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Études Mongoles Et Sibériennes, Centrasiatiques Et Tibétaines, 43-44 | 2013 the Pilgrimage of a Tibetan Yogin in Bhutan in the Late Nineteenth Century 2

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Études Mongoles Et Sibériennes, Centrasiatiques Et Tibétaines, 43-44 | 2013 the Pilgrimage of a Tibetan Yogin in Bhutan in the Late Nineteenth Century 2 Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines 43-44 | 2013 Le pastoralisme en Haute-Asie : la raison nomade dans l'étau des modernisations The Pilgrimage of a Tibetan Yogin in Bhutan in the Late Nineteenth Century Le pèlerinage d’un yogi tibétain au Bhoutan à la fin du XIXe siècle Hanna Havnevik Electronic version URL: https://journals.openedition.org/emscat/2059 DOI: 10.4000/emscat.2059 ISSN: 2101-0013 Publisher Centre d'Etudes Mongoles & Sibériennes / École Pratique des Hautes Études Electronic reference Hanna Havnevik, “The Pilgrimage of a Tibetan Yogin in Bhutan in the Late Nineteenth Century”, Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines [Online], 43-44 | 2013, Online since 20 September 2013, connection on 13 July 2021. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/emscat/2059 ; DOI: https:// doi.org/10.4000/emscat.2059 This text was automatically generated on 13 July 2021. © Tous droits réservés The Pilgrimage of a Tibetan Yogin in Bhutan in the Late Nineteenth Century 1 The Pilgrimage of a Tibetan Yogin in Bhutan in the Late Nineteenth Century Le pèlerinage d’un yogi tibétain au Bhoutan à la fin du XIXe siècle Hanna Havnevik 1 In the Tibetan Buddhist world pilgrimage is a religious activity in which monastic and lay, learned and illiterate, women and men, old and young, participate. In pre-modern Tibet, pilgrims often spent months on foot or on horseback traversing remote areas to reach the sacred Mt. Kailash in the far western part of Tibet, Mt. Tsāri in southeastern Tibet, or the many important temples in and near Lhasa. While these locations were among the most important and belonged to a national network of sacred sites, each region, valley, and village had its own pilgrimage places where the focus of veneration could be a statue, a temple, a mountain, a lake, a cave, a ceremony, or a person. Pilgrimage in Tibet and the Himalayas can be performed at any time, but for certain pilgrimages a particular year in the Tibetan twelve-year cycle is considered especially meritorious : for Mt. Kailash this is the Year of the Horse, for pilgrimage to both Mt. Tsāri and to the Drigung Powa Chenmo (’Bri gung ’pho ba chen mo) it is the Year of the Monkey1. Tibetan pilgrimages are complex and involve conceptions of correspondences between landscape, ritual, the body, and history, and several important works on Tibetan pilgrimage have been published2. Here, the travels of one Tibetan yogin are discussed, giving an example of the ritual, meditative, and economic activities involved in his travel to Bhutan in the late nineteenth century. 2 Thrulshig Kunsang Thongdrol Dorje (’Khrul zhig kun bzang mthong grol rdo rje, 1862-1922) was a visionary, healer, reincarnation and the throne-holder of a monastery near Yamdrok Lake (Yar ’brog mTsho). This charismatic religious adept became famous in Tibet later in his religious career as a rediscoverer of treasures (gter ston) and as a crazy yogin (smyon pa). When he was about twenty years old he spent one year in Bumthang (Bum thang) in Bhutan. Thrulshig’s religious activities in Bhutan are important because they describe the religious interchange between southern Tibet and Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines, 43-44 | 2013 The Pilgrimage of a Tibetan Yogin in Bhutan in the Late Nineteenth Century 2 the Bumthang valley during the latter half of the nineteenth century. We learn how a Tibetan yogin was received and achieved fame as a healer and ritual specialist in the valley, about the patronage offered to him from some of the most powerful figures in the modern history of Bhutan, Thrulshig’s emerging career as a rediscoverer of treasures, Bhutanese power struggles and internecine war as seen through the eyes of a Tibetan yogin, and the agency of a powerful Bhutanese woman. Photo 1. Thrulshig Rinpoche as portrayed in his biography Hanna Havnevik (April 2011) 3 Ordinary pilgrims and merchants did not, as a rule, leave written documents, and little is therefore known about their activities. A few religious masters, however, wrote travelogues and/or autobiographies and in a number of cases their biographies were composed by their disciples. One such biography is the one written about Thrulshig Rinpoche by his disciple Dzatrul Ngawang Tenzin Norbu (rDza sprul Ngag dbang bstan ’dzin nor bu, 1867-1940), the head of Dza Rongphu Dongak Choling monastery (rDza Rong phu mDo sngags chos gling) at the foot of Mt. Everest. The biography is entitled : Yang gsang bstan pa’i mdzod ’dzin ’khrul zhig gu yangs he ru ka kun bzang mthong grol rdo rje’i rnam par thar pa ngo mtshar dad pa’i shing rta bzhugs so3, and the year Thrulshig spent in Bhutan covers ten pages (pp. 175-185) or five folios (85a-90a) in the biography. Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines, 43-44 | 2013 The Pilgrimage of a Tibetan Yogin in Bhutan in the Late Nineteenth Century 3 Photo 2. Ngawang Tenzin Norbu, the author of Thrulshig’s biography Hanna Havnevik (Bhutan, April 2011) Southern Tibet and Bhutan 4 Contacts between the border areas of Tibet and Bhutan were frequent up till the 1950s, with a network of trade contacts as well as exchanges between monasteries, and traders, nomads, farmers and pilgrims frequently crossed the border. In a detailed researched article, Françoise Pommaret (2003) has documented some of the intercultural exchanges between Lhodrak (lHo brag) and Bumthang, and particularly the close bonds between Lhalung (lHa lung) monastery, located to the north of Druptsho Pemaling (sGrub mtsho Padma gling), and the Wangchuk (dBang phyug) family of the Bumthang valley. Thrulshig Rinpoche’s Background 5 Thrulshig was the single son of a hidden yogin from Kham (Khams) and his consort, a woman from a well-to-do family in Derge (sDe dge), who ran away as a young girl to Central Tibet in search for a religious teacher. After numerous hardships Thrulshig’s mother joined an elderly yogin as his consort, and her strong wish to become the mother of a son was eventually fulfilled near Mt. Kailash. The elderly yogin-father passed away at Tradum Tse (Pra dum rtse, c. 1867) when the child was only five years old, whereupon the mother and son headed for Central Tibet. They were utterly poor and destitute, but the child comforted his mother by claiming to be the reincarnation of Thrulshig Namkhai Naljor (’Khrul zhig nam mkha’i rnal ’byor)4, a fifteenth century master in the Drukpa Kagyu (’Brug pa bka’ rgyud) tradition, and according to Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines, 43-44 | 2013 The Pilgrimage of a Tibetan Yogin in Bhutan in the Late Nineteenth Century 4 Thrulshig’s biography, a companion of the famous crazy yogin Drukpa Kunleg (’Brug pa Kun legs, 1455-1529). Thrulshig’s previous reincarnation was Chingkar Donyo Dorje (Phying dkar Don yod rdo rje, 18th-19th centuries), a yogin who lived near Dragkar Taso (Brag dkar rta so)5. He was known for his spiritual songs and was both the teacher and the disciple of the famous Shabkar Tshogdrug Rangdrol (Zhabs dkar Tshogs drug rang grol, 1781-1851)6. Thrulshig Kunsang Thongdrol Dorje’s own reincarnation, Kyabje Ngawang Chokyi Lodro (Khyab rje Ngag dbang chos kyi blo gros, b. 1923), who was one of the most important Nyingmapa lamas of our day, passed away in September 2011. Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines, 43-44 | 2013 The Pilgrimage of a Tibetan Yogin in Bhutan in the Late Nineteenth Century 5 Photos 3 & 4. [Thrulshig] Namkhai Naljor on a lineage poster found in several temples in Bhutan Hanna Havnevik (Bhutan, April 2011) 6 The young child was determined to find the seat of one of his former reincarnations, and after a long search he had a vision of his monastery Zhadeu (Zhwa de’u) located between the lakes Yamdrok and Pema Yutsho [Padma g.Yu mtsho], south of Nakartse (sNa dkar rtse), and headed towards it. After undergoing various spiritual tests, he Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines, 43-44 | 2013 The Pilgrimage of a Tibetan Yogin in Bhutan in the Late Nineteenth Century 6 convinced the monks at Zhadeu that he was indeed Thrulshig Namkha Neljor’s reembodiment and the true heir to the monastery. The young reincarnation was sent to study at the Drukpa Kagyu Dingpoche (Ding po che) monastery in Dranang (Grwa nang), but when returning to his seat, internal skirmishes and jealousy made Thrulshig and his mother leave to earn their living as mendicant pilgrims. Activity as Spiritual Healer 7 After roaming the nearby areas, Thrulshig decided to head for Kuśhinagara in India, and he set out with a single monk as attendant. He went by way of Bumthang in Bhutan, believing that Hajo in Assam was the site where the Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa. Toni Huber (2008) states that Tibetans and Bhutanese were actively engaged in creating the “shifting landscape” of the Buddha (2008, p. 17)7 and convincingly argues that the Bhutanese in particular had vested interests in locating Kuśhinagara in northern Assam. Thrulshig was, however, never to reach his destination. Already in the border area between Tibet and Bhutan he was kept busy performing religious rituals and treating sick people. One incident, related in some detail in the biography, documents the extraordinary abilities attributed to the young siddha, based on traditional conceptions of illness and spiritual healing. An insane Bhutanese, tightly wrapped in cotton cloth because he could not control his mind, was brought to the yogin by his relatives. Thrulshig entered deep meditation and blew into the man’s nostrils, whereupon the patient fell unconscious. A local Bhutanese lama performed a number of rituals (gto bcos) to no avail, and the relatives decided the man was dead.
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