A Terchen Pema Lingpa Day

It was somewhere in 2017 when I heard about the turquoise heart presented and talked at the mountain echoes by Mr. Pawo Choning Dorji. Terchen Pema Lingpa was a name I heard long time back in school and everyone knows he was such great treasure discoverer. Mr Pawo wrote to the then Prime Minister of Bhutan requesting for a day in a year to celebrate the great Bhutanese hero. A day dedicate only to Tertoen Pema Lingpa. Finally the cabinet has approved to name a day for this great Bhutanese hero starting next year whereby the third day of the first lunar month will be celebrated as a National Pema Lingpa Day in Bhutan. Isn’t it a great news for us?

“Pema Lingpa was the first Bhutanese figure and perhaps only the one, who effectively reversed the flow of religious offerings from Bhutan to Tibet” Dr. Karma Phuntsho from ‘The History of Bhutan’

Born in 1450 in Bumthang, this great treasure discoverer went on to have his first treasure extraction in 1476 at the riverine below the cliff of Naringdra on a full moon night. After this incident, the public speculation began whereby Pema Lingpa jumped into a lake with a burning butter lamp and returned back with a Buddha statue and a sealed skull with the butter lamp still burning. And this place, to this day holds as a most scared and a must visit place in Bumthang by the name Mebar Tsho or the Burning Lake.

Pema Lingpa then went on to have several treasure extractions via his divine destination and itinerary set up by the Guru Padmasambhava. He wasn’t a tertoen but a terchen: King of treasure discoverers. And there was only five terchens, destined to extensively reveal treasures of Guru Rinpoche. He is rightly described as the Bhutanese saint and cultural hero and it feels amazing to know that his importance are still felt in various parts of Tibet, Nepal and India (Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh and Spiti). In Tibet, he had a huge followers, patrons and students. It seems unbelievable when the history has it that at two of his religious sessions in and around Tibet, huge number (as huge as 9000) of people turned up for the Terchen Pema Lingpa’s blessing that he was placed on a throne and raised above the ground whereby the public had to walk under his throne to receive the blessing.

No doubt that Pema Lingpa too had rivals and contenders those days. Lama Namkha Samdrub of Nyemo in Tibet happens to have an interesting encounter with our Pema Lingpa. The former was said to have made malicious gossips about Pema Lingpa in various parts of Tibet. Pema Lingpa had received various baseless challenges from Lam Namkha. On a final face, Pema Lingpa challenged Lam Namkha back for an ordeal by fire, where both of them had to leap into the burning fire and the one who survived was to be the winner. Unable to face such a challenge, Lama Namkha was said to have fled to Tibet the next day.

Neither it is not going to be enough to write nor I be the right person to talk about this great Terchen of Bhutan. This is the few words that are emerging from my heart. To be frank even a day in a year falls short against his great doings in our country. Still I am very much rejoiced of the great news of his day from next year. Another reason I am so glad about a day for our Terchen Pema Lingpa is that, it came after my less than a week ago recent trip to Ganteng Sangna Choeling Monastery in Phobjikha that was built by the grandson of Terchen Pema Lingpa. The history has it that the Terchen visited Phobjikha where he predicted and foretold that his descendants would build a monastery on the hilltop where the Pema Lingpa tradition would thrive into the future. Gyalse Pema Thrinley built the Ganteng Goenpa in 1613 and became the first Gangteng Trulku.  The monastery houses various ancient and age-old nangtens with rich historical background. Being there physically, I couldn’t describe how blessed I was and really proud that Bhutan too had such a religious hero.

It was Pema Lingpa who had the divine dreams of various mask dances from Guru Rinpoche which are mostly performed in various tshechus in Bhutan today.

There is another great reason why we have to celebrate Pema Lingpa day in Bhutan. We all know that our beloved Kings from the Wangchuk Dynasty are the descendants of the great Terchen Pema Lingpa. Our kings belong to the Dungkar Choje, a subsidiary clan of Khouchung Choje founded by Kunga Wangpo, one of the sons of Pema Lingpa.

There are times when we question ourselves on our patriotism and this happens to one such incident. We never realized to celebrate our own home-grown hero. Thank you Mr. Pawo for taking such a huge initiative and opening our eyes.

Reckless on the roads

I often wonder how easy our lives have become. With the changing time we have come a long way and we managed to get rid of all the complicated and time-consuming things our grandfathers had faced in their days. Our histories talks about the hardships of our forefathers which if given to us at these days we can do it within no time with the least efforts.

But it's not the only side of the coin. There is another side which seems very ugly and destroying to us. Technologies have taken a considerable impact on our lives. One of the most advanced technologies we all are well adapted is the motor vehicle. Yes our cars and buses and motor bikes which are designed by huge brains to provide us comfort while saving our precious time. But this technology has taken the lead in taking away the young lives. Yes and not only young lives but of any age. If lives are not taken, victims are often left crippled for life completely helpless and pathetic.

There is something we need to analyze here: Is it really the technology that is taking the lives of our beloved people? And sadly we realize it isn't. It is not the technology. The thrill and temptations we have at our young age to experience speeds on the highway can be one killer. Sometimes our complacency blinds us. I wonder if all the people who are driving on the roads  think that it is their lives that are in the basket and how careful they have to be with it, perhaps we would hear less of road accidents.

The vehicle has been designed to help us and save our time not to destroy our lives or take away our time on this earth.

P.S This is  my random thought I am sharing as lately one of my old classmates lost his blooming life in a car accident. And a month ago a senior of mine at work lost both of his parents in a tragic accident. At my work place too I see so many casualties resulted from reckless driving by the youngsters and it has always been bothering me because we can drive safely and avoid such mishaps if we can think strong mentally. Say NO to drink driving and speeds.

Unheard Roar

Known by the scientific name Panthera tigris, tigers are the biggest cats which is both admired and feared by the world. Well! Why won’t we admire such a majestic creature?

That look with pride

They are the national animal of India, Bangladesh, Malaysia and South Korea. This giant charismatic animal have their stripes on the skin as well. They usually hunt alone at night with speeds up to around 65KM/H. It is said that the saliva of the tigers are antiseptic in nature and their bones have high medicinal values. 
But the saddest part is that they have been marked endangered. In the beginning of the 20^th century, the tiger population was around 100,000 and now we stand with a less than some 5000 tigers around the globe.

SUBSPECIES OF TIGERS

There were so many subspecies of Panthera tigris (Tigers). Lots of the subspecies are extinct, while some are critically endangered and few remain endangered.

1.      Bali Tiger (Panthera tigris balica)
       EXTINCT

Trapped Bali tiger

Balinese tiger which resided on the Indonesian island of Bali was said to be hunted purposefully to extinction due to a cultural belief that tigers represented evil and destruction in 1940s.

2.      Javan Tiger (Panthera tigris sondaica)
        EXTINCT

Javan Tiger

This extinct tiger subspecies was native to the Indonesian island of Java

3.      Caspian Tiger (Panthera tigris virgata)
       EXTINCT

They were one of the biggest cats to have ever lived. They inhabited around the Caspian sea.

4.      Wanhsien Tiger (Panthera tigris acutidens)

EXTINCT

Before extinction they were found in Asia

5.      Ngandong Tiger (Panthera tigris soloensis)
       EXTINCT

Ngandong tiger

They have inhabited the Sundaland region of Indonesia

6.      Trinil Tiger (Panthera tigris trinilensis)
       EXTINCT

Trinil Tiger

They lived in the locality of Trinil of Java Island in Indonesia

7.      Sumatran Tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae)
       CRITICALLY ENDANGERED

sumatran tiger

They inhabit the Indonesian island of Sumatra. World has an estimated population of around 500 Sumatran tigers

8.      Malayan Tiger (Panthera tigris jacksoni)
       CRITICALLY ENDANGERED

Malayan tiger

They reside around the southern and central parts of Malay Peninsula. Malayan tigers stand with an estimated population of 300 in the world.

9.      South China Tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis)
       CRITICALLY ENDANGERED

South China tiger in action

They are found in the southern China

1 Siberian Tiger (Panthera tigris altaica)
    ENDANGERED

Growling Siberian tiger

They are found in Russia with a total population of 562.

1  Indochinese Tiger (Panthera tigris corbetti)
    ENDANGERED

Indochinese tiger

They are found in Myanmar, Thailand, Lao, Vietnam, and Southwestern China. This tiger subspecies is considered extinct in Cambodia now. Total estimated population of Indochinese tigers was 342.

1   Bengal Tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) 
      ENDANGERED

Bengal Tiger

This subspecies has the largest population of around 3800 in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. Bhutan is home to 103 Bengal tigers. This subspecies is the national animal of both India and Bangladesh. Bengal tigers have a recessive colour variant of white tigers.They are extinct in Pakistan and China.

WHY WE NEED TO SAVE OUR TIGERS?

We all feel that tigers are strong enough to get their own food and will definitely survive well in the woods. But there are so many issues tigers have been fighting for ages and very unfortunately most of them lost the battles and left this world forever. Lots of them are already extinct now and so many are on the verge of getting extinct. Perhaps we are the only ones who can stop this because it was we and our forefathers who caused this pathetic condition for them.

Forest degradation causing their habitat fragmentation was one main reason. It is said that a single tiger need 25000 acres of forests as they prey on the herbivorous animals which means there should be abundant forest cover. And so presence of tiger in the forest denotes a healthy environment.

The next main reason for the dwindling number of tigers in the forest is poaching. Due to high market value of the parts of the tigers (Bones and Skin), they were poached heavily which drastically reduced their population. WWF works to enforce zero tolerance for tiger poaching across Asia under the mission ZERO POACHING.

Retaliatory Killings is pointed out as another reason for tiger endangerment. I read somewhere that tigers do not normally view human as prey. They attack human only if they feel threatened by our presence. This is not my judgment, but this seemed to be true as I heard so many incidences. Tigers don’t prey humans.

CURRENTLY TIGERS ARE BEING TRAPPED, SKINNED AND PUSHED OUT OF THEIR HOME. SAVE OUR TIGERS!

Samazingkha Mass Tree Plantation

By the end of the 15th National Graduates Orientation Program, graduates volunteered for a mass tree plantation to pay our humble tributes to HRH Gyalsay, parents and teachers. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forest fully supported and alloted the Samazingkha Agro-Forestry Project Area with more than 1000 tree saplings. On 21st of August 2016, hundreds of graduates gathered at Samazingkha and got at least two to four saplings each.

My friend Sonam Choki and I were two such volunteers wanting to contribute towards our beautiful environment. I got two saplings and searched for a good place to plant my seed of humble tribute. The sun was at its best with the brightest sunshine and heated us with no mercy.

We started our work as we reached the spot. A gentleman nearby helped us tremendously with the digging of holes for us.

Sonam at work

With the plantation, we laid our own prayers and wishes to our beloved teachers who brought us this far in life, our loving parents who had shown unprecedented support during all endeavours of life and yes, to our Gyalsay who has given us immense joy and happiness from the day he was born. Let the two trees I have planted be healthy and greatly contribute to the environment, benefitting all living beings on earth. I know as the tree transform day by day, all it will do is to help us in many ways. It's after so many years that I have done a tree plantation and I seriously felt contented to see myself planting trees. There couldn't have been any better way to conclude the 15th NGOP for we have been told by the guest speaker to be the special graduates of a special year in special Bhutan. All I hope is to plant so many trees in the future too.

World Forestry Day

Currently Bhutan is hitting the world headlines for the unique and heavenly celebrations of our royal birth of gyalsay. As a Bhutanese it is a proud moment and I must say that there couldn’t have been any other better way to celebrate and welcome our prince. Planting 108000 trees in a day has seriously waved off to so many other lavish celebrations and donations, showing the generosity along with compassion which is ultimately going to benefit thousands of living forms on earth. Hats Off!! Bhutan indeed portrayed the true essence of an eco-friendly, carbon negative and GNH country as the very act of planting so many trees has proved to be an enormous gift not only to the gyalsay, even not only to the country and the people of Bhutan but to all forms of living being on earth.

Yes the best example is set here but I don’t think that this is where our role winds up. We now need to work harder than ever, touching higher strategies to provide happiness and save the earth. Since the day homo sapiens have heard of modernization, there have been very few who proved intelligent and looked back to conserve the affectionate environment. I don’t need to explain what a tree is capable of doing.

In my school days I did the tree plantations on Social Forestry Day which falls on June 2^nd every year and I am happy about that little contribution but then it might weigh very less compared to what I have got till now. What I did in those days was not at all enough to protect the earth. What the whole Bhutanese has done till now is never ever going to be enough. And even whatever the whole world did till now is still not enough. Forest preservation will never be enough. That’s why the whole world need to be serious on this note and get up on their feet with a motive to preserve and promote our forest which is dwindling day by day very sadly. But as an ordinary citizen of a small country like Bhutan I am definitely handcuffed. None of us can go and talk to Presidents or Prime Ministers of other big nations and tell them that their countries should plant lots of trees. Neither we can go to other countries and force the people to plant trees. It should come from one’s own consciousness and mindfulness.

What a proud moment for a family if they own a car? Everyone has been modernized enough to own a smart phone, even young kids. But it hardly crossed our mind to own a tree and care for it. We really need to be sorry for this. Don’t we?

Here are some pictures (from facebook) which says so many things if only we are alive enough to see it

Its such an imbalance!

Our future generations

Selfishness of a man Vs generosity of a tree

When a tree falls, all living beings will equally fall down

And man will also be hungry with them

This moment is nearing day by day

Today, 21^st March is World Forestry day and I pray everyone understands that their mother earth is in great need of their intervention in stopping all those destructions and beautifying her back with all those natural greeneries so that we can proudly hand over her to our future generations. There are lots of issues which we cannot control but we can contribute in our own ways and so today I pledge that I will be more responsible towards our forests and minimize as much of destruction as possible to her.

We don’t have to love our children separately if we love and save our mother earth. She will do everything. SAVE THE EARTH!!!