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.
