American Buddhist Net

Bhutan is looking for a few good tourists--and put the emphasis on "a few," please.

By KAT GLASS

A Buddhist nation squeezed between India and China in the high Himalayas, its 680,000 residents had no television until 1999. Smaller than West Virginia, it's got just one cross-country road, barely a lane and a half wide, that takes two days to drive. And the government measures the impoverished country's success not by gross domestic product, but by a "gross national happiness" index.

This exotic developing country would be any world adventurer's playground. That's if you can spare several thousand dollars for airfare, lodging, food--and a hefty daily tourism tariff to top it off.

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16 June 2008

In 1988, Jangtrul Y Rinpoche was recognized as the trulku (reincarnate) of H.H. Jangtrul Pethrin Rinpoche by H.H. Drubwang Penor Rinpoche, under whose guidance and patronage he studied. Today, Jangtrul Y Rinpoche is known as a gifted poet, fluent narrator, and a nature lover. He has immense interest in poetry and other literary works.

He has kindly shared his thoughts on Buddhism with Kuensel.

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Tuesday, June 10, 2008
By TAKAMITSU SAWA

...Even though the incomes and amounts of consumption of the Japanese people have since increased several-fold, I don't think the degree of "happiness" or "affluence" they feel has even doubled.

Although a positive relationship exists between "happiness" and "affluence" on one hand and per capita GDP on the other, it seems crystal clear that the former is determined by a number of factors other than GDP.

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A British artist has produced what she calls a "photo-fit" of the Yeti based on "potentially explosive" new evidence of the elusive creature's existence.

By Richard Holt
Last Updated: 2:03PM BST 02/06/2008

Wildlife painter Polyanna Pickering was shown what is believed to be a 100-year-old yeti scalp at a remote monastery in the Himalayas.

At least one expert believe it could be the most important proof yet that the giant apelike beast is more than mere folklore.

Ms Pickering was gathering material for a new exhibition in the remote Bhutan region of the Himalayas when she made her chance discovery - with a little help from David Beckham.

She said: "I was told this was from a Migoi - their name for the yeti. All I know is, it was bigger than any human or ape scalp I have ever seen.

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5 May, 2008 - In 1999, when a degree programme was introduced at the institute of language and cultural studies (ILCS), Semtokha, Sanskrit was introduced as part of its syllabus.

Today, after about six batches of students have graduated from the institute, there is a debate going among linguistic and cultural experts and academicians about the importance and relevance of Sanskrit studies.

Some experts argue that Sanskrit was not relevant in the syllabus as students after graduation from the institute joined the civil service or chose to become teachers. A Dzongkha expert working with government said that Sanskrit was only relevant for holistic studies to understand the tantric terms for the monks of monastic institutes.

“It’s not for students who want to find a job in the civil service or corporations,” he said.

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Glacial melting threatens disastrous floods in Bhutan, one of the world's most environmentally vigilant nations.

April 20, 2008
By Henry Chu

PUNAKHA, BHUTAN -- High in the Himalayas, above this peaceful valley where farmers till a patchwork of emerald-green fields, an icy lake fed by melting glaciers waits to become a "tsunami from the sky."

The lake is swollen dangerously past normal levels, thanks to the global warming that is causing the glaciers to retreat at record speed. But no one knows when the tipping point will come and the lake can take no more, bursting its banks and sending torrents of water crashing into the valley below.

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Mon Mar 31, 2008
By Simon Denyer

HONGTSHO, Bhutan (Reuters) - In a remote corner of the Himalayas, a small Tibetan refugee community felt helpless as it watched protests erupt all over the world against Chinese rule in their homeland. For in the tiny Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan, ethnically, culturally and linguistically close to its giant northern neighbor Tibet, demonstrations are not allowed. Young Tibetans were even reluctant to give their names for fear of trouble.

"We want to demonstrate but we don't have the right to, and that is very bad for us," said a 24-year-old who gave her name as Tenzing. "If we could, people would know that Tibet belongs to Tibetans."

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Tue March 25, 2008

KATHMANDU, Nepal (CNN) -- Bhutanese refugees began arriving in the United States on Tuesday, the first wave of what the United Nations describes as one of the world's largest resettlement efforts.

The U.S. has offered to resettle 60,000 of the estimated 107,000 Bhutanese refugees of Nepalese origin now living in seven U.N. camps in southeastern Nepal -- their home for the past 17 years. Six other nations -- Australia, Canada, Norway, Netherlands, New Zealand and Denmark -- have offered to resettle 10,000 each.

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Tue, Mar. 25, 2008
By Emily Wax

TOKTOKHA, Bhutan - Without revolution or bloodshed, this tiny Himalayan kingdom became the world's newest democracy yesterday, as wildflower farmers, traditional healers, Buddhist folk artists, and computer engineers voted in Bhutan's first parliamentary elections, ending a century of royal rule.

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This story provides a valuable perspective on both Bhutan and Tibet. ABN
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24 Mar 2008

THIMPU: When its big brother Tibet was invaded by China in 1950, the lesson was not lost on the rulers of the tiny hermit kingdom of Bhutan.

Isolation did not pay, and a gradual process of opening up and modernisation culminated on Monday with the first parliamentary elections in the history of the last independent Himalayan kingdom.

Sandwiched by giant neighbours India and China, Bhutan had always felt very vulnerable, said Kinley Dorji, managing director of the state-owned Kuensel newspaper.

"Our strategy was to hide up in the mountains," he said. "That worked until 1960."

It was then, just a year after the Dalai Lama fled into exile, that Bhutan's third king, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, opened the doors just a crack.

Shortly after the Chinese invasion, Wangchuck also began to gradually establish more democratic forms of governance.

Bhutan wanted to avoid what it saw as the mistake of Tibet -- having few diplomatic friends and shouldered with a feudal society that gave China the excuse to "liberate" it from serfdom.

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By Channel NewsAsia's Lau Joon-Nie in Thimphu, Bhutan | Posted: 21 March 2008 1808 hrs

THIMPHU, Bhutan : Bhutan plans to seal off its borden with northern India this weekend as a precaution ahead of Monday's historic general election.

In the past three months, the usually peaceful Himalayan kingdom has been rattled by a handful of blasts largely claimed by rebel groups based in nearby Nepal.

Over 400,000 Bhutanese citizens are eligible to vote in this closely-fought lower house election contested by two political parties.

Change is in the air for Bhutan's 700,000 people.

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Mon Mar 10, 2:26 AM ET

KATHMANDU (AFP) - The first of more than 100,000 Bhutanese refugees languishing in camps in southern Nepal for more than 15 years have begun to leave for overseas resettlement, officials said Monday.

Refugees classed as "vulnerable" by the United Nations have been leaving without publicity since January, Kim Roberson from the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees told AFP.

...Ethnically Nepali refugees began crossing a narrow strip of India into Nepal in the early 1990s, when Bhutan's government introduced reforms promoting the national dress and language.

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By VOA News
02 March 2008

Nepalese officials say more than 10,000 Bhutanese refugees were left homeless by a fire that swept through a refugee camp in southeastern Nepal.

Officials say more than 1,300 makeshift homes were destroyed on Saturday night at the Goldhap refugee camp located about 300 kilometers southeast of the capital, Katmandu.

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28 February, 2008

It's got be pure devotion and determination that has driven a 38-year-old tour guide to do what he doing; prostrating a distance of 200 km plus to wash away bad karma and attain enlightenment in the next life.

Chimi, 38, from Jabana village in Paro, started prostrating on February 16 from Phuentsholing gate and hopes to end the journey at one of Bhutan’s oldest temples, Kyichu, in Paro.

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Wednesday, February 27, 2008

As part of the opening of "The Dragon's Gift: The Sacred Arts of Bhutan," every day this week at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., monks will perform Cham, the Buddhist ritual dances of Bhutan, in Central Court at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

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27 February, 2008

About 5,000 islanders of Honolulu got an insight into Bhutan when the “Dragon’s Gift: the Sacred Arts of Bhutan”, one of the most highly anticipated exhibition on Buddhist arts formally opened to the public yesterday at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, USA.

Her Royal Highness, Ashi Sonam Dechan Wangchuck, inaugurated the exhibition, which consists of about 117 sacred items, all on loan from Bhutan.

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(...) But amid the fun and good cheer, Wehrheim is careful not to romanticise Bhutan too much. The Shangri-La charm of the place is tempered with pragmatism, and brought fully down to earth in a sobering quote from the Dalai Lama:

"We must careful not to idealise the old ways of life. The high level of cooperation we find in undeveloped rural communities may be based more on necessity than on goodwill ... And the contentment we perceive may actually have more to do with ignorance. These people may not realise or imagine that any other way of life is possible. If they did, very likely they would embrace it eagerly. The challenge we face is, therefore, to find some means of enjoying the same degree of harmony and tranquillity as those more traditional communities, while benefiting fully from the material developments of the world as we find it."

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"The Dragon's Gift" includes ancient pieces actively used in the old kingdom's Buddhist monasteries

By Joleen Oshiro

Time might not be a luxury we all can afford, but in the case of "The Dragon's Gift: The Sacred Art of Bhutan," time -- and lots of it -- was integral to the caliber of the groundbreaking exhibition.

"Because the art of Bhutan is so poorly published, ours is the first attempt at presenting the kingdom's art history," says Stephen Little, director of the Honolulu Academy of Arts, which organized the exhibit over a five-year period beginning in 2003. "When we started, we didn't know what would be in the show. We didn't know what was there. We were starting from scratch."

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Indo-Asian News Service

Guwahati, Feb 22 (IANS) The Assam government has tightened security along its border with Bhutan and expressed serious concern over reports that Maoist rebels from Nepal were going through the state to enter Bhutan and set up bases in the Himalayan kingdom.

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In the inaugural edition of the Norwegian Refugee Council Reports Series, NRC highlights the situation in Bhutan where extensive abuse of the population has managed to escape the attention of media and politicians.

Bhutan, a tiny isolated kingdom sandwiched between the giant states of China and India, has a troubled recent history. Despite the extensive abuse of its own population, the country has - to a large extent - managed to avoid criticism in the international media. On the contrary, the media has often helped perpetuate the myth of an exotic land of happiness in the majestic Himalayan Mountains. However, what we have before us is a silent tragedy occurring in a media-created Shangri-la.

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Some are born Buddhist, some achieve Buddhism, some have Buddhism thrust upon them. Shakespeare could have written something like this.

I'm born Buddhist, no, I was conceived Buddhist. This is true for most Buddhists in Bhutan. But, most of us would fail to illustrate the basic precepts of Buddhism let alone debate extensively on it. Four Noble Truths, Eight Fold Paths, Meditation, Emptiness, blah blah blah...What are these? Are they meant to be understood only by the monks? If not, why am I Buddhist? How come I don't know any of these? Okay, okay, I know the four noble truths and the eight fold paths, if that's enough to qualify me as a Buddhist.

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Mahayana Buddhism was the state religion, and Buddhists comprised about 70 percent of the population in the early 1990s. Although originating from Tibetan Buddhism, Bhutanese Buddhism differs significantly in its rituals, liturgy, and monastic organization. The state religion has long been supported financially by the government through annual subsidies to monasteries, shrines, monks, and nuns. In the modern era, support of the state religion during the reign of Jigme Dorji Wangchuck included the manufacture of 10,000 gilded bronze images of the Buddha, publication of elegant calligraphied editions of the 108- volume Kanjur (Collection of the Words of the Buddha) and the 225-volume Tenjur (Collection of Commentaries), and the construction of numerous chorten (stupas) throughout the country. Guaranteed representation in the National Assembly and the Royal Advisory Council, Buddhists constituted the majority of society and were assured an influential voice in public policy.

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Bhutan is a tiny, remote and impoverished kingdom nestling in the Himalayas between its powerful neighbours, India and China.

Almost completely cut off for centuries, it has tried to let in some aspects of the outside world while fiercely guarding its ancient traditions.

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By Harriet Grant
BBC World Service in Nepal

The first of more than 100,000 Bhutanese refugees who have spent the last 17 years living in camps in Nepal are to leave for the US later this month - but those they leave behind are experiencing intimidation and violence.

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By Andrew Buncombe
Published: 22 January 2008

A series of bomb blasts has shaken the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan just days after a date was set for elections that will end more than a century of absolute rule by its royal family.

The bombs wounded at least one person as they were detonated across the country on Sunday. Without providing evidence, officials blamed leftist ethnic Nepalese groups who in recent years have been forced from the country.

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