Bhutan 2014: Jakar, First Visit

The next morning (May 10th) was misty, so we again pulled on our rain jackets, but the weather gradually improved. Tshering took us on a walk that began at Tamshing Lhakhang (temple), established by the terton (treasure finder) Pema Lingpa in 1501. As always, photos of the interior are not allowed. Tamshing is on the west side of the Bumthang Chhu (river) on a narrow road.

In the above photo, taken from the rear of Tamshing, there are two other major temples, on the far side of the river at the foot of the hills. We'll visit them later. The Bumthang region is in many ways the ancient seat of Buddhism in Bhutan.

A closer view of Tamshing. One of the relics inside is a coat of iron chain mail made by Pema Lingpa himself. If you wear it for three circumambulations of the interior of the temple, it will burn off your bad karma (absolve you of your sins). I was unaware of the three-circuit requirement, and trod it only once, as did Joan. So I have unfinished business here ...

Inside, all the statues are smiling except for the usual wrathful deities. Guru Rinpoche has a surprised and delighted expression we haven't seen anywhere else.

I'll digress for a moment to point out that Tamshing is a monastery of the Nyingma school of Tibetan/Himalayan Buddhism, while the Drukpa Kagyu school, a Bhutanese sub-school of the Kagyu lineage, is the state-supported religion of Bhutan. Thus Kagyu temples, monasteries, and nunneries have state sponsorship, while Nyingma institutions do not. 

Fifteen minutes down the road we froze to admire this verditer flycatcher. Thank goodness my point-and-shoot camera has a 20x zoom.

A footpath that split from the road was our route further upstream. This moved us much closer to the river, and around the bend on the far right is a footbridge.

It's not far across the river at this point.

From the far side I was able to zoom in on the Konchogsum Lhakhang, a temple dating from either 7th or 8th Century, and the new school and monastic housing surrounding it. The small white building is the temple itself.

Tamshing Lhakhang is just a stone's throw from Konchogsum, and the two temples are associated.

Not far down the road we came to Kurje Lhakhang, constructed in the 8th Century, and to borrow a description,

Kurje is one of the most sacred sites in Bhutan as Guru Rinpoche meditated here and left the imprint (je) of his body (ku) on a rock.

There were some vendors outside the main courtyard, including a woman who, in addition to her religious and artistic objects, had some cordyceps to sell. This parasitic fungus is widely sought after for Asian medicine, commanding as much as 1,000,000 ngultrum (US$16,500) per kilogram some years. Bhutan has been forced to limit the number of harvesters, giving priority to traditional rural inhabitants, and reducing the number of harvesters per household from three to one. Otherwise the mountains would be stripped of cordyceps. The vendor let us take a photo of one piece.

Tshering talked this monk passing by into pausing so that we could take a picture of the fabulous torma, an altar offering made mostly of flour and butter.

Joan and I were startled and entranced when we saw this prehistoric-looking bird, a hoopoe.

The Kurje Lhakhang has three main buildings, constructed in the 8th Century, 1900, and 1990. The oldest building is on the right in this photo. Interior photos, as always, aren't allowed, so I refer you to the previous link.

Representations of Guru Rinpoche are everywhere, from a ten-meter (33') statue in the shrine of the 1900 building to this exterior carving. It references an 8th Century event where Guru Rinpoche, in the form of a garuda bird, subdued the local deity Shelging Karpo, in the form of a white lion. Shelging Karpo had been afflicting the health of the king of Bumthang, but was converted to Buddhism and the well-being of the king was restored.

Across the grounds is another temple, first designed in 1998, and consecrated in 2008 by the Royal Grandmother Ashi Kesang Choeden Wangchuck (not to be confused with other royalty with the same or similar name).

From here it was a kilometer's walk past farm fields to our next stop, the Jampa/Jampey Lhakhang, a 7th Century temple that precedes Guru Rinpoche's arrival in the 8th Century. This lakhang is dedicated to Maitreya, the future Buddha. It is said to be the first of 108 built throughout the Himalayas by King Songtsen Gampo of Tibet, to pin down a giant ogress/demoness. Jampa Lhakhang is holding down her right knee; Tshering forwarded this image of a poster depicting the 108 locations holding down the ogress.

I don't have any photos of the interior, but this exterior photo is illuminating. The trays of pebbles are counting mechanisms, so that the devout who frequently perform a kora, or circumambulation, of the temple can keep track of their merit. Jampa is the only temple where we've noticed these.

Nearby we got a good look at another hoopoe.

Kaka picked us up here, and we drove to our lunch stop, a small second-floor restaurant called Noryang Restaurant and Bar. It was fabulous. Bhutanese home cooking, served family style. Of course, as chillips (foreign tourists), we needed to be careful with the ema datshi (chili with cheese), Bhutan's national dish, which ranges from spicy to explosive.

After lunch Joan and I were dropped off in the center of Jakar for some window shopping and general poking around, after which it would be a short-ish walk back to the Yu Gharling.

This photo shows the main street of the business district, with the dzong perched on the hill behind. Jakar has suffered three fires in this area since October 2010, but appears to have bounced back.

We wandered up one side and down the other, and then one street over where there was a farmer's market. We bought a couple of postcards and stamps, in two different shops. I had to take a picture of this business' sign.

This is how the Yu Gharling looks when you drive or walk up to the front.

Here is zoomed-in view from our room. Farm fields and development, all in the same place. That's indicative of Bhutan today, where statistics say 63% of the population lives in rural areas, compared to 93% forty years ago. Would this scene be considered rural? If not, is it urban?

Tomorrow Kaka would drive us over Thrumshingla Pass, 12,400', and then to Mongar in eastern Bhutan.