The “Divine Madman” and Punakha Dzong

Today we left Thimphu for Punakha. Our first stop was after 23km at the Dochu La Pass at 3.140m. It’s separating Thimphu from Punakha and is marked by an impressive collection of 108 chortens. The chortens were built in 2005 as a Buddhist atonement for the loss of life caused by the flushing out of Assamese militants in southern Bhutan.
We had a clear day and had an amazing view of the Bhutan Himalaya. We were able to see the highest peak inside Bhutan, Gangkhar Puensum (7570m), which is the world’s highest unclimbed peak and other ones like the Masagang (7194m). Was a great start to the day, fresh air, blue sky and what a view.
We proceeded for another 90mins and the next stop was at Chime Lhakhang. It was as built by the half brother of Drukpa Kuenley (1455 to 1570) who was an enlightened Buddhist master who personified the true essence of the Vajrayana tradition that is also known as "Crazy Wisdom".
Devotees fondly call Lam Drukpa Kuenley the "Divine Madman", because of his non-conventional and outrageous style of teaching. He deliberately portrayed the image of a vagabond and wandered around the countryside, indulging in song and dance, alcohol and women, hunting and feasting. In reality, what it meant was that he was beyond the norms and conventions established by human society.
The temple is also called Fertility Temple because many couples visit the place to do a specific ceremony to pray for getting parents. The women for example needs to carry a big wooden phallus on the back during the ceremony. An album with photos of children is the proof that it works.
It was a very small but very interesting temple.
After lunch we reached the Punakha Dzong, the most beautiful Dzong in Bhutan. This dzong was the second to be built in Bhutan and it served as the capital and seat of government until the mid-1950s. All of Bhutan's kings have been crowned here. The dzong is still the winter residence of the dratshang (official monk body). And we witnessed exactly this move from the capital Thimphu to the Punakha Dzong. The religious body with 300 monks arrived at the Dzong together with the religious treasures when we were there. It was quite an impressive walk of them into the Dzong. We had to wait then outside of the temple till they had finished their ceremony.
Construction on the current dzong began in 1637 and was completed the following year, when the building was christened Pungthang Dechen Phodrang (Palace of Great Happiness). Later embellishments included the construction of a chapel to commemorate the victory over the Tibetans in 1639. The arms captured during the battle are preserved in the dzong.
Punakha Dzong is 180m long and 72m wide and the utse (central tower) is six storeys high. The dzong is unusual in that it has three docheys (courtyards) instead of the usual two. The first (northern) courtyard is for administrative functions and houses a huge white Victory Chorten and bodhi tree. The second courtyard houses the monastic quarters and is separated from the first by the utse. In this courtyard there are two halls, one of which was used when Ugyen Wangchuck, later the first king, was presented with the Order of Knight Commander of the Indian empire by John Claude White in 1905. The third courtyard is the most important of all as it houses the main temple and national treasures.Images, statues and thangkas are displayed in the Dzong. These include murals depicting life story of Buddha done during the rule of the second druk desi. Large gilded statues of Buddha, Guru Rinpoche and Zhabdrung which belong to mid 18th century, and gilded panels on pillars are also here. Especially the story of Buddhas life painted on the wall was very impressive.
Last station of the day was the Suspension Bridge nearby. It’s a 160m long bridge northeast of Punakha Dzong over the River Po Chhu and one of Bhutan's longest suspension bridges.Read more