frogs, and worms in sport.

Killing all kinds of birds, including fowls like the blood pheasant and the monal pheasant, using snares and building barricades shall be a punishable offence. One’s own domestic animals can be killed only according to the demands of cultural norms like periodic rituals, travel needs, and reciprocal visits. After raising them like one’s own children and employing them like servants, benevolent animals that provide our needs such as milk and fur shall not be put to death and their body parts traded for cereals, dyes, cotton, and textile. This offence shall lead to the loss of hands.

For propitiation rituals for deities, guardians and spirits, meat offering shall be limited to pork once in a year. Regular meat offerings shall be limited to dried meat, besides eggs and cash. And for the purpose of offerings, even if a piglet or a chick is sacrificed, hands shall be cut off as punishment.

Oracles, astrologers, mediums, shamans and yoginis shall, out of avarice, not practise harmful occult religions and speak of the need to sacrifice animals. Any such practitioner, who makes a slightest mention of animal sacrifice, shall have his or her mouth slit vertically.

Dzongpons should make copies of this decree and distribute them to the following with detailed explanation and guidance: lamas and lopons, representatives, keepers of dzongs, supervisors, bridge controllers and low-ranking garps, chojes, khoche and ponchen, chieftains, religious figures, ordinary people, traders and travellers, cowherds and shepherds, cowherds of Bumthang, hunters and fishermen, bird hunters, and innocent children. Moreover, village chieftains should remind the masses in general and following individuals in particular about the decree, frequently, every month: Soothsayers, astrologers, shaman, jomo, yoginis, mediums, bridge controllers, hunters, fishermen, bird hunters, cattle herders, shepherds, wandering children, travellers, traders, and cattle herders of Bumthang. If those who are responsible for giving directives do not do their job, their mouths shall be slit vertically. If people do not take serious note of their directives and fail to live up to them (directives), their ears shall be cut off from the base. If some go against the directives clandestinely pretending not to have heard about them, they shall meet their end. If dzongpons concerned do not execute the directives properly and in full measure, they shall lose their post.

We call upon eight groups of guardian deities, namely Chamdrel Maning Nagpo, Legoen Tragshed Sogdued, Drangsong Za, Tshangpa, Chabjug, Wangchuk, and Jajin to take ownership of the directives and punish anyone who fails to abide by them. We also call upon local deities such as Lhamo Remitey, Jangi Duepa and retinue, three manifestations of Leshin, Jomo Tshogtshong, and Dahungpa to follow suit. If these deities failed to exercise their might soon enough, let the displeasure and wrath of Pal Heruka (yab-yum) and Sangdag Thrinley Khachab befall them. Those who can write, make as many copies of the letter as you can. Keep it in each village, understand the content and follow it. All the people, big and small, bear this in mind!

Issued from Chokhor Rabtentse [Trongsa Dzong] on an auspicious day of the tenth month of the Wood Rabbit year. Bidza Haram!  

Ta She Gha Chha: A book review

(This book review was first published in Rabsel: The CERD Educational Journal in 2005)

Long time ago, while meditating in a cave in the mountains, the great Tibetan saint Jetsun Milarepa wanted to move to another cave on a particular day. He knew that the day was inauspicious to undertake the journey. But he thought that for a yogi like him, who had moved beyond the influence of the ordinary, there was no such thing as auspicious or inauspicious. So he left his cave for the other one with his prized possession, a clay pot.

The belief could not influence Jetsun Milarepa’s decision. But he, nonetheless, believed in the inauspiciousness of the day. Likewise, we have numerous beliefs which influence and guide our behaviour and conduct, or at least our thinking. This is what Ms Karma Pedey’s 154‐page book Ta She Gha Chha: The Broken Saddle and other Popular Bhutanese Beliefs, the latest book by a Bhutanese author, is all about.

Ta She Gha Chha. The title of the book itself could be an enduring metaphor for the fundamental characteristic of popular Bhutanese beliefs – supernatural elements taking the centre stage in the human drama of trials and tribulations, sins and retribution, death and disaster. It could also be a metaphor for the established link between human world and the world beyond. In the context of popular beliefs, the moment something happens to us, we attribute the cause of it to something, and that is often supernatural and otherworldly.

Drukyul’s destiny

(This essay was first published in Tarayana Foundation's book of tribute Drukgyel's Destiny in 2004)

Drukyul's Destiny has been inextricably linked with deeds of noble note. Shaped by a people's faith and pride in their kingdom, forged by repeated wars, chiseled out of dire circumstances, engineered by the visionary monarchs, Drukyul's Destiny is an invaluable legacy of the past, priceless possession of the present, and peerless gift to the future.

For Bhutan, the tryst with Destiny began at the dawn of history, as early as the 8th century A.D. when Guru Padmasambhava brought the light of dharma to our land. Then, in the 13th century A.D., Phajo Drugom Zhigpo and an influx of great religious figures came and blessed the land and sowed the seed of a Pelden Drukpa.

But, the tryst with Drukyul's Destiny began almost three centuries and eighty‐eight years ago when Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgay, the founder of this tiny land of ours, snatched it from the jaws of wars and disintegration. Since then, Drukyul's Destiny began to take shape.

Drukyul's Destiny. For it, wars were fought, lives sacrificed, hardships endured. For Drukyul, the sail on the solemn ocean of Destiny was not one of ease. A myriad of external threats had to be overcome. Numerous wars with Tibet in the north and British India in the south. Frequent internal strife had to be negotiated. From Paro to Mongar, Dagana to Gasa, a note of discord sounded and drowned the symphony of fraternity. But, in the nick of time, Destiny sent his own son and Gongsar Ugyen Wangchuck came. And he carved and shaped the destiny of this our land.